The first Kenyan singer to hit sales of 150 000

As a result of this achievement, he was selected as the first musician in the country to be awarded the Guinness Stout Effort Award in September 1974. Omolo and his band, Apollo Komesha, had recorded 20 singles for Phonogram with total sales of 300 000 copies, more than another of the 80 bands contracted to the company.

In his social commentary that still remains resonates 40 years after its release, Omolo captured the plight of the urban worker who struggles to make ends meet and can only afford a little luxury at the end of the month. “I was working in Industrial area and I noticed that at the end of the month my fellow workers would all run away from the usual githeri and porridge for lunch and would instead be found eating chapati and beef,” he says

“Similarly, come the end of the month and all the fellows who would otherwise be whiling the time away, sleeping under the shade of Jeevanjee Gardens in Nairobi would be feasting on chips and chicken,” he adds. The lyrics of ‘Lunchtime’ came naturally from these observations and the impact was felt far beyond Kenya.

Born in 1939, Omolo was raised in the railway quarters of Muthurwa and later, Makongeni, Nairobi. He learnt how to play the guitar while at St. Peters Claver’s Primary School where he also sang in the choir. His career took off in the 1960s when he joined the iconic Equator Sound Band along with Fadhili William, Daudi Kabaka, and Nashil Pichen. When the musicians fell out with Equator owner, Charles Worrod in 1968, it did not take along before another deal came through.

Politician J.M. Kariuki set up the African Eagles Recording Limited and made Kabaka, Pichen and Omolo directors of the company. Kenyan actor and broadcaster Oliver Litondo who worked as Press Secretary for J.M says these musicians felt that they were not getting their due share from the sales of their records at Equator and were therefore delighted with this new deal. “J.M remained as chairman while the musicians were free to run the company and I would help them plan their recordings, rehearsals and concerts.”

Omolo confirms that the new set up was very favorable to the artists. “J.M was really keen on promoting us and he offered all the facilities we required to succeed. His violent death in 1975 was not just a blow to the politics of the country but it also marked the end of the company he had formed with the best musicians in the country,” he says.

Omolo played with the Blue Shades Band before forming his own outfit, Apollo Komesha 71, and released music under the Apollo record label that was distributed by Phonogram Limited. “Phonogram not only gave me a contract but the company advanced me 10 000 shillings, a princely sum at the time, to buy instruments for the band.

The Managing Director of Phonogram Limited, Niewenhuis best summed up the impact of Gabriel Omolo’s success, saying the company recorded about 1 000 new songs every year and pressed 3 million records, of which they would export more than half. “This earns Kenya about five million shillings a year in foreign exchange, which makes Gabriel Omolo one of Kenya’s foreign exchange earners!” he said.

The gold disc itself was deposited at the Kenya Commercial Bank, according to radio presenter James Onyango Joel, but Omolo himself is less forthcoming about the whereabouts of his award: “I kept it some place safe,” he says.

The follow up singles like ‘Keep Change’ and ‘Mr. Kupe’ retained the social commentary but could not quite attain the same heights of success as ‘Lunchtime’. In later years, Omolo tried his hand at various businesses including running a taxi business and operating a music store in Mombasa. He was also employed as a driver with the United Nations in Nairobi from 1989 to 1995.

His accomplishments have however gone unnoticed by most Kenyans save for a performance at the first Mashujaa Day celebrations in 2010 and a Head of State Commendation (HSC) a year later. The song ‘Lunchtime’ was also redone by producer Tabu Osusa and his Nairobi City Ensemble in a version featuring the late rapper Poxi Presha in 2005.

Today, Gabriel Omolo spends his time at his home in Ugunja, Siaya County writing songs and playing his guitar. More and more, he recalls the songs he learnt in the choir at primary school. He laughs: “Maybe it is just my old age...”

Originally published in the Daily Nation on 2 September 2013