- Title: Hidden away in a Nairobi meat market - a vinyl record treasure trove
- Date: 3rd January 2018
- Summary: JIMMY ON THE PHONE RECORD ALBUM ON JIMMY'S LAP MORE OF RECORD COLLECTION ALBUM COVER READING "NBI VINYL (1989) LTD"
- Embargoed: 17th January 2018 11:04
- Keywords: vinyl record music James Rugami digital music Disc Jockey piracy Jimmy stall in meat market
- Location: NAIROBI, KENYA
- City: NAIROBI, KENYA
- Country: Kenya
- Topics: Living / Lifestyle,Human Interest / Brights / Odd News,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA0067WK3V4P
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: In the 80s James 'Jimmy' Rugami was the DJ who played an eclectic mix of music spanning local benga and Swahili pop to Congolese dance and Afro-Cuban classics with a touch of Lionel Ritchie.
Now in his 60s, Jimmy doesn't play the disco scene anymore but since 1989 he has amassed a vinyl record collection that would be the envy of any music enthusiast.
Jimmy now spends his days at his small stall inside a busy meat market in Nairobi, surrounded by rows and columns of old records bought or traded from far flung locations across Africa that he got to by car, by bus and by boat to places like Zanzibar, which he says had the best jazz.
Jimmy's stall number 570 is hidden away in the popular market where only those that are looking will find him. He also restores and sells vintage record players.
Nairobi used to be East Africa's entertainment hotspot.
International record labels such as Polygram and EMI signed bands from Kenya, Tanzania and the former Zaire, such as Orchestra Virunga, Daudi Kabaka and Simba Wanyika.
State of the art recording studios and a vinyl press located on the outskirts if Nairobi released diverse genres of music, the most characteristic pop sound being benga from Western Kenya and the Congolese rumba sound of the 70's known as Soukous.
But most of the major record labels closed shop as Kenya's economy struggled in the 90s and training and rehearsal spaces became inadequate.
Recording studios and mastering facilities moved to South Africa.
Demand for vinyl, in Kenya and in other parts of the world has since given way to cassette tapes, then CDs, then online digital sources and only a few collectors with the right players still buy Jimmy's records.
Jimmy can go a whole week with just one customer, but he says he doesn't really care about the money.
There are vinyl lovers that have become Jimmy's good friends and he still DJs at family events, sometimes at schools - sharing his history in music with the young and old.
Jimmy says he is excited by a rekindling of love for old music and sound, especially among the youth.
In fact, global sales of vinyl records have reached their highest level for 20 years and could be on track to return to the glory days of the Long Player in the late 1980s, according to music industry findings in the UK.
A lot of Jimmy's friends and family thought he was crazy when he spent all his savings on records in 1986 but 30 years later, having educated his six children through this business he says it has been worth every minute of ridicule. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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