Tabu Osusa
Profile: Tabu Osusa
Founder & Executive Director
Tabu Osusa is an iconic figure in the East African music industry and founding Executive Director of Ketebul Music, a not-for-profit organization incorporated in Nairobi, Kenya in 2007 with the core mission to identify, preserve, develop, and promote the diverse musical traditions of East Africa.
Born on 21 July 1954 along the southern shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya he moved to Tororo in Uganda when he was 9 years old. In 1966 he joined St Peters Seminary in Mukumu Kakamega where he aspired to being a Catholic priest. However, he left the institution in 1972 to pursue other interests.
In 1974 Osusa relocated to the DRC then Zaire, where he taught English in Kisangani before taking the famous boat ride along the River Congo to settle in Kinshasa. He worked at popular jazz spots such as Afro Mogambo and Perruque Bleu in Kinshasa.
Osusa retuned to Kenya in 1978 and for over four decades, has been actively involved in the music industry as a songwriter, recording artiste, band manager, tour manager, promoter, and music producer. He has shaped the careers of some of the leading bands and individual artistes in East Africa such as the acclaimed Orchestra Virunga of Samba Mapangala and the Nairobi City Ensemble.
In 2004, Tabu Osusa was the lead music consultant for the television series titled “Movin’ & Groovin; in East Africa”: a music program that was commissioned by the Nation Media Group’s Convergence and Special Projects department, to trace the history of East African popular music.
In the same year, along with the Director of Alliance Francaise of Nairobi, Osusa co-founded the “Spotlight on Kenyan Music”, a project whose aim was to discover and promote music with traditional rhythms of Kenya. Apart from being the Executive Producer Osusa was the Creative Director of the program and chaired the Steering Committee of this talent search which recorded well over one hundred musicians across the country. The music was released on CD format starting with volume 1 in 2005, to volume 6 in 2014.
In 2006, Osusa was the Creative Producer and Consultant for “Muziki wa Kenya,” a series of concerts wsupported by the Goethe Institut aimed at showcasing Kenyan of music of the yesteryears.
Since 2008, Tabu Osusa has been the Project Coordinator of the Retracing Series: a series of research-based documentaries that seeks to capture historical events that have helped to re-define the East African music scene. The project, which was supported by the Ford Foundation Eastern Africa, has so far produced the following multimedia documentary packages;
- Retracing the Benga Rhythm (2008)
- Retracing Kikuyu Popular Music (2010)
- Retracing Kenya’s Funky Hits (2011)
- Retracing Kenya’s Songs of Protest (2013) www.ketebulmusic.org
Tabu Osusa was a member of the Equation Musique, a program that was initiated by the Paris based Institut Français bringIng together music professionals from the southern hemisphere to support their presence in professional music markets. He is among the few Africans involved in the arts and culture to be recognized by the France Cultures guidebook Raiders of Cultures.
In 2009, Osusa represented East Africa in the selection panel of the proposed Centre for Black Music (Le Centre des Noires) during the selection process held in Paris.
From 2011, Osusa has been the Project Coordinator for the Singing Wells project; a partnership project between Ketebul Music and the Abubilla Music Foundation (UK). The Singing Wells project aims at recording and archiving the diverse musical traditions of Eastern Africa. www.singingwells.org
In 2014 Osusa through Ketebul Music was appointed by the Ministry of Sports, Culture and the Arts Kenya and the Smithsonian Institute to program and curate the music that would showcase Kenya at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival held in Washington DC from 25th June to 6th July 2014. The following year, Osusa along with Bill Odidi were among a group of authors selected to contribute to ‘Do-it-Yourself, Do-it-Together’ a publication about African Popular Music Archives, edited by Sarah Baker.
In 2016 Tabu Osusa was nominated’ Five Music Rights Champion’ by the International Music Council. The same year he joined the panel of judges at the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) held in Lagos Nigeria. He was also appointed as the Visa For Music Country Representative for Kenya.
In 2017 Osusa became the first Kenyan to receive an award from Visa For Music (Morocco) for his tireless efforts in documenting and archiving the diverse music traditions of East Africa.
Tabu Osusa was the lead author of ‘Shades of Benga’: The Story of Popular Music In Kenya 1946-2016. The 600 page book published in August 2017 traces the origins of Kenya’s popular music from the end of the Second World War to date.
In November 2022 Tabu Osusa was elected to serve on the board of Music in Africa Foundation at its milestone 10th Annual General Meeting in Dar es Salaam Tanzania. www.musicinafrica.net
Tabu Osusa was conferred the Order of Arts and Letters (OFFICIER DE L’ORDRE DES ARTS ET DES LETTRES) by the French government. He was awarded the honor in recognition of his commitment to safeguarding and promoting East African music over the past 40 years. The ceremony took place at the Alliance Française in Nairobi on 16 July 2021 officiated by the then ambassador of France to Kenya and Somalia, Ms Aline Kuster-Menager.
In 2025 Tabu Osusa along with Bill Odidi, edited ‘Anyango Nyar Siaya’, the biography of Eriko Mukoyama. The book delves into the story of the Japanese musician who defied all odds, breaking gender and cultural norms to become the first woman to professionally play the nyatiti, an eight-stringed traditional lyre belonging to the Luo people of Western Kenya. Osusa is currently working on publishing ‘Swahili Rumba’ (The genesis of rumba music in East Africa), with focus on two pioneering musicians namely Fundi Konde and Ben Nicholas.
In early 2025 under Ketebul Music, Tabu Osusa and Paul Kelemba produced the play ‘The African Twist’ (The sound track of Kenya’s Independence’). The blockbuster show took place at the Alliance Française auditorium in Nairobi.
