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Unbury Our Dead with Song
A love letter to music, beauty, and imagination. In the seedy ABC boxing club in Nairobi, four musicians—The Diva, The Corporal, the Taliban Man, and Miriam—gather for a competition to see who can perform the best Tizita. Listening from the audience is Kenyan tabloid journalist John Thandi Manfredi, whose own life makes him vulnerable to the Tizita. Desperate to learn more, he follows the musicians back to Ethiopia, hoping to learn the secret to the music from their personal lives and histories. His search takes him from the idyllic Ethiopian countryside to juke joints and raucous parties in Addis Ababa where he quickly learns that there is more to these performers than meets the eye. From the humble home life behind the Diva's glamorous facade, to the troubling question of the Corporal's military service history, Manfredi discovers that the many layers to this musical genre are reflected in the lives and secrets of its performers.
1 pages, Audio CD
Published September 21, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
February 18, 2024
A heartwarming, moving, and deeply affecting! If you are a music lover, you are going to love this one!
What an immersive experience, I loved every moment of this book. Not only is it musical journey but you learn so much about Kenyan and Ethiopian history and culture. It is such a relevant piece of literary that saddles music and history in the most beautiful way. Did I mention it is HILAROUS!
In Unbury our Dead with Songs we meet a Kenyan Journalist, John Thandi Manfredi who is a disappointment to his social ladder climbing parents because he is writer for a trashy newspaper. One night he is a bar where we witnesses four musicians in a competition to perform the best Tizita. Overcome by the beauty of Tizita he decides to write a story following the four musicians—The Diva, The Corporal, the Taliban Man, and Miriam. The reporter follows them to Ethiopia to know more about their upbringing and what makes them a great Tizita singer. He learns more about himself and the craft of Tizita than he set out for.
This book is a gem and I enjoyed every moment of it!
What an immersive experience, I loved every moment of this book. Not only is it musical journey but you learn so much about Kenyan and Ethiopian history and culture. It is such a relevant piece of literary that saddles music and history in the most beautiful way. Did I mention it is HILAROUS!
In Unbury our Dead with Songs we meet a Kenyan Journalist, John Thandi Manfredi who is a disappointment to his social ladder climbing parents because he is writer for a trashy newspaper. One night he is a bar where we witnesses four musicians in a competition to perform the best Tizita. Overcome by the beauty of Tizita he decides to write a story following the four musicians—The Diva, The Corporal, the Taliban Man, and Miriam. The reporter follows them to Ethiopia to know more about their upbringing and what makes them a great Tizita singer. He learns more about himself and the craft of Tizita than he set out for.
This book is a gem and I enjoyed every moment of it!
August 20, 2021
Synopsis:
Unbury our Dead With Song is a novel about four talented Ethiopian musicians – The Diva, The Corporal, the Taliban Man and Miriam, who are competing to see who can sing the best Tizita (popularly referred to as Ethiopian blues). Taking place in an illegal boxing hall in Nairobi, Kenya, the competition is covered by a US educated Kenyan journalist, John Thandi Manfredi, who writes for a popular tabloid, The National Inquisitor. He follows the musicians back to Ethiopia in order to learn more about the Tizita and their lives. As he learns more about the Tizita and the multiple meanings of beauty, he uncovers that behind each of the musicians, there are layered lives and secrets. Ultimately, the novel is a love letter to African music, beauty and imagination.
Review:
“The Tizita – it is private, a private love or sorrow that joins the public ocean of tears. We mourn and celebrate together and privately at the same time.”
The writing in this book lyrical and masterful. (Swipe to read the synopsis) The words, the settings and the characters are so unique and different from my usual reads. I was fully transported into a world where music was the language and currency. I began listening to a Tizita mentioned in the book in order to get a feel for the music discussed- and I highly recommend doing that.
As Manfredi travels to learn more about the legend behind and meaning of The Tizita, he learns so much more than that. His quest is for specific explanations and answers, yet what he discovers is that the Tizita it is something different to each person.
“…each time, the word sounded different. The first time, it sounded like they were asking the Tizita to come; there was some longing, some welcoming a broken heart because it still knew what love was. The second time, it sounded more like the distant beckoning of something soon to be lost- a memory of a loved one, details and memories getting lost in the distance if living with the dead behind us. The third time, it was a yearning, an unresolved recognition of something.”
Manfredi interviews the musicians in their own homes and is absorbed into their world for a bit. He learns a different lesson, or truth from each one. Their life experience and outlook shape their interpretation of the song. Manfredi research also cause him to look inward. He wrestles with his own family dynamics and questions his parents choices as well as his reactions to them.
“Yes, I was marked by their choices, as we all are by the choices our parents make for themselves, but I did not have to inherit their guilt. Maybe I just did not want to look too closely at my own life and choices.”
Thank you partners @bibliolifestyle and @cassavarepublicpress for this ARC
Unbury our Dead With Song is a novel about four talented Ethiopian musicians – The Diva, The Corporal, the Taliban Man and Miriam, who are competing to see who can sing the best Tizita (popularly referred to as Ethiopian blues). Taking place in an illegal boxing hall in Nairobi, Kenya, the competition is covered by a US educated Kenyan journalist, John Thandi Manfredi, who writes for a popular tabloid, The National Inquisitor. He follows the musicians back to Ethiopia in order to learn more about the Tizita and their lives. As he learns more about the Tizita and the multiple meanings of beauty, he uncovers that behind each of the musicians, there are layered lives and secrets. Ultimately, the novel is a love letter to African music, beauty and imagination.
Review:
“The Tizita – it is private, a private love or sorrow that joins the public ocean of tears. We mourn and celebrate together and privately at the same time.”
The writing in this book lyrical and masterful. (Swipe to read the synopsis) The words, the settings and the characters are so unique and different from my usual reads. I was fully transported into a world where music was the language and currency. I began listening to a Tizita mentioned in the book in order to get a feel for the music discussed- and I highly recommend doing that.
As Manfredi travels to learn more about the legend behind and meaning of The Tizita, he learns so much more than that. His quest is for specific explanations and answers, yet what he discovers is that the Tizita it is something different to each person.
“…each time, the word sounded different. The first time, it sounded like they were asking the Tizita to come; there was some longing, some welcoming a broken heart because it still knew what love was. The second time, it sounded more like the distant beckoning of something soon to be lost- a memory of a loved one, details and memories getting lost in the distance if living with the dead behind us. The third time, it was a yearning, an unresolved recognition of something.”
Manfredi interviews the musicians in their own homes and is absorbed into their world for a bit. He learns a different lesson, or truth from each one. Their life experience and outlook shape their interpretation of the song. Manfredi research also cause him to look inward. He wrestles with his own family dynamics and questions his parents choices as well as his reactions to them.
“Yes, I was marked by their choices, as we all are by the choices our parents make for themselves, but I did not have to inherit their guilt. Maybe I just did not want to look too closely at my own life and choices.”
Thank you partners @bibliolifestyle and @cassavarepublicpress for this ARC
September 1, 2021
*review to follow*
October 1, 2021
3.5 stars. I enjoyed this exposé-style narrative that centres the meaning of music to life.
‘Now, tell me, are you the spark that lights a fire, or the spark that the fire throws out to die?’ - Giriama Felleke
Reading about the transportive, transformative, reflection-inducing powers of music is satisfying. Music has always been a part of life and has carried us through joy, loss, beauty, rage, and love.
The Tizita singers are engaging and getting to know them through the main character is definitely interesting, as it felt we were also learning about him as well. His own journey to discovering self and purpose. His search to find out what the Tizita stirs in him, why it causes such immense yearning and questioning.
For each performer we see how they use and interact with the Tizita, how they become someone different on and off stage, yet maintain that reverence for the Tizita, because for every face and feeling, there is a Tizita, for every life, the Tizita carries meaning.
‘A good story, like a good song, is always true.’
As Manfredi seeks and finds small yet meaningful insights from his interviews, I kept coming back to the Tizita and the ways in which music is such a huge part of life and how it is incorporated into our everyday to uplift, get moving, soothe and elevate the consciousness.
‘Now, tell me, are you the spark that lights a fire, or the spark that the fire throws out to die?’ - Giriama Felleke
Reading about the transportive, transformative, reflection-inducing powers of music is satisfying. Music has always been a part of life and has carried us through joy, loss, beauty, rage, and love.
The Tizita singers are engaging and getting to know them through the main character is definitely interesting, as it felt we were also learning about him as well. His own journey to discovering self and purpose. His search to find out what the Tizita stirs in him, why it causes such immense yearning and questioning.
For each performer we see how they use and interact with the Tizita, how they become someone different on and off stage, yet maintain that reverence for the Tizita, because for every face and feeling, there is a Tizita, for every life, the Tizita carries meaning.
‘A good story, like a good song, is always true.’
As Manfredi seeks and finds small yet meaningful insights from his interviews, I kept coming back to the Tizita and the ways in which music is such a huge part of life and how it is incorporated into our everyday to uplift, get moving, soothe and elevate the consciousness.
May 29, 2021
This book ... You know when you read a book and all you are left with at the end is a kind of sigh? Not a bad sigh. A sigh that both captures the feeling of contentment of finishing a book that just captures your heart, and also, as a book blogger, at the thought of the struggle you will have in finding the best way to convey the feeling of the book to your audience. This is a book which is almost as impossible to define as the almost mythical or magical Tizita that our protagonist, Manfredi, tries so hard to unravel. Ostensibly, this is the story of a journalist who is trying to write a piece about a Tizita competition and the four performers who make up the field. To leave it at, to put it so that is as disingenuous as stating that good music is just seven notes played to a varying accompaniment of sharps and flats.
What the author has managed to do so very skilfully in this book, is to bring together a series of stories, from the initial Tizita competition, to the lives of Manfredi, and the four contestants, The Diva, The Colonel, The Taliban Man and Miriam, in a way that is both everything and nothing at the same time. We are invited into each of their worlds in turn, seen through Manfredi's eyes and experiences, even the examination of his own familial relationships, as he strives towards an almost impossible goal. The musical equivalent of the search for the Holy Grail. To uncover and determine the meaning, the very heart and soul, of the Tizita. As he, and we as readers come to learn, this is something that is not simple. It is a feeling, a need, and a truly individual journey for each person who performs, or listens to, the music. There is no one definition, no one meaning, and Mũkoma Wa Ngũgĩhas conveyed this perfectly in his beautiful and memorable read.
We begin our journey with the first Tizita competition, not knowing much of the music, the tradition, or the performers. Even Manfredi is an mystery at this stage. as the story progresses we are given more information about each of the characters, more insight into what the Tizita is to them. The love, loss and life which has led to their performances, and as we learn more about them, the difference in style and tone in their initial performances really does make sense. Mũkoma Wa Ngũgĩ has portrayed each of them perfectly, given them such distinct , authentic, voices and styles that when we meet them for round two of the competition, their performances reach that perfect pitch, and their words and their style really comes to life. But we learn more than just their stories, we learn about their culture, about the many faces of the landscape, and the history of Ethiopia, one which goes far beyond the country that most of us remember from the headlines.
As a music lover, I understood this book, understood what it has to say. I have never heard a Tizita, but I'm not sure that I need to as the essence of the music, of all good music, is that it is impossible to define. It is, or it should be, something that lifts you beyond the everyday. Whilst we can all learn the lyrics of the latest pop tune (or whatever the modern equivalent is - I'm an eighties/nineties child at heart) but real music is something you feel. Something that makes you feel. That speaks to you in a way that can be very hard to define, or to explain to another. Good music can lift you, make you cry, but the best always makes you feel something. This is what Mũkoma Wa Ngũgĩ has captured in this book. What he has managed to convey through his prose. Although a book about music might be a story you feel you should hear rather than read, somehow the author has made the music sign through his words. Has captured the very essence of the experience of hearing the Tizita, or being present at the performance, has made the passion and the empathy of the performances, the impact on the audience, literally sing and it is a wonderful read.
This may not be the read for everyone. It is, simply put, the story of five strangers brought together through music and not a lot may seem to happen. And yet it does. Like the Tizita, this is a book you need to experience written by an author who has transported me so brilliantly into their world, made me so curious about this music, that I just want to go away and experience some for myself. Thank heavens for the internet, hey?
What the author has managed to do so very skilfully in this book, is to bring together a series of stories, from the initial Tizita competition, to the lives of Manfredi, and the four contestants, The Diva, The Colonel, The Taliban Man and Miriam, in a way that is both everything and nothing at the same time. We are invited into each of their worlds in turn, seen through Manfredi's eyes and experiences, even the examination of his own familial relationships, as he strives towards an almost impossible goal. The musical equivalent of the search for the Holy Grail. To uncover and determine the meaning, the very heart and soul, of the Tizita. As he, and we as readers come to learn, this is something that is not simple. It is a feeling, a need, and a truly individual journey for each person who performs, or listens to, the music. There is no one definition, no one meaning, and Mũkoma Wa Ngũgĩhas conveyed this perfectly in his beautiful and memorable read.
We begin our journey with the first Tizita competition, not knowing much of the music, the tradition, or the performers. Even Manfredi is an mystery at this stage. as the story progresses we are given more information about each of the characters, more insight into what the Tizita is to them. The love, loss and life which has led to their performances, and as we learn more about them, the difference in style and tone in their initial performances really does make sense. Mũkoma Wa Ngũgĩ has portrayed each of them perfectly, given them such distinct , authentic, voices and styles that when we meet them for round two of the competition, their performances reach that perfect pitch, and their words and their style really comes to life. But we learn more than just their stories, we learn about their culture, about the many faces of the landscape, and the history of Ethiopia, one which goes far beyond the country that most of us remember from the headlines.
As a music lover, I understood this book, understood what it has to say. I have never heard a Tizita, but I'm not sure that I need to as the essence of the music, of all good music, is that it is impossible to define. It is, or it should be, something that lifts you beyond the everyday. Whilst we can all learn the lyrics of the latest pop tune (or whatever the modern equivalent is - I'm an eighties/nineties child at heart) but real music is something you feel. Something that makes you feel. That speaks to you in a way that can be very hard to define, or to explain to another. Good music can lift you, make you cry, but the best always makes you feel something. This is what Mũkoma Wa Ngũgĩ has captured in this book. What he has managed to convey through his prose. Although a book about music might be a story you feel you should hear rather than read, somehow the author has made the music sign through his words. Has captured the very essence of the experience of hearing the Tizita, or being present at the performance, has made the passion and the empathy of the performances, the impact on the audience, literally sing and it is a wonderful read.
This may not be the read for everyone. It is, simply put, the story of five strangers brought together through music and not a lot may seem to happen. And yet it does. Like the Tizita, this is a book you need to experience written by an author who has transported me so brilliantly into their world, made me so curious about this music, that I just want to go away and experience some for myself. Thank heavens for the internet, hey?
June 17, 2021
Unusual and original, the novel tells the story of four Ethiopian musicians competing in a Tizita contest. A Kenyan journalist is covering the competition and interviews each of the contestants to learn more about them, their lives and, of course, the music they are so committed to.
I appreciated the book’s merits. It’s well written, explores the music to great effect and opens up a world that will surely be unfamiliar to many outside Africa. It demonstrates a love for African music that is unfeigned and moving. I learnt a lot from this novel, which is always a plus for me. I had never even heard of Tizita, but as I write this review I am listening to some wonderful songs on YouTube and can fully understand why its devotees love it so much. So that has been a real bonus. But unfortunately I didn’t find the narrative as absorbing as the music. I couldn’t really relate to the characters, and found their long-winded life histories ultimately tedious, and that was a real problem for me, as I found myself skipping parts of it. However, I would recommend the book as it opens up an unfamiliar world.
Tizita, for those who like me don’t know, is the iconic traditional song of Ethiopia, a style of music that translates to nostalgia, longing or memory, rather like the Fado of Portugal. It’s quite mesmerizing to listen to, and I recommend doing just that. As well as reading the book, of course.
I appreciated the book’s merits. It’s well written, explores the music to great effect and opens up a world that will surely be unfamiliar to many outside Africa. It demonstrates a love for African music that is unfeigned and moving. I learnt a lot from this novel, which is always a plus for me. I had never even heard of Tizita, but as I write this review I am listening to some wonderful songs on YouTube and can fully understand why its devotees love it so much. So that has been a real bonus. But unfortunately I didn’t find the narrative as absorbing as the music. I couldn’t really relate to the characters, and found their long-winded life histories ultimately tedious, and that was a real problem for me, as I found myself skipping parts of it. However, I would recommend the book as it opens up an unfamiliar world.
Tizita, for those who like me don’t know, is the iconic traditional song of Ethiopia, a style of music that translates to nostalgia, longing or memory, rather like the Fado of Portugal. It’s quite mesmerizing to listen to, and I recommend doing just that. As well as reading the book, of course.
June 1, 2022
Between the father and the son, I would choose Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ. I have never finished any of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o books. Perhaps what he writes does not resonate with me, or maybe colonialism, neo-colonialism, activism, and vernacular are not my cup of tea. All his books are DNF for me.
When I got (hesitantly) Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ's Unbury Our Dead With Song during the Kenyan launch of the book in 2021 at Alliance Française de Nairobi and took a photo with him (which has mysteriously disappeared), I did not expect much. I had bundled him with his father. I just got it as a memento because he autographed it. I procrastinated reading it, already prejudiced. Six months later, when I came around to it, I do not regret it.
Unbury Our Dead With Song is about four Ethiopian musicians, the best of all time, competing who would perform the best Tizita (Ethiopian blues). Their renditions are followed by the tabloid journalist, Thandi Manfredi, who wants to learn more about the Tizita. As Manfredi follows them to Addis Ababa, he learns that the glamourous Diva lives a simple life in the countryside, known only as Kidane to her village folk; The Taliban Man is the true definition of opulence for a musician; The Corporal lives in a filthy apartment, no cares in the world; and Miriam, the 70-year-old bartender, is the fine wine of the Tizita. The Tizita brings back memories, and nostalgia unburies those lost and brings them back to life. The book is a tribute to the Tizita, and I loved the renditions, but that's not what stuck out for me.
The book has addressed social evils without pontificating or pretentious conceit: drugs, money, and sex. When Manfredi gets a hard-on after seeing Kidane/The Diva unapologetically naked, she tells him that not all journeys are taken. At The Taliban's palace, Manfredi witnesses and participates in an orgy. And when he, at last, confronts his father about his (Manfredi's) questionable paternity because it is rumoured that his mother was the president's mistress, and Manfredi was the illegitimate president's son, his father says:
... we put too much premium on sex; sex is not an expression of love; sex is for pleasure, and she can get it from someone else. Why would I stop her? You know what they say - the vagina is not like soap that gets finished, and neither is the penis ...
When his father is justifying why his wife slept with the president, he says, "It is just sex ..." and he was there when the president fucked his wife. When Manfredi wonders whether his father fucked the president's wife, his father says, "I only fucked the president." Oh, such a convoluted relationship those people had - a sex club of spousal swapping and homosexuality.
See, no pretence, no preaching; just the way it is. I did not find the book hard to read.
What did not auger well for me is that the subtext of the author's writing borders on libel. Were it at a different time in Kenyan history; he would have been in prison for that or even officially exiled with his father.
In my creative writing classes, I was warned that you don't have to mention someone directly in your writing to defame or libel them. If they can be identified from your diction, you are guilty of libel. The president in the book is referred to as a dictator with a farm in Nakuru and had a mistress in Nakuru. Anyone born in Kenya up to the late 80s will be conversant with the rule and governance described in the book and identify it with the president of Kenya in those years.
Another warning from my creative writing classes is that you should also be wary of descendants of famous people who lived in the past. For instance, King Henry's descendants may sue you if they feel that your writing disparages their ancestor. It is the same in this book. The president being referred to can be identified, and his descendants can take offence. But well, who cares about those things these days? If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one to hear it ...
Whether the author took the dictator angle for notoriety or rattle a snake, it did not have the intended effect. It made the writing cheap and screaming for attention, which it did not get. Perhaps by design, someone decided not to create a furore and give the book unnecessary attention, or no one in the high circles read it, and our reading culture indeed needs to improve.
It is an excellent read—four stars for the Tizita story and for not pontificating, but one star for libellous undertones.
When I got (hesitantly) Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ's Unbury Our Dead With Song during the Kenyan launch of the book in 2021 at Alliance Française de Nairobi and took a photo with him (which has mysteriously disappeared), I did not expect much. I had bundled him with his father. I just got it as a memento because he autographed it. I procrastinated reading it, already prejudiced. Six months later, when I came around to it, I do not regret it.
Unbury Our Dead With Song is about four Ethiopian musicians, the best of all time, competing who would perform the best Tizita (Ethiopian blues). Their renditions are followed by the tabloid journalist, Thandi Manfredi, who wants to learn more about the Tizita. As Manfredi follows them to Addis Ababa, he learns that the glamourous Diva lives a simple life in the countryside, known only as Kidane to her village folk; The Taliban Man is the true definition of opulence for a musician; The Corporal lives in a filthy apartment, no cares in the world; and Miriam, the 70-year-old bartender, is the fine wine of the Tizita. The Tizita brings back memories, and nostalgia unburies those lost and brings them back to life. The book is a tribute to the Tizita, and I loved the renditions, but that's not what stuck out for me.
The book has addressed social evils without pontificating or pretentious conceit: drugs, money, and sex. When Manfredi gets a hard-on after seeing Kidane/The Diva unapologetically naked, she tells him that not all journeys are taken. At The Taliban's palace, Manfredi witnesses and participates in an orgy. And when he, at last, confronts his father about his (Manfredi's) questionable paternity because it is rumoured that his mother was the president's mistress, and Manfredi was the illegitimate president's son, his father says:
... we put too much premium on sex; sex is not an expression of love; sex is for pleasure, and she can get it from someone else. Why would I stop her? You know what they say - the vagina is not like soap that gets finished, and neither is the penis ...
When his father is justifying why his wife slept with the president, he says, "It is just sex ..." and he was there when the president fucked his wife. When Manfredi wonders whether his father fucked the president's wife, his father says, "I only fucked the president." Oh, such a convoluted relationship those people had - a sex club of spousal swapping and homosexuality.
See, no pretence, no preaching; just the way it is. I did not find the book hard to read.
What did not auger well for me is that the subtext of the author's writing borders on libel. Were it at a different time in Kenyan history; he would have been in prison for that or even officially exiled with his father.
In my creative writing classes, I was warned that you don't have to mention someone directly in your writing to defame or libel them. If they can be identified from your diction, you are guilty of libel. The president in the book is referred to as a dictator with a farm in Nakuru and had a mistress in Nakuru. Anyone born in Kenya up to the late 80s will be conversant with the rule and governance described in the book and identify it with the president of Kenya in those years.
Another warning from my creative writing classes is that you should also be wary of descendants of famous people who lived in the past. For instance, King Henry's descendants may sue you if they feel that your writing disparages their ancestor. It is the same in this book. The president being referred to can be identified, and his descendants can take offence. But well, who cares about those things these days? If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one to hear it ...
Whether the author took the dictator angle for notoriety or rattle a snake, it did not have the intended effect. It made the writing cheap and screaming for attention, which it did not get. Perhaps by design, someone decided not to create a furore and give the book unnecessary attention, or no one in the high circles read it, and our reading culture indeed needs to improve.
It is an excellent read—four stars for the Tizita story and for not pontificating, but one star for libellous undertones.
November 21, 2021
Unbury Our Dead With Song
By Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ
A tabloid journalist experiences a performance of a Tizita - Ethiopian blues. What started out as a competition turned into a performance.
How do you judge a Tizita? Have you found a way of weighting a soul?
He is captivated by the performance of the four musicians and sets about discovering more about each of them and their music.
This is a story about discovering what is hidden in these characters, unburying their dead parts and music plays a major role in this.
As the journalist investigates his subjects, he finds out more about himself.
I really like the writing stlye of this book and picked a couple of quotes to share with you.
“Now, tell me, are you the spark that lights a fire, or the spark that the fire throws out to die?”
“By the way, you were wrong about me. I am always me, even when I am many.”
By Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ
A tabloid journalist experiences a performance of a Tizita - Ethiopian blues. What started out as a competition turned into a performance.
How do you judge a Tizita? Have you found a way of weighting a soul?
He is captivated by the performance of the four musicians and sets about discovering more about each of them and their music.
This is a story about discovering what is hidden in these characters, unburying their dead parts and music plays a major role in this.
As the journalist investigates his subjects, he finds out more about himself.
I really like the writing stlye of this book and picked a couple of quotes to share with you.
“Now, tell me, are you the spark that lights a fire, or the spark that the fire throws out to die?”
“By the way, you were wrong about me. I am always me, even when I am many.”
July 26, 2021
This is so much more that a book about a song. We are introduced to Manfredi, a Kenyan journalist, who after hearing a Tizita competition, wants to know more.
There are 4 main characters apart from Manfredi. We have The Diva/Kidane, The Taliban Man, The Colonel and Miriam. Each has their own version of the Tizita.
Manfredi is transfixed, almost obsessed, he needs to know the why behind the music, what does it mean, he longs for understanding. In turn, Manfredi spends time with each of the Tizita singers, away from the stage and the spotlight.
Despite all this, Manfredi is unable to really pit his feelings into words, how can he when the Tizita is such a personal, almost spiritual thing. It sings of love, loss, birth, rebirth and death. To each person it means something different.
Mūkoma wa Ngūgī does a brilliant job of giving each of our Tizita singers a distinct personality and style. This was a wonderful book where as a reader I was transported to Africa and into their world. It made me want to listen to this music,,and thanks to the wonder of the internet, I was able to do so. Now I don't know how authentic The versions I listened to were, but I do know that had me transfixed with their beauty and soulfulness.
This is a book you should read if you have a love for music, or Africa, or just because you love to read something a little different!
There are 4 main characters apart from Manfredi. We have The Diva/Kidane, The Taliban Man, The Colonel and Miriam. Each has their own version of the Tizita.
Manfredi is transfixed, almost obsessed, he needs to know the why behind the music, what does it mean, he longs for understanding. In turn, Manfredi spends time with each of the Tizita singers, away from the stage and the spotlight.
Despite all this, Manfredi is unable to really pit his feelings into words, how can he when the Tizita is such a personal, almost spiritual thing. It sings of love, loss, birth, rebirth and death. To each person it means something different.
Mūkoma wa Ngūgī does a brilliant job of giving each of our Tizita singers a distinct personality and style. This was a wonderful book where as a reader I was transported to Africa and into their world. It made me want to listen to this music,,and thanks to the wonder of the internet, I was able to do so. Now I don't know how authentic The versions I listened to were, but I do know that had me transfixed with their beauty and soulfulness.
This is a book you should read if you have a love for music, or Africa, or just because you love to read something a little different!
September 5, 2021
This book is in essence a love song to the Tizita. For those who love music, and vivid descriptions of soulful performances, this is the book for you.
I enjoyed learning about some of the Kenyan and Ethiopian histories and regions and of course about the music. I did at times feel a little lost as music has never been my Forte so vividly described performances went above my head.
In this story our main character, John Thandi Manfredi, is a reporter who wants to learn about the Tizita. To do this he convinces his tabloid magazine to let him follow 4 musicians and interview them leading up to the grand championship of the Tizita. This championship is a controversial endeavor as Tizitas are meant to be personal and not a competition.
Throughout the book we meet The Diva, The Taliban Man, The Corporal and Miriam (the bartender at the establishment hosting the competition). These chapters were my favorite parts of the book getting to see into their lives and their motivations and personalities. I enjoyed how they helped Manfredi find himself and meanwhile it seemed he helped them each in a different manner.
If you are a music-lover looking for a diverse read to expand your horizons, this book may be a good fit for you.
I enjoyed learning about some of the Kenyan and Ethiopian histories and regions and of course about the music. I did at times feel a little lost as music has never been my Forte so vividly described performances went above my head.
In this story our main character, John Thandi Manfredi, is a reporter who wants to learn about the Tizita. To do this he convinces his tabloid magazine to let him follow 4 musicians and interview them leading up to the grand championship of the Tizita. This championship is a controversial endeavor as Tizitas are meant to be personal and not a competition.
Throughout the book we meet The Diva, The Taliban Man, The Corporal and Miriam (the bartender at the establishment hosting the competition). These chapters were my favorite parts of the book getting to see into their lives and their motivations and personalities. I enjoyed how they helped Manfredi find himself and meanwhile it seemed he helped them each in a different manner.
If you are a music-lover looking for a diverse read to expand your horizons, this book may be a good fit for you.
September 26, 2021
Thanks to the author, Bibliolifestyle, and Cassava Republic Press for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
"I knew enough about telling stories...they were about the storyteller."
I was fascinated by just how quickly the journalist and narrator of this novel insinuated himself and his own thoughts and experiences into the articles he's supposed to be writing about the Tizita competition. The stories of each of the individual musicians is told in lush detail, but overall the story became less about their competition and more about the big questions they asked of themselves--What does the Tizita mean to you? What does it mean to be remembered? What is love? How do I follow my own dreams without disappointing those that I love?
A beautiful work of literary fiction with a bit of humor and a shade of noir, I'll end with this quote:
"...what does the Tizita mean to you?" "Just how little of life I understand."
"I knew enough about telling stories...they were about the storyteller."
I was fascinated by just how quickly the journalist and narrator of this novel insinuated himself and his own thoughts and experiences into the articles he's supposed to be writing about the Tizita competition. The stories of each of the individual musicians is told in lush detail, but overall the story became less about their competition and more about the big questions they asked of themselves--What does the Tizita mean to you? What does it mean to be remembered? What is love? How do I follow my own dreams without disappointing those that I love?
A beautiful work of literary fiction with a bit of humor and a shade of noir, I'll end with this quote:
"...what does the Tizita mean to you?" "Just how little of life I understand."
December 31, 2022
4.5⭐️
I really loved this book. It all just felt like I was listening to a Brymo song! As a West African, usually when I read books by South African or East African authors, I am only able to connect to a certain level and not just culture wise. While I do enjoy them, it always feels like how you feel when talking to a distant cousin that lives in a different state from you. You have so much in common and are able to acknowledge that but you are also completely different in many ways.
With this book however, it was very different. The music element just drew everything closer. I loved that we had the tizita competition in Ethiopia but I also loved that we were following the story through a Kenyan-American brother. He was able to pull of being culturally aware yet clueless to many of the African social cues. This wasn’t one of the best books I’d read this year but it was certainly one of my favourites.
I really loved this book. It all just felt like I was listening to a Brymo song! As a West African, usually when I read books by South African or East African authors, I am only able to connect to a certain level and not just culture wise. While I do enjoy them, it always feels like how you feel when talking to a distant cousin that lives in a different state from you. You have so much in common and are able to acknowledge that but you are also completely different in many ways.
With this book however, it was very different. The music element just drew everything closer. I loved that we had the tizita competition in Ethiopia but I also loved that we were following the story through a Kenyan-American brother. He was able to pull of being culturally aware yet clueless to many of the African social cues. This wasn’t one of the best books I’d read this year but it was certainly one of my favourites.
November 11, 2023
I read this book with a literature course studying the form of the hybrid novel and found myself relating deeply to the writerly "quest" of the narrator although I share few characteristics with John Manfredi. Unbury Our Dead with Song made me think deeply about truth-telling and sensationalism, about the various experiences one can have with an art form such as music and how to communicate what those experiences mean. I have a feeling that I will return to and read this book again, with future classes but also for myself. Several of my students agreed with me that they didn't want the story to end.
August 15, 2021
3 1/2 stars rounded up to 4. Some of the scenes described and content included is not to my taste, but that is personal preference and has nothing to do with the quality of the work. This book is very well written with rich emotive descriptions of the Tizita, a type of Ethiopian music. The music is the main character, with the storyteller describing his journey into it, around it, within it. His journey encompasses the lives of 4 master musicians, with the book peeling back the layers of their lives as the Tizita is fully revealed.
April 10, 2025
A Kenyan tabloid journalist becomes fascinated with the singing, known as tizita, of a group of 4 artists and gets to know them better, following them back to Ethiopia to witness their performances and learn about them. The writing is quite lyrical and musical at times, but I can't say that I really understand what tizita is. Apparently, it's similar to the blues in that it moves people emotionally.
June 2, 2025
Musings over music... There are nice sentences (I particularly liked 'Mind your head') and the book is well-written, with an eye for detail. But the characters remain somewhat underdeveloped and at times I found myself somewhat bored. It is indeed interesting to craft a novel around the tizita. But music as a theme is not as origin as some people like to think and I found, for example, Wainaina's work in this respect more compelling.
July 25, 2021
Thank you to Mũkoma Wa Ngũgĩ, Cassava Republic Press, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an eARC in exchange for a honest review. All reviews are my own unbiased opinions.
I made it to the 50% mark, and unfortunately this just wasn't a book for me and will be added to my DNF list. I was really interested in the concept for the novel, but it just couldn't hold my attention.
I made it to the 50% mark, and unfortunately this just wasn't a book for me and will be added to my DNF list. I was really interested in the concept for the novel, but it just couldn't hold my attention.
February 27, 2022
It took me a little bit of time to warm up to this book but I ended up really loving it. On the surface, it's a simple story about a man on a seemingly simple mission. Underneath the story, it reveals the complex journey in defining truth.
July 7, 2021
Unbury Our Dead With Song by Mûkoma Wa Ngûgî is a love song to the Tizita. This form of music is a sort of Ethiopian blues, a song about longing for things that were, yearning for things that aren't. The premise is a Kenyan tabloid journalist's reporting on a Tizita championship in a dive bar in Nairobi. I really liked the way the novel balances the plot of the journalist's quest, with descriptions of the music being performed and the stories of the performers. Working for a tabloid, the journalist wants to dig up the dirt on the artists, and he travels to Ethiopia to find his scoop. But he also has a great sensitivity for the music, the performances and performers. These descriptions vere into the poetic and philosophical, and convey the magic of this music. The journalist's journey to discover the Tizita and its performers weaves a rich picture of Ethiopian history and the lives of people in it, which I, not knowing much about this country beforehand, found particularly interesting. I really enjoyed reading this and would recommend it to anyone interested in music, Ethiopia, or a good novel in general!
I received a free e-proof of this provided by the publisher on NetGalley.
I received a free e-proof of this provided by the publisher on NetGalley.
December 22, 2021
3.5/5
April 16, 2025
i don't think the sentiment was for me right now, but i do think it's a really nice book
April 22, 2021
Thank you to the publishers, Cassava Publisher Press, for giving me access to this book as an E--ARC via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
As I reader I really enjoy reading books by authors from all over the world as I believe it’s good to get different types of perspectives and ways of writing. Sometimes you just need to get out of old reading habits and try something new.
This book by American-Kenyan author Mũkoma Wa Ngũgĩ, and the story is about the popular East African music style Tizita and some musicians who plays that sort of music. They are set out to see who’s the best Tizita player.
And that’s about it. As much as I enjoy the new aspects and new knowledge about East African culture this gave me, I also found it relatively boring.
As I reader I really enjoy reading books by authors from all over the world as I believe it’s good to get different types of perspectives and ways of writing. Sometimes you just need to get out of old reading habits and try something new.
This book by American-Kenyan author Mũkoma Wa Ngũgĩ, and the story is about the popular East African music style Tizita and some musicians who plays that sort of music. They are set out to see who’s the best Tizita player.
And that’s about it. As much as I enjoy the new aspects and new knowledge about East African culture this gave me, I also found it relatively boring.
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