Thesis Title : The Aesthetic Significance of Bukusu Children’s Play Songs

Student’s Name : Wasilwa Machuma Sylvia

Supervisers’ Names :

1. Felix A. Orina
2. Kennedy N. Simiyu

Abstract

This work explores the aesthetic import of children’s play songs among the Bukusu of Bungoma County, Kenya. Children find pleasure in learning through imitation of societal virtues; this lies in the process of imitation, implying that as these children perform the play songs, they simultaneously acquire societal values at the same time they find pleasure in the composition and performance of the play songs. This study aimed at achieving three objectives: establishing the role of context in the composition and performance of Bukusu children’s play songs, examining the significance of language employed in the Bukusu children’s play songs and analyzing the social significance of Bukusu children’s play songs. It is important to recognize children’s play songs as a vital genre that brings out societal values and organization. Since children are a product of societal values, their play songs cannot be separated from the same values. Therefore, this study serves as a stimuli for other researchers to view children’s play songs not just as songs but as creative works thus study their role in the moral and social development of children. To do this, we employed an eclectic model in which performance, ethnomethodology and ethnopoetic approaches to investigate how the different perspectives from which Bukusu children’s play songs are performed and interpreted. The study which is purely ethnographic was confined within Bungoma County, Kenya with participants drawn from Kabuchai, Sirisia and some parts of Kanduyi sub-counties. Both Purposive and snowball sampling were employed. Qualitative approaches were used in studying twenty children’s play songs in “Lubukusu”. Data was collected through interviews, participant observation, video recording, photograph taking, note taking and the collected data was thematically analyzed and presented. Through this study, we can report that the social cultural context influences not only the composition but also the performance of the songs and usually different songs will almost always harbor disparate messages with specialized use of language aiding to bring out the beauty resident within these songs. We therefore recommend that songs in other communities be studied and that such songs should be documented for the purpose of conservation given their current vital yet risky status.