‘Kuna Sheng’ lyrics by Jua Cali

The song ‘Kuna Sheng’ (literally, ‘There is Sheng’) by Jua Cali captures a number of key elements of the Sheng phenomenon. Its main theme is that there are different ‘Shengs’ in Nairobi, and beyond, ‘lakini sii [sisi] wote tunaelewana’ (but we all understand one another). I reproduce the words below, but for the sake of brevity, I have cut all but the first and last of 39 lines and four refrains, which are sufficient to illustrate my point. Jua Cali makes reference to localized (in-group) varieties of Sheng (‘deep Sheng’) that are marked by use of different words or expressions according to area of residence (mtaa) of the Eastlands housing estates of Nairobi where Sheng is the primary language of interaction, e.g. in Line 3, the underlined words mean ‘one hundred shillings’ in different parts of the city: nikikuitisha ing’ang’a nakuitisha sɔɔ moja (If I ask you for ing’ang’a I am asking you for sɔɔ moja). The four refrains in between the stanzas of the song mention 20 specific neighbourhoods of Nairobi (highlighted in bold) whose names are typical of Sheng coinages in two ways: clipping of words or names, and favouring the ending -ish/-ich, if not a heavy syllable (long vowel), e.g. Okongɔɔ for Makongeni or Isich for Eastlands, Kibich (Kibera) or Eldii (Eldoret). With the exception of Westii (Westlands), all those mentioned are low income, densely populated, housing estates; some are called ‘slums’ in Kenyan English, e.g. Kibera (Kibich), Kawangware (Ongwarɔɔ) and Korogocho. The rest are old council or low to mid income, civil servant quarters of the city which are strongly identified with Sheng talk. Nonetheless, the singer is aware of the Sheng community beyond Nairobi: five of Kenya's main cities are mentioned in this Sheng anthem: Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret, Nakuru, and Thika. These are big cities with large, multi-ethnic populations comparable to that of Nairobi, although to a lesser degree in terms of multilingualism, and where Sheng is widely spoken. In between the choruses, the singer educates the listener about different expressions and words of Sheng, and what they mean in other varieties of Sheng, e.g. Line 6 kutia blanda ni kujiingiza (make a mistake, blunder), or in general Kenyan Swahili (KS), e.g. Line 2: kutoka chwa ni kutoka mbio (run off fast).