Communicative viability of <i>Nyatiti</i> music within selected sub-counties in Siaya

Abstract

The study presented in this article was concerned with evaluating the current role played by Nyatiti Music in communication among the rural population of Siaya County. Nyatiti is among the most popular traditional musical instrument in Siaya. The lyrics that are accompanied by the instruments are designated after its name as „Wende Nyatiti‟ (Nyatiti songs). The Nyatiti songs are valued not only as forms of entertainment but also for their informative roles. The conceptualization of this paper arose due to the curiosity concerning the current status of Nyatiti as a viable medium of communication in Siaya County. About a decade ago, research was conducted that portrayed that a significant number of the population in the area had no access to the Print and Electronic Media form of communication. In order to gauge the communicative viability of Nyatiti songs, samples of the relevant songs were selected, translated and analyzed. Purposive and Snowball techniques of Sampling were employed to select the required number of study respondents. The communicative capacity of the Nyatiti songs was evaluated based on the results of the quasi-experimental process and the opinionnaire Likert scale results.