Ignite Culture Grantee: Bomas of Kenya

2 min readJul 6, 2022

Bomas of Kenya is a cultural centre and state agency that works to preserve, maintain, educate and promote the rich, diverse cultures of various ethnic groups in Kenya.

Their ongoing granted project, the SampleBar is in partnership with Libido Music (Sweden). It’s an interactive showcase of traditional music from different regions in Kenya. It hopes to improve visual literacy of audiences, visibility of makers and access to new markets for creative and cultural goods and services from Eastern Africa. It is also an effective tool for teachers to demonstrate to students Kenya’s musical heritage and for music professionals to (re)discover the unique traditional sounds of Kenya.

The SampleBar Kenya is the first of its kind in Africa and they have already hit the ground running sourcing and digitally recording traditional tunes from various counties in Kenya such as Bungoma, Homa Bay, Siaya, Kakamega and Busia.