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The African Accent

• June 03, 2009
• The Sheng Collabo [Part 1]

  Posted: June 3rd, 2009, 11:12pm EDT

  It began in the most unassuming way. I was tired from work and really out of it, when an email from Chasing Distraction changed everything. Being the ever excited zums, Distractions was eager to tell me that he had learned to 'shika rada' that day. "From where? Whose rada? Who is rada?" The Canadian public broadcasters, CBC Radio was his response.
  
  "Ala?!"
  
  I looked for the show he was talking about, and sure enough, I found it . There was this dude called Ras Dunkie, among others, who had taken over the airwaves, and was impressing the heck out of this ka-Canadian reporter doing a documentary. I had to learn a little more about Dunkie. So, I googled his ass.
  
  Here was an ambitious Kenyan dedicating a lot of work to creating the first online Sheng kamusi/dictionary. To harness something as fluid as Sheng was impressive in itself. I was a bit skeptical, so, I kept my distance for a while, but with an eye on Dunkie.
  
  I went back to listen to the show again. [click here and scroll to November 3rd, 2008. Listen to Part 1 - it is in MP3 format]
  
  ... Continued on The Sheng Collabo [Part 2]
  
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