Dr. Wilson O. Shitandi is Associate Dean and senior lecturer at Kabarak University in the School of Music and Performing Arts. He teaches courses in ethnomusicology and African music, including traditional dance, instrumental, and vocal music, as well as courses in composition, harmony and counterpoint. He is a former DAAD Scholar, having undertaken research studies at the universities of Mainz and Hildesheim in Germany. He is an active choral conductor and is a strong advocate of community-based music making as a vehicle towards social change in Kenya. In this regard, he and other music educators from universities in Kenya and the USA have initiated a project called Tunaweza Kimuziki –a music and cultural exchange project that aims to nurture and promote music talents through workshops, online learning, seminars, and performances. Wilson has published in book chapters and peer reviewed journals with research interest in the areas of African music, ethnomusicology, musicology, hymnology, and choral music. In addition, Dr. Shitandi sings, composes, and arranges African indigenous and national songs, and Euro-American classical music; he has also earned an international reputation as an expert in Kenyan drumming and vocal music. Among his choral compositions are ten masses for mixed chorus in Kiswahili and English. He is the director of St. Cecilia Holy Cross Choir in Nairobi, a board member of MUZIKI for Africa and Utafiti Foundation, and a founding member of the Tunaweza Kimuziki initiative. Recently, Dr. Shitandi was appointed Dean of the Nairobi Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. He is also a member of the American Guild of Organists and Choral Directors, Pan African Musical Arts Education, International Council of Traditional Music, Historische Toenetrager Gesellschaft, and Nairobi Choral Music Society.
Dr. Shitandi is involved in several projects in Kenya and internationally, including St. Cecelia choir of Holy Cross parish, Kenyatta University Department of Music and Dance, Muziki 4 Kenya, Tunaweza Kimuziki, and Utafiti Foundation. Click here for more information about these projects.
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Dr. Shitandi has many compositions, arrangements, and publications available. Click here for sample performances and an overview of available works.
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