Kongolo is a collection of short tunes that are sung by young children whenever they gather to play after a long day of school work. Traditionally, the children incorporate various activities into the performance –and so is the name,’singing game’. The activities may range from subtle to elaborate dance movements and which might include chasing one another, throwing balls and ducking, travelling on an imaginary train or bus, tug of war, rope jump etc. The song starts with a tune that invites the children into the arena. Preferably sung by girls, the children move into the arena by skipping and hobbling to the rhythm of the music while holding at akimbo. Normally the children execute these body movements while balancing a woven traditional basket on their heads. I’ll sooner or later provide an illustration of these body movements/gestures. The general meaning of the opening theme is as follows: Msichana atembea na kikapu cha maji –A girl is walking with a basket of water Acheza ndi ndi dadangu –She is playing ndi ndi my sister Akusalimu jambo -She is greeting you hello Asema jambo -She says hello Asema sijambo -She says she is fine The middle section employs two short thematic ideas that are running concurrently. The first melodic idea runs in the 1st and 2nd voice. Its performance involves the girls encircling their arms around their friends’ stomachs from behind so that a file is created. The two voices face each other and the girl in front tries to shield members of her group from being reached (touched/attached) by the opponents. The opponents are regarded as monsters trying to attack the group to devour the children (members). The second tune in the 3rd voice involves children holding each other’s shoulders from behind so that a long file of an imaginary train is created. The children march to the rhythm of the music in a meandering way to imitate the movement of a train. The general meaning of the textual themes of the two melodic episodes is as follows: Kongolo,kongolo -Kongolo kongolo (nonsensical text –has no meaning) Na jitu hili -And this monster Linawamaliza watoto wetu -He (the monster) is devouring our children Kapera kweli -He’s really a bachelor Na gari la moshi chukuchuku -And the train Kabeba mahindi -It is carrying maize Kabeba watoto wetu -It Is caring our children It is worth noting that this medley is an arrangement of tunes from Luhya dialect. Luhya is one of the 43 Kenya ethnic communities. It is the second largest community and predominantly found in the western part of the Country. Thus the Kiswahili text used in this song is an adaptation of the original Luhya text. The third section is simply a recap of the opening section and so this gives the music a clear structure of an ABA form