Music Team
We are musicians in Theory & Practice!
Sylvester Makobi
Doctoral Candidate in Music at Jacobs School of Music
Indiana University
Sylvester Makobi, a native of Nairobi, Kenya, made his Carnegie Hall debut in May 2024. He is a recipient of both the Emerging Artist Award and the Artistic Advancement Award, granted by the Bloomington Arts Commission, IN. Makobi has won first prize in three solo singing categories for university students and faculty at the Kenya Music Festival. Makobi is also a recipient of the US Department of State, Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship.
Born into a musical family, Makobi grew up surrounded by various genres of music. He decided to pursue a career in music while in high school when he started participating in the annual Kenya Music Festival and performing with the Mamlaka Choir. Makobi continued his formal music training at the Kenya Conservatoire of Music, studying singing with Nancy Day and piano with Lola Akwabi and Jacinta Mulaku. Later, he specialized in singing at Kenyatta University, studying under Dr Elizabeth Andang’o, Dr. Evelyne Mushira, and Dr. Duncan Wambugu. At Kenyatta University, he also studied Kenyan instruments, including the Chivoti with Raymond McKenzie, Gonda drums with Barisa Dhidha, Nyatiti with Prof. Charles Nyakiti, and Obokano with Dominic Ogari.
Makobi’s professional career began with the Kenyan Boys Choir, where he performed as a tenor and soloist and later as an assistant choir trainer. He also served as the assistant choral trainer for the Kenyan choir during the search for the East African Community Anthem. He then served as the Music Director of the acappella group Taifa Mziki. Makobi has also performed with the Mushandirapamwe Singers, a group of classically trained singers from the Pan-African Diaspora. Makobi’s performances have taken him to Uganda, Tanzania, the UK, France, China, and multiple states in the United States.
In Kenya, he performed with the Ravenna Festival Chorus under the baton of Ricardo Muti, performed as a soloist at State House, Nairobi, with the Kenya Conservatoire of Music Orchestra for the Kenyan President and his guests, as well as celebrations for the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Makobi’s concert repertoire includes five performances with orchestra and nine opera roles. He has been involved in the recording of five albums, where he is featured as a tenor soloist and played various Kenyan instruments, including Ohangla drums, Chivoti, Nyatiti, and Kĩgamba.
Makobi has served as a leader in various organizations, some of them including President of Indiana University, Graduate Students in African Studies; Treasurer of the Kenyan Classical Singers Organization; Student Representative of the Kenya Scholars and Studies Association; and Organizing Secretary of Kenya Students in Diaspora. He has presented papers at various conferences, some including the African Studies Association Annual Meeting, the Kenya Scholars and Studies Association Conference, the American Choral Director Association Conference, and the Indiana University Annual International Conference on Africa. He is also a member of all the above-mentioned organizations the National Association of Teachers of Singing and the International Federation for Choral Music.
Makobi continues to serve various communities in Nairobi and Bloomington, IN. He was the 2019 recipient of the Carlton Hodge Prize, awarded by the African Studies Program to an Indiana University doctoral student for their commitment to excellence in African Studies, outreach, and other activities directed to the wider public. Makobi is a Board Member of the Kenya Students in Diaspora Foundation. Currently, Makobi is a Doctor of Music candidate at Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, studying singing with Marietta Simpson and pursuing PhD minors in Ethnomusicology, Music History, and Arts Administration. He also holds a Graduate Certificate in Vocology for Vocalists from Indiana University.
Dr. Wilson O. Shitandi
Dr. Wilson O. Shitandi is currently an Academic Advisor at the O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He's also an Adjunct Lecturer at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University (IU). He continues to pursue his professional development as a graduate student of Academic Advising at IU in the School of Education. He is also an interpreter (Kiswahili) with Exodus Refugee Services in Bloomington, Indiana.
Previously, he worked as the Director of Post-Graduate Studies at Kabarak University, and as founding Associate Dean and senior lecturer in the School of Music and Media. He supervised Masters and Doctoral students' exams and defenses across the university, and taught courses in ethnomusicology and African music, including traditional dance, instrumental, and vocal music, as well as courses in composition, harmony and counterpoint. A former DAAD Scholar, Dr. Shitandi completed his research studies at the universities of Mainz and Hildesheim in Germany and at Kenyatta University, under the guidance of Prof. Wolfgang Bender, Prof. Emily Okuno, and Prof. Charles Nyakiti.
Dr. Shitandi is an active choral member and conductor, and he is a strong advocate of community-based music making as a vehicle towards social change. To this end, he and other music educators in Kenya and the USA 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. Dr. Shitandi 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, he sings, composes, and arranges African indigenous music, national songs, and Euro-American classical music. He has 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 emeritus of St. Cecilia Holy Cross Choir in Nairobi, a board member of the Bloomington (Indiana) Symphony Orchestra, founding member and principal director of Star Chorale, and a founding member of the Tunaweza Kimuziki initiative. He is also a member of Society for Ethnomusicology, a member and the Kenyan Representative at the Kenya Scholars and Studies Association (USA), member and Dean emritus of the American Guild of Organists (Nairobi chapter), Pan African Musical Arts Education, Nairobi Choral Music Society, Rotary (Bloomington Indiana district), and Voces Novae.
