Fighting HIV/AIDS through performing song: benga oral poetry in Homabay and Rangwe sub-counties in Homabay county, western Kenya

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between the artist, the performance and the audience. It examines the audience's interaction with the oral performances and analyzes the impact that these performances have on the audience with regards to behavior change and HIV/AIDS. The main objective of this study is to examine the effectiveness of the HIV related messages deriving from the performance of Benga oral poetry. The study was carried out in Homabay and Rangwe Sub Counties of Homabay County, Kenya. Through this study, it has come to fore that Benga oral poetry performances have an enormous potential in communicating matters on HIV and AIDS and that the oral performances can be used as an effective tool to reach the inasses easily to spread the HIV/AIDS messages. It is therefore the study's conclusion that oral performances need to be used more as tools aiding the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS.