The dead tell no tales goes the old adage.
Days after the sad and abrupt demise and quick burial of Tv star Charles Bukeko aka Papa Shirandula, Churchill show host Mr Daniel Ndambuki known by his stage name as Churchill has opened up on the Papa Shirandula many never knew.
Speaking during a Churchill show programme hosted in honor of the fallen hero, Mr Ndambuki opens up by narrating how Papa scouted him at the Kenya National theatre thus starting their long journey as comedians and friends untill death came in between them.
“I met Charles in 1999 while acting at KNT(Kenya National theatre). I was majoring in set books like Ame zidi, Betrayal in the city etc. One day a chance presented itself for me to act in a play calles malooned. I acted as a street boy. Charles then acted as a watchman. Little did we know that this role as a watchman was later to transform his entire career giving birth to Papa Shirandula.
Besides malooned, we acted in several other plays. There is this play I was acting as a shoe shiner and Papa was to be my client. During the cast, Papa had sent everybody laughing and so when he showed up as my client, I remembered some of his jokes and laughed. ‘Hapo jamaa alinichapa kofi cha ukweli and he told me to be serious” in short Charles took his acting seriously” narrated Ndambuki.
How Charles Bukeko became Papa Shirandula.
According to a neighbour, Charles Bukeko was first tasked with the responsibility of looking for young Maasai guys to work as watchmen in Kaloleni estate in Nairobi.
“Charles came here as a young man in the 90s, we weren having issues with estate thieves so we asked him to recruit some guards and I think that is how thisv watchman character was born for he was technically the head watchman a role he played well” a neighbour said.
Mrs Bukeko speaks.
“One day Charles came home and told me that he has been given a task to write a Tv script in which he was to be the main character. I was happy for him untill he told me that his main role will be acting as a watchman. It even got funny when he told me that the name of the programme would be Papa Shirandula. Well Shirandula happens to be a nickname of his uncle in the village. The uncle used to say if you have anything just “randula” it yaani rarua tu hii maisha hence Papa Shirandula ” mrs Bukeko added.
Papa nurtured many other talents who have mourned him by paying a glowing tribute to him. They include Jalang’o,Otoyo Njoro etc
