21/11/2025
Osogo Winyo, the singing weaver bird, whose real name is John Okinyi, started playing music in a band since primary school in Migori. His first band was called 'Nyarongi Panga Orutu System' in which he was singing and drumming. Due to financial constraints, he was not able to pay his school fees for form 4 and decided to move to Nairobi to do jua kali work in Kayole. While doing the simple jobs, he continued playing music. Osogo says: 'I didn't prepare to be a musician, it just happened. I wasn't trained how to play drums, how to play the mouth organ or how to sing, I just found myself playing music. On stage I develop my songs spontaneously'.
“My dad was nicknamed Osogo, a name that comes from the bird that builds its nest during the season when maize is in plenty in my homeland. I therefore took that name but the fans gave me the surname ‘Winyo’ and I adopted all of them,” Osogo says.
2002 was the year that he recorded the first album: Migingo Orutu System. There after he formed the band under the name 'Osogo Winyo and the Ohangla Boys'. With the help of Omondi Pantha Osogo knew to record the following album Hummer in Mombasa in 2005. Then after that, Princess July was managing the recording for Ageng'o in Nairobi, 2008. Due to financial conflict with Princess July, Osogo Winyo decided to move on under his own label. Now he has just come up with his latest album: Wan Ji Ariyo. He performs all over the country and receives invites to show his talent abroad.
The Nation: "The organisers must have underestimated Osogo Winyo’s popularity with fans. Dressed in a black shirt and shorts , the Kisumu-based ohangla artiste electrified the crowd with his song Wan ji Ariyo." (TIM KAMUZU BANDA, February 28 2009)
The Nation: "New Ohangla sensation John Okinyi who is better known by his stage name Osogo Winyo of the Ohangla Boys band left the country on Wednesday night for one-month tour of Germany and Switzerland. (…) The soft-spoken artiste has lately taken the Kenyan music scene by storm, and leaves music lovers hollering for more whenever he performs. Until last year, a Kenyan would be forgiven for wondering who Osogo was. But right now, he belongs to the same ohangla exclusive club as the likes of brothers Tony and Jack Nyadundo of Africans Bulls Ohangla Band as well as Onyi Papa Jey of the Nyamolo International Ohangla band, Otieno Aloka of teh Aloka Ohangla traditional band and Odhis Less Less of Less Less Ohangla. And one cannot believe what great strides he has made in music, considering that 10 short years ago, he was only a watchman in his Migori home district, and not thinking much of music as a career. His small frame and coyness off stage belie the popularity and rising fortunes of a man whose stage name Osogo means the weaverbird, most probably because of the bird's industry and ingenuity.
