In Review: Ndung’u Mbithi’s Mahaba Yatatuua

This is for the haunted lovers. Lovers who like to mix in a bit of existential angst to their passion. Lovers who want to play Lana del Rey in the backgr

ound of a relationship-ending argument. For lovers of life who will have this haunting track playing in the background of the wildest night of their lives

Mahaba Yatatuua begins with hauntingly angelic vocals that hypnotize you setting you up for what is for sure going to be one for the books.

“Usipokuwa karibu // When you’re not near

Siezi pumua // I can’t breathe

Naaga, nafariki // I leave this world, I am buried

Oh, nakufa // Oh, I die

Nalia // I cry

This is a love that is obsessive. A love that burns bright, ever brighter because at its end there is nothing. No life, no light; it all ends with us. Maybe that’s why it burns so bright. If there is nothing but void thereafter, then I too would burn, if only to feel something.

“Nilikazana // I struggled

Na mawazo ya kutengana // With thoughts of separating

Umenifanya nihisi tena // You have made me feel again

Nilikazana kuhepa, mpenzi // I needed to run away, my love

Nikang’ang’ana kujifanya // I struggled again to pretend

Siwezi penda, // Like I could not love

lakini bana nakupenda // But man, I love you

Sitakudanganya tena // I won’t lie to you again

Na ukisema // And if you say

Hautaenda na mwingine // You will not go with another

Nitakupenda // I will love you

Hadi mahaba itumalize // until our love finishes us

This is a love with thorns. It is a love that each of them know will destroy them. And at first, our hero takes the prudent decision of backing away. Of staying away from the flame that will consume them whole. But deep down, they know that they will not get away from it, they cannot get away from it. And they come back, aching with the jealous declaration that if their lover walks this path with them, that if they can hold hands again, then come what may, “Nitakupenda hadi mahaba itumalize,” I will love you until our love consumes us whole. They will walk this doomed path together.

“Na nitafanya unachotaka // And I will do whatever you desire

Ulinifanya niwe mnyonge // You made me weak

Na sina haja na mwingine // I don’t have any use for anyone else

Ukijifanya huezi penda // And if you think you can’t love (me)

Nitakazana kukuonyesha mapenzi // I will show you love

Karibia nikueleze // Come closer, I will show you

This is a love that cuts both ways. Our hero is paralyzed by the love they share. It is a love that sets fire to the world, if only to bring each other closer, to make each other warmer. Our hero knows the doubt that accompanies this kind of love. They have experienced it first-hand, so they would know. “Come closer, I will show you love.”

The song ends with a haunting repetition of “Mahaba, mahaba, mahaba” love, love, love. It is difficult to ascertain where our hero is at this point. Are they lamenting from beyond the grave? Are they whispering to the object of this profound desire? Are they basking in the afterglow of a love that completed them? It is hard to tell. What remains for sure though, is that it was a love worth the price. “Mahaba Yatatuua.”

It did, and that’s okay.