Frankfurt

Kenya, especially Nairobi, misses the former German ambassador and musician Walter Lindner.

Someone once said a good diplomat is one who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip. This may not be said of Walter Lindner, Germany’s immediate former ambassador to Kenya, but his words have been music to the ears of many Kenyans. Quite literally.

The ponytail-sporting diplomat, whose kind had not been witnessed before in the country, left an indelible mark in Kenya. “I am here as a friend of Kenya,” he always said. And a good friend he was, advising the fledgling coalition government when it was formed last year after the acrimonious fallout following the election dispute of December 2007.

Looking at Kenya’s coalition government then he saw light and shadow, and candidly said so. “What has to be understood is that a grand coalition is not a love affair. It is not about a party giving up its programmes for the sake of harmony in the coalition. It is about finding practical solutions to the pressing underlying problems facing Kenyans. They should not even expect a compromising spirit in a coalition because they are only on a limited period. What matters is the achievement you post at the end of the period and we have seen some things in the process,” he said in a press interview. “It is important to recognise that hiccups will always be there,” he added. “After all, the two rival parties do not abandon competitive politics by forming a coalition. The secret of such coalitions is to find a mechanism to solve the challenges that come up in a way that does not make people say that is the end of the coalition.”

Whether or not his advice was heeded is a different matter but the ambassador, whose diplomatic luggage included music recording equipment, helped foster peace through music. An artiste par excellence, Mr Lindner organised a peace concert in his residence in Muthaiga on the northern outskirts of Nairobi after he and other European Union and US diplomats voiced their concerns over the security and political situation that prevailed in Kenya at the time. More than 20 artistes performed at the concert under a "Peace for Kenya" banner. Among the performers were the Mystique Fusion, the ambassador’s band which he had formed with Kenyan musicians.

Mr Lindner has been declared the “hippest” ambassador to walk on Kenyan soil. With good reason. With his trademark ponytail, he cuts the figure of a rock star rather than a diplomat. Yet his stature in the eyes of Kenyans remains tremendous. He founded Kikwetu, an Afro-fusion music festival that brought out the best of Kenyan pop music. He then gave it a new taste with his grand old piano and other instruments he kept in his studio.

Born in 1956 in Munich, Mr Lindner studied for a music degree at the Richard Strauss Conservatory and Joe Haider Jazz School in Munich and later the Berklee Jazz School in Boston, US. He then studied law at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, "to make money and change the world". When started composing his own songs, he chose popular styles that incorporated aspects of soul, jazz and salsa.

After joining diplomatic service in Germany in 1988, he served in the Foreign Office in Bonn before going to Nicaragua and later New York. It was while he was in New York that he acquired some of the equipment that defines his mobile studio named Tucan, after the large colourful birds of South America and the Caribbean. So when he arrived in Nairobi with his studio and music equipment he started scouting for his ilk. He didn’t have to look far. There were artistes looking for a mentor and he provided a perfect one.

"When I came to Kenya, I wanted to listen to the music and understand the different types…So I bought local music, borrowed some from people, and listened to over 200 CDs,” he told the Daily Nation in an interview. “I travel with my studio wherever I go," he said. "But it is not for commercial purposes." The music he recorded continues to play in the airwaves and clubs in Nairobi. Kenyans only remember the man who now heads the Rapid Response Center at the Foreign Office in Berlin with nostalgia.

“I must say that Walter Lindner is one diplomat we will really miss,” said Kenyan entertainment writer Tim Kamuzu Banda. “When he was not in his diplomatic circles, he was with musicians or promoting our art.” One of the debates in Kenyan entertainment circles today is whether the government, to which he handed the management of the Kikwetu festival, will run it as he did. On that matter, the jury is still out.