Kwanbo Kaleta song was originally sang by Rosa Koe Ng'asura as a praising poem that carried a historical message. The song praises the Kipsigis leader Kipchomber arap Koilegen from Kapturugat family in Nandi, which is traced to the Kobogoi family of Uasin Ngishu Maasai. Koilegen lived in a village around the Kiptere area, later named “Cherire” in Kericho County, Kenya.
It is documented that a mysterious bull with a ring on its nose came to Koilegen’s home in Cherire. The colonial administrators traced the owner of the bull in all the white settler farms in Kenya and as far as Nyasaland (Malawi), and they could not identify the owner. When the ear tag number of the bull was sent to England, it showed that the bull belonged to King George IV. The herders always protected the bull while it grazed in the field. The bull sired another bull owned by a son of Koilegen. This bull grazed with other cows in the field and often carried shrubs and bushes when it arrived home in the evening. The horns were carved and would tangle dry wood, which remained on the horns until it reached home in the evening. "Chebocheramngoi” the wife of a son of arap Koilegen, was always happy to use the shrubs as firewood. Mama Rosa Koe Ngasura in the song termed Koilegen’s home “ Cherire Ma Lakwa” meaning the place of a crying child that was never seen. Rosa Koe Ngasura ends the song by saying that she lived at the home of her husband, Ngasura.
The bull’s story in the song is a true story that was sung by the Kipsigis people during annual circumcision and chemelil ceremonies from 1910. This was a way of communicating the message to as many people as possible before the advent of radio, television, and newspapers.
The “Cherire” name in the song was coined as follows; Rev. Hotchkiss, a missionary, visited Koilegen & his family at his home in Kiptere, Kericho District. He carried his Gramophone, which he usually played at his church to attract more members to join the church. He played a record in which a child was crying. When people heard a child crying in the ‘box’ (Gramophone), they surrounded it, looking for the crying child, which they could not see. Later on, the people named the home of arap Koilegen “Cherire” (the place of a crying child) the name that has remained to date. This is where Cherire School, Cherire Church, Cherire shops, etc, are located.
The detailed story of the bull is captured in the two Talai books “ The Kipsigis Talai…” and “ The Once Powerful Talai Clan, A Trail of Tears” found on the Amazon and local bookshops in Kenya.