For every song that unites us, like Rufftone’s Mungu Baba, there is a song that calls out the immorality of our society, like Winyo, Kamaa and Kitu Sewer’s Angalia Saa. Kenya has a long history of protest songs, from vernacular hits in the 80s and 90s that were layered in innuendos, to contemporary jams that said, ‘hey, get you act together.’ For every prayer like “Mungu Baba twaomba, uilinde nchi yetu tuishi kwa umoja, Chuki isi tumalize, tusameheane tupendane, Ni wewe Mungu pekee,” there is a hard-hitting song that creates a distinction between true patriots and betrayers, with, “Na-dedicate-ia hii, Ma-hero wote wa Kenya, Kila mtu…
Author: Mkala Mwaghesha
Collage of Nyashinski, Nikita Kering, Redsan and Xtatic. [Courtesy] Take the whole Blankets and Wine experience out of the way and nothing else has captured the imagination of a country than Yariasu, the 13-song album that Nyashinski dropped the other day. The opinions have come in hard and strong, and for the first time in probably the artiste’s entire existence, there is no consensus on whether his art and craft, in this case a feature body of work, is great, or not. “Unpopular opinion: Nyashinski needs Cedo. Cedo does not need Nyashinski,” one X user wrote, another writing, “That Nyashinski album…
The stage is set, the lights are being polished, the line up picked, and the rhymes books are being dusted off. “Mko tayari?” Kalamashaka asked, tapping Johnny Vigeti’s line from arguably Kenya’s first contemporary continental hit, ‘Fanya Mambo’. In just a single post, Kalamashaka set the stage for what could potentially be one of the events of the year, Kulture. Organised by Kulture Experience, and specifically Fakii Liwali, the October festival is dubbed as ‘A 2000s KE Music Throwback Experience’, and will aptly take place at Carnivore, one of Kenya’s showbiz hallowed grounds. “Back to where it started,” Kalamashaka stated. The…
In his essay, ‘The Decay or Lying’, famous Irish author, poet, and playwright Oscar Wilde explores the idea that “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life,” suggesting that art shapes how we perceive and experience life, rather than simply reflecting it. Think of King Von. The highly influential Chicago street rapper was a dangerous man, a gang-affiliated jailbird suspected to have murdered tens of people. He was eventually dubbed as “Rap’s first serial killer” after his death when more details of his gangster life came out. While it seems like he was just rapping, an analysis of his pen has revealed…
When British RnB singer Craig David sang ‘I’m walking away, from the troubles in my life, I’m walking away, oh, to find a better day,’ he wasn’t describing the industry he was a big part of, or that he would also take time away from it. At one point, when one of his albums bombed, he moved to Florida to focus his attention away from music and onto weightlifting and the party scene. When Talia Oyando quit showbiz in her late 20s, she pointed out that she needed to breathe; take time off to enjoy what her peers were doing. “I…