John Kariuki
6 May 2005
opinion
Nairobi — The local media calls them celebrities, but when they venture overseas in search of international success, they find that nobody is interested in the poor imitations most Kenyan artistes call music.
When Kenyan musician Nameless (David Mathenge) left for the US last year, some were hopeful that it would lead to an international breakthrough. He had fared well locally, and he had even begun to be viewed as a pop idol of sorts. But America has not worked for him and his music. He is back and now talking of seeking a new music direction.
Similarly, the Ogopa DJs, who are behind much of the activity on the local hip-hop scene, are also looking to change their music.
More recently, Chris Kantai, another Kenyan who thought he would make it big in the US, returned with tales of woe, and he, too, appears to have suffered a severe career setback there.
They are all part of the current trend, where Nairobi-based artistes are heading overseas in search of international success. Unfortunately, like their colleagues before them, they are finding out that all the flattery they read in local media does not count in real terms. It's all hype, but the artistes have become victims of it.
Basically, Kenya has two types of stars; the media-made stars who know how to get all the publicity they need, and the real stars who are too busy working on their next project to be bothered with the media. The former hog the limelight and have become more focused on pushing for overseas markets.
The wave started in the 60s, when the song Malaika, by Fadhili Williams, became an international hit. Since then, the allure of Europe and America has continued to draw Nairobi-based artistes, but the shock that they were on the wrong musical platform was too much to bear and most of them broke up on return.
Among the pioneer go-getters was the late Kelly Brown, who originally set off for London, where he was humbled by promoters who told him that if all he had to offer were imitations of American star James Brown, they would rather settle for the real man, not an imitation. Disappointed, he went to Germany, which was less competitive. However, even in Germany, he struggled for years without achieving any real success.
Following Kelly Brown to London were Air Fiesta Matata, who had perfected their act as copycat US band. However, they, too they were dismissed for lack of originality.
The one exception among Kenyan groups seeking recognition abroad are the Ashantis, who went to Switzerland in the late 1960s after a long spell in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, and settled down easily. But the advantage was that, coming from a jazz background, they were truly professional players. One of the rarely told stories is that after listening to then 16-year-old Paddy Gwada play the guitar in 1962, US jazz great Louis Armstrong was so impressed by Gwada's technique that he offered to adopt him, but the youngster's father would hear none of it.
There has been a succession of Kenyan groups heading to London and all hitting their heads against a brick wall. Some have learnt from their experience while others have not.
Among the relatively recent cases from the urban pop scene are Hardstone, Five Alive -who had built their act around US group Boyz II Men - and Safari.
Commendably, Eric Wainaina, a one-time member of Five Alive, has been able to re-invent himself, with a turnaround that has seen him shift inspiration from American to African music. But he has yet to find his sound.
The tragedy of the local music scene is the deceptions it continues to propagate. The urban artistes still suffer the American hangover and many believe that the way to international success is by closely positioning themselves to American music. It may work in terms of getting club engagements in Nairobi, but the recording market is based on originality, which many of them lack.
In fact, their major setback is that outside Kenya, nobody wants to hear cultural imitations so widely advanced here. But having grown on the club circuit, most - mainly Nairobi youth - want to sound as American as possible because it probably impresses their local fans. But it does not sell CDs. There is the argument that many more are rapping or singing in Kiswahili, but for anyone not keen on the lyrics, they sound American in both style and intonation.
Incidentally, this resistance to home-grown music by young musicians has seen the better structured and much more expressive music from Tanzania gradually eat into the Kenyan market. But it does not threaten Suzanna Owiyo or Queen Jane, whose musical identity has a clear trademark. Both are featured on the Afropop music compilation released worldwide last year, which presents their music to a global audience.
For real lessons about what it takes to achieve international acclaim, Muungano National Choir remains a potent example of what is expected of Kenyan music. It is the only Kenyan music group to have featured in the prestigious Billboard Music Charts when its album, Missa Luba, was placed second on the World music charts in 1994. The album features songs in Kenyan languages, lightly accompanied by the kayamba a percussion instrument from the coastal region, and other traditional shakers.
But in as much as artistes are blamed for refusing to see the light, entertainment writers are also partly to blame for perpetuating this deception about sounding American. Granted, hip-hop acts have a sense of display that makes them media friendly since they make better pictures, but ultimately, it is the music that sells.
The latest casualty have got to be Sema, the trio born of the Coca Cola Pop Star search, who had potential but were mishandled at two levels: getting the wrong music direction, and far too much press coverage. When they failed to live up to expectations, the pressure obviously got to the trio, inevitably leading to their current woes.
For entertainment writers, this might be the appropriate time to shelve the term 'celeb' and wait till a real celebrity comes along. For now, it is only destroying young careers.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2005 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
