Alternative Scene Connoisseur
Listen to what browsing the #PlayKEMusic hashtag on twitter got us. The beautiful voice of Miss Magero over sublime dancehall beat.
Elizabeth Magero is a Reggae/Ragga, contemporary, urban singer/songwriter based in Nairobi. Although she has been singing professionally since 2016, “Oh na na na” is her first release .
This track was produced by Lematross, who together with Producer Jay, are working with Miss Magero on her upcoming album.
Reading Time: 3 minutes Today the world celebrated the International Women’s Day. In the recent past, there have been major milestones by women in the music industry. Coincidentally, today happens to be the first day for Africa Nouveau, one of Africa’s premier festivals owned and run by power woman Muthoni Drama Queen.
Rada ni safi babe kamu hivi
Lenga hio daro kam saa hizi
Opportunity Utachizi
Raundi hii si bahatishi
As I was going through my Instagram feed, I came across a snippet of a sweet reggae tune and I liked it and sought to hear the full song. Wira sings of an experience which most of us have been in. A blossoming campus love but the hostel rooms are shared, so someone has to be exiled.
This is Angie Wira’s second track of her debut EP after releasing “Vitisho” featuring Manio. It is a track that’s based on a flashback that illustrates “exiling” a roommate in campus, in a bid to enjoy some private time with a new lover.
ira is a singer, song writer, performer and a young entrepreneur.
Reading Time: 2 minutes The allegiance of an artist is to the art, and to the truth.
Shot by Mike Lolly P, the video is said to have cost to the excess of Ksh 200,000. When the video was released, Sana Sana shot up to the number one spot on #TheJumpOffHBR charts. It toppled heavyweights Khaligraph Jones and veteran rapper Abbas Doobiez.
#SOUNDCLOUDSUNDAYS Track 3 officially out.
Featuring @scar_mkadinali (cause ametaka kunijua for a while.)
We went bar for bar on this one 👊🏿 this is one of my faves. Full track available here https://t.co/kFaOoLYMQg pic.twitter.com/uvGa3n7rw8— WANGECHI (@wangechikenya) November 25, 2018
Writing on instagram, Wangechi announced that she would be releasing a track every sunday for a month. She noted that this project had been easy to work on as she did not have to worry about producing a hit song. Produciton for the #SoundCloudSundays series was handled by Benz.On.IT and Zenchkiid.
During an interview with Kenyanvibe.com, Scar spoke more about his desire to work with Wangechi. Constantly sending his music to Wangechi, Scar decided to rap about it on the Khaligraph Jones Cypher in 2016. This increased the push for a collaboration between the two artists as fans too started demanding. At first, Wangechi did not give it much thought as she did not know Scar but once she got to understand the lyrics better, she reached out.
“Ambia Wangechi kuna venye naeza taka kumjua” – Scar, Khaligraph Jones Cypher, 2016.
Scar is part of rapping duo Wakadinali together with Domani Munga. They linked around 2003/5 and started rapping as friends. Together they have released several singles and 2 mixtapes, Ndani ya Cockpit 1 & 2.
Last updated 12-03-2019: More information regarding the collaboration
Reading Time: 2 minutes Benga is the illegitimate son born out of an encounter between Cuban dance music, Zairean fingerstyle guitar, and the Luo Nyatiti tradition.
Reading Time: < 1 minute you can check all the exclusive sessions here featuring 1-hour mixes by Jack Rooster, Jinku, Saint Evo, OneDown and more.
About 5 years ago, my friend Hezzy and I decided to start a blog about electronic music culture. It was the initial years and it has morphed into various groups and individuals. Each doing outstanding work and creating their own lanes.
Do it for the love me nuh do it for the likes. ✌🏿
— Blinky (@HeyHeyBlinky) February 14, 2018
You have to understand that 5 years ago there weren’t as many House music producers/DJs in Nairobi as there are now. There’s a running joke that if you throw a stone in Nairobi you’ll hit a DJ. Down the rabbit hole, we have discovered so many artists that at one point it overwhelmed our two-man army. Seriously, our submission box is full of music, some exceptionally good and quite a number of them completely horrible. Compared to back then, there are more House gigs happening around Nairobi and elsewhere. Salute to the pioneers doing their thing in the outliers.
What I’m driving at is that at the center of it all is the music.
In that span of time, we’ve major wins like Black Coffee playing Abiro at Tomorrowland, Major Lazer coming to Kenya twice (some might argue 3 times), DJ Coco-Em building an international reputation and setting records at the same time, and so many success stories that they’ll need their individual stories. This has come with some friction, as is life, but we will ignore that for now.
What I’m driving at is that at the centre of it all is the music. It is the fact that you create something special that people want. The politics don’t matter.
Do it for the love me nuh do it for the likes. ✌🏿
— Blinky (@HeyHeyBlinky) February 14, 2018
The more music and other creative interests are pursued the bigger the pool from which we select becomes. It is for everyone who purports to support the music to actively support the scene by attending events, listening to music, buying music as well as introducing more people to the culture. On the other hand, the responsibility of the artist is to create music of the highest quality to the best of their ability and provide captivating performances in their shows. So please, start the music.