I read an email and then an article in last weeks Zuqka magazine that was talking about how one of the Kenyan artist based in the US was dissatisfied with the amount of promotion Kenyan artists based in the US get in East Africa vs the amount of promotion the East African artists get in the US. He cited the problem to be on disgruntled DJ’s and other personalities that didn’t take initiative to support Kenyan artistry in the US.
To me – or let me rephrase… Personally I don’t like that word “SUPPORT”. I believe no one should support anyone. You should buy, listen or play music because its GOOD, period. We don’t maintain this website because we support African artists. We sustain this website based on the basic premise that most of the music we feature here is GOOD music. So I am conflicted by the recent uproar as much as I may agree with him slightly I think his argument was a little far fetched in that I think if you have good music people wont ignore it – PERIOD. I also think that Kenyan/African artists in the US need to focus on their markets – if you are based here, focus on this market, make yourself a star here – then no one in Kenya will ignore you. Thats why i embrace the whole Chava movement/ Vyba/ SkoolFiz and em – because they don’t care what the rest of the world thinks, they just do their thing (and frankly we feature the stuff we think is good). (I mean I don’t think TOD is worried about doing a gig in Kenya anytime soon 🙂 )
This is by no means a disrespect to the people who are not feeling Kenyan DJs or East African media companies for ignoring their music. This is simply me saying that you can do without them – if you focus on your craft in the US, you can live off this market without even noticing where Kenya is. One of my good friends called Victor Silah is a Kamba who successful flourishes in the American market – http://victorsila.com/. Victor loves Kenya but he understands his music is for a different market and out here he is a star. People like Shu, Knaan, Corneille, Bamboo and em the list is endless…
Having said that, I am inclined to debut this brand spanking new Chidi Benz which is just plain good music. I don’t know Chidi Benz nor do I know who his cousin is – but what I do know is the man just keeps making good music. This track produced by Lemar is a killer track – nice mellow, jazzy – yet still BONGO. My man Rashid “msanii wa kizazi kipya” is just one terrific artist. I strongly believe if you have such an ear for sound, a talent for lyrics and a persona for the masses then there is no stopping you.
Enjoy this KILLER track from Tanzania
listen to chaguo langu here:
[audio:http://getmziki.s3.amazonaws.com/Chidi_Benz-Chaguo_Langu.mp3]download the track here:
