image courtesy of Kanji & Kweli
A few years ago when I was still in Kenya I had the honor and pleasure of working with Victor Seii, although I must admit that I enjoyed most of our time partying and exploring Dar es Salaam better than working together. For a short while Victor was based in Dar es Salaam where I was living at the time, we hooked up and just kicked it because we had two things in common in a foreign/different country – Music and Kenya. Victor is one free spirited dude, you can pretty much do whatever with Victor, he likes booze, likes chics and likes cars – the only thing we didn’t agree on was the guffs, mostly because I don’t smoke. Either way it only takes you a few sessions to notice that the man is a small musical genius.
As much as this post is about Kanji, I thought it was important to highlight the creator of this project. This song was part of a Safaricom project that went slightly south a few years ago. Its unfortunate it didn’t get the awareness it deserved because this is probably the only or the best Christmas compilation album from Kenya to date (unless there is something else out there that I am unaware about). Victor assembled a variety of talented vocalist, musicians and singers to put together this eclectic piece of Kenyan history that very few people know about. I’ve had a copy for years now and each December I normally send the singles I like to my friends but this year I think I will share them with the GetMziki community.
Probably the hottest song is this Kanji inspired track that comes with a blend of English and Kyuk. The first time I heard this song, I was like is Kanji twenging in Kyuk? or am I just losing it? LOL. Either way as a Kyuk this song would make me proud because the delivery in both languages just sounded fresh. The actual compilation album has a little bit of everything for everyone, probably more jazzy than Christmas-ish but still overall a classic musical album. I am actually contemplating posting more Christmas spirited and inspired tracks over the next few weeks… what do you think?
For now enjoy this one
listen to God Rest Ye merry Gentlemen here:
[audio:http://files.getmziki.com/God_Rest_ye_Merry_Gentlemen-Kanji_Mbugua.mp3]download the track here:
