The year has been culturally exhilarating.
Globally and nationally, it has witnessed several events that shook the world and the country in different ways, individually and collectively, especially within the arts industry. In Kenya, the music industry has had its share of kicks.
From major concerts to new album releases and debuts of new faces to scandals to deaths, 2024 has been serving surprises every month since January.
Positively, Kenyan music is increasingly getting recognition abroad - for instance, for the first time in history, Genge was added as a category for the 2024 Grammy Awards. Further, Kenyan artists had many opportunities to perform abroad in festivals and shows, mostly in Europe and the United States.
European countries like Germany and the Netherlands are increasingly hosting Kenyan musicians for international shows. There seems to be a strong appreciation for diverse cultures and traditional sounds in Europe.
Historically, Europe has always appreciated good art as long as they can connect with it and the European audience has been fundamental in creating many global legends, such as Bob Marley or The Beatles. Besides, with a culture of summer festivals, European audience are known to be more experimental in their taste for music, especially for live performances.
In July, the electro-afro-pop artist and producer embarked on a two-month tour in Germany, organized in partnership with Tha Movement and Cathy Matete in a lineup of shows that kicked off in Datteln (near Dortmund) and ran across different cities in Germany, including Frankfurt, Berlin, and Hamburg.
Known for a number of hits including his latest debut (a single) ‘Beta’ which he co-produced, Mutoriah has been in the scene for over a decade with three albums and produced bigtime hits like ‘Inauma’ the essential post break-up song by Bien, ‘Lucy’ by Bensoul, and ‘Rhumba’ by Wanavokali, among others.
Producer, singer, song writer and music director Mutoriah Mwaura.
“The experience was incredible, we met so many amazing artists and recorded so much music. We even managed to extend our journey to the Netherlands, which was another amazing opportunity to showcase Kenyan sounds to a European audience,” he says.
“The reception was amazing. Unlike back home, where audiences are familiar with the music and its cultural context, European audiences often responded with genuine curiosity and enthusiasm. The connection was a reminder of how powerful and universal music can be.”
While there, he bumped into an Asian band in Frankfurt whose sound piqued his interest.
“They were a traditional band,” he says, “The sound was old but had high energy. I have been consuming that sound and I may sample it.”
Winyo at the Paris Olympics and The Comoros
If you are a fan of Benga (or if you have been alive long enough) you probably already know Shiphtone Onyango, artistically known as ‘Winyo’, who started off as part of the trio in the band called ‘Rateng’ before he ventured off as a solo artist, where he’s released- among many other works- one of Benga’s greatest albums ‘Benga Blues’ together with Ketebul Music (founded by Tabu Osusa).
In the last few years, Winyo has diversified his sound, venturing into Bengatronics- a fusion of Benga and Electronics sounds that involves infusing digital influences such as real-time remixing, sampling, and improvisation of arrangements in a live performance setting into Benga sounds- and worked with big DJs like Suraj and Euggy to produce funky music like ‘Sazile’ and ‘Nyoro’ .
Winyo performs on stage at the Benga Connect concert at The Winning Post on August 12, 2023.
Photo credit: Francis Nderitu | Nation Media Group
In June this year, Winyo was invited to perform at the Nuits Metis Festival at Miramas (Southern France) which is where the Kenyan Olympics village camp was. Accompanied by Liboi, a singer/songwriter and Kalimba instrumentalist, Winyo performed on several stages including with Eddy Kamau, from Miramas, with whom they did a collaboration on a song titled ‘Running for Gold’.
Upon his return, Winyo travelled again to the Comoros to perform at the African Union’s 6th Pan-African Cultural Congress in September.
Prince Indah and Apesi in Europe
Prince Indah has had a good year, musically. Apart from new releases such as ‘Nyar Jadwong’ and ‘Mali Safi’ (with Okello Max and Nadia Mukami), he has been on our screens a lot, and for all the fun reasons- even starring in a local film at some point and most recently, in December, as a nominee for the state award of the Order of Great Warrior (O.G.W) presented to him by the president on Jamhuri Day, in recognition of an outstanding service rendered to the country in different responsibilities and capacities.
Prince Indah during a past live performance at Carnivore Restaurant in Nairobi.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
In October, he left for a tour in Europe, starting in Amsterdam then to Germany (Berlin and Nunberg) and Helsinki in Finland. Dubbed the ‘Malaika Tour’ , Prince Indah performed for both Kenyan and foreign audiences living in these cities and was accompanied by Stanley Otieno, artistically known as Apesi- a young Ohangla/Benga musician from Kisumu who has also performed in a couple of places in Europe like Amsterdam in the previous years.
Elsy Wameyo on ‘Saint Sinner’ Tour
There should be no reason why Elsy would remind me of Little Simz (the award-winning Black British rapper) or KoldAF (the Nigerian star) especially because she- Elsy- has a rather distinct style: The fusion of what I will blanketly call ‘Kenyan RnB sound’ into the hip-hop sounds, particularly apparent in ‘Slowly Slipping’ or the folk sounds with rap in the funky ‘Ler’ . And yet she does. In ‘Conquer’ especially, she and Ywaya remind me of Little Simz and Obongjayar in ‘Point and Kill’ .
Elsy released her debut album ‘Saint Sinner’ earlier this year and has been on international tours to promote it. Starting July, she has played in several venues and festivals in Europe, from Copenhagen, Luzern, to France and Germany.
Kenyan-Australian singer, rapper and producer, Elsy Wameyo.
Photo credit: Pool
In the United Kingdom, she performed at the famous Pitchfork Music Festival last month.
While in Kenya, she had live performance shows at Geco Cafe in Nairobi in October where she played alongside a brilliant young band among them Sulle Gibson Edwin, their guitarist, and then at the Octobafest.
Part of this band, including Sulle, has since toured with her in the UK and now in Australia where she will have the last leg of the tour, performing in different venues across Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and ending in South Gippsland.
Kidum and the Boda Boda Band in Canada
Kidum is touring Canada this December starting in Toronto on the 31st before moving to Montreal, Quebec (in the French province) on New Year’s Day, and then concluding with Ottawa on January 4, 2025.
Originally from Burundi, now living in Kenya, Kidum is known for several hit songs including the 2010 album ‘Haturudi Nyuma’ that had ‘Mapenzi’ and ‘Nitafanya’ , and more recently ‘Number Moja’ in 2019 and ‘Telenovela’ written by Bensoul.
Kidum during a past live performance in Nairobi.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
Although this is not his first tour to Canada (he has performed in shows across the country since 2014) he remains one of the few East African artistes that has toured Canada. Most Kenyan artistes like Sauti Sol or Nyashinski who have had North American tours often end up performing in the United States only- Bien (of Sauti Sol) for instance, has a tour scheduled next February for ‘Alusa, Why Are You Topless?’ in the USA.
Kidum’s tour is highly anticipated and will attract an audience from the East African region who live in Canada, including those from Rwanda and Burundi, because apart from English and Swahili, he also sings in French and Kirundi.
