Renowned ‘Nation’ Writer Hits Out At Pioneer Kenyan Musicians (Part II)

John Muchiri continues with his ‘wise counsel’ on Kenyan artistes. Here’s that;

Sad because I don’t hear Kenya Nite in Lagos, or our Kenyan artistes performing there. Only a few up-comers in the industry have managed to cause some stir in the continental stage. Until their recent controversial break-up, Camp Mullah has been representing Kenya outside East Africa. Sauti Sol have been doing the same.

My personal opinion is that this industry needs dare-devils. Chameleone from Uganda has several arrest warrants in different countries, including Kenya, but with a dare-devil spirit, he still risks to perform in those countries. In Tanzania, AY, Diamond, C-Pwa, Mwana FA, spend over $20,000 just to shoot videos at the same level with the Nigerians, just to compete on the same level. P’Square, D’Banj, among others in Nigeria, pay over $500,000 to American artistes just to do one collabo.

Spend money to make money. Not just that, you have to take some risks as an artiste. If you fail, you won’t die, you will still rise up again and regain your glory. Then this thing of “I don’t want people to know what make of a car I drive to events” should completely stop. This is show-business…show us what you got and we rate you as fans is the rule of the game. That is the difference between this and other businesses in life. You buy a jet, your fans put you on the same level with P’Diddy. Sadly, that’s the truth about showbiz.

Redsan

A big shout out to the few artistes who have made a few risks in the industry…and am sure they have seen it pays off. Although Wyre had released ‘100-songs-within-one-month-‘, he has made risks to do collabos across the continent and internationally. He remains a relevant artiste mainly because of that.

Kenya and Kenyans are respected and listened to across the world. Let’s make the bold move.

via johnmuchiri.wordpress.com