Prezzo: He has managed to keep fans and writers alike on their toes with his showiness. Last year, he hired a helicopter to fly a distance of less than 100 metres to the venue of the Chaguo La Teenies awards. This year, he entered the venue in a convoy of sleek cars.

The year was a carry-over of the emerging and effervescent “Kenyanish” music so popular with the youth and the young at heart.

Last year was a feel-good one for local musicians - lyrics gave way to thematic songs with social messages as new artistes burst onto the scene, which was marked by charity shows and events to help the under-privileged.

There were numerous concerts by foreign musicians, mainly from Francophone West Africa. Besides, the number of Kenyan winners of the pan-African music awards, KORA, was higher than in the previous years. This year saw four Kenyans win in different categories, and Eric Wainaina was nominated in the artiste-of-the-decade category.

The winners were Kaz who had probably been written off by the entertainment writers and viewers because of her attitude towards fellow Kenyan Didge during the pan-African reality television programme, the Longombas who hit the scene with Vuta Pumzi, a danceable track with thematic lyrics about HIV/Aids, little-known Neema and gospel group Maximum Melodies.

Of the four, the most celebrated was the Longombas, who have been doing their thing for close to six years and who started off with Dondosa, an equally danceable track. Before they did the Vuta Pumzi track, the brothers released the Shika More, off the Chukua album which, even though it was not very well-received, was much better than what the never-too shy-to-chest-thump Prezzo released amid much fanfare.

Aptly titled Prezzo, there was so much hype before the release of the single, and the hype increased as entertainment writers started asking what it was all about.

But publicity is good, even bad publicity, and Prezzo in which the refrain and the chorus is the spelling out of P-r-e-z-z-o, became known, as everyone wanted to know what the hype was all about and ended up listening.

But you have to give it to Prezzo, who has discovered that hip-hop is all about showbiz. He may or may not know the Hollywood cliche that “there is no biz like showbiz,” but he has managed to keep fans and writers alike on their toes with his showiness.

Last year, he hired a helicopter to fly a distance of less than 100 metres to the venue of the Chaguo La Teenies awards. This year round, he entered the venue in style - in a convoy of sleek cars - and ended up bagging the award for the best dressed celeb.

But the toast of the CHAT was C’Zars, a 16-year-old Coast-based singer who hit the scene with Amka Ukatike, a feel-good song which resonated well with his agemates. Amka Ukatike is still with FM radio presenters and listeners. C’Zars would shed tears during the up-market Kisima awards after Amaka Ukatike failed to win in any category.

Like in 2004, when Kisima founder Tedd Josiah stirred controversy when he won the producer-of-the-year award after many artistes from his stable Blu Zebra won in almost all the categories they were nominated for, this year was no exception.

Chris Kantai, a nominee for the hip-hop-artiste-of-the-year award was upset after being denied a ticket and a chance to perform “at the very last minute.” The manager and spokesman for Ogopa Deejays, who were “dissed” in the Kisima booklet with the line that the “Ogopa wave is dead,” said he did not know the criterion the organisers were using to to nominate musicians and producers. He claimed it was like they were looking for producers of the moment, as opposed to what one had done over a period of time.

The manager of Kleptomaniax, the only artistes from the Ogopa stable who were nominated and who won, said the Kisima concept lacked a proper definition because the “categories were not well-defined either.”

Crooner Pili Pili was placed in the best boomba rap category, which he won, and hip-hop artistes Wakimbizi of the Nampenda John fame were placed in the Asian-musician-of-the-year category.

Producer Tabu Osusa once dismissed Kisima as not being representative of Kenyan music; that it was a “class thing belonging to young people with mobile phones for voting and motor vehicles to and from Carnivore for the awards presentation.”

Despite such misgivings, the show went on well and for the first time in many years, the hip-hoppers realised that feel-good songs were a thing of the past, and that it was time to get real.

Apart from the Vuta Pumzi, Jimw@t did the Under 18 track which ideally takes a swipe at young girls who act older than their ages. In the song, he narrates his ordeal at the hands of police after being caught in very many uncompromising situations with an under-age girl.

Jua Cali also recorded the Kiasi track, which is about the over-consumption of alcohol, and which was presumably inspired by deaths arising from the drinking of a moonshine dubbed Kuona mbee.

But the people from whom nothing was heard were the GidiGidi Maji Maji rap duo who took the country by storm during the 2002 General Election with their hit song, Unbwoggable, which became an election anthem for the Narc political grouping.

The reverberations of Unbwoggable could be heard as far as South Africa where the group recorded an album under the Gallo Records label. For that they were hailed as the first Kenyan group to appear on Music Television, but their song, Many Faces, which might have catapulted them to the global television station, was not such a hit locally.

Little was heard from them, and the void they left was briefly filled by Jomeness Boys na Band’s An African Woman - off The Beatings album - which received its 15 minutes of fame before getting drowned out by more danceable tracks whose lyrics appealed to a wider audience because of the language. On the gospel scene, the toast of the year was Esther Wahome, whose track, Kuna Dawa broke its own record and was being played more at dance halls than at prayer meetings. She became a household name and earned nominations for CHAT, KISIMA and KORA awards.

There was an new entrant on the gospel scene too - the extremely creative Bamboo, who has been labelled the “bad boy of rap” even though he just happens to be at the wrong place at the right time for entertainment writers. He was born again and teamed up with Roughtone to record Yes Indeed, in which he talks about his “salvation”.

But it was not all smooth sailing for the humble Bamboo, who started out with all-boy troupe K-South long before hip-hop became a lifestyle. His new-found lifestyle landed him in trouble as entertainment writers started catching him with his hands in the cookie jar. Things were made no better by the fact that he was once denied a chance to perform at a gospel concert.

Action was not confined to the hip-hop colony though. Singers who are not inclined to the hip-hop scene got a boost when Alliance Francaise organised a talent search dubbed Spotlight on Kenyan Music, which saw 11 little known singers make their debut by getting a chance to each record a single track.
 
The 11 were chosen after numerous concerts countrywide in which veterans and producers like John Katana Harisson and Osusa were roped in to help in picking out the new Suzzana Owiyo who did the all-time hit Kisumu 100, and released her second album, Yamo Kudho last year, teamed up with Achieng Abura, Mercy Myra and Princess Jully to form Divas of the Nile Foundation, whose aim is to improve the lot of the girl-child.

The downside to the memorable year though was the death of anti-piracy crusader Poxi Presha, whose efforts were never recognised when he was alive. But after his death, concerts were organised to - in the typical Kenyan style - offset funeral expenses and set up an education fund for his daughter.
Source: Clay Muganda,The Nation - Nairobi