Month: July 2012

Abbas was part of African Music Archives’ international symposium at Mainz University as part of his German tour. The “African Music in the 21st Century” workshop’s aim was to discuss various aspects of music on the continent, traditional and contemporary genres and other storytelling platforms.

Abbas, who was the East African representative at the symposium, also showcased 10 of his best videos at the event. After that, the rapper did a two-hour set for fans. Abbas had previously lectured at the University of Bayreuth and performed in a number of shows around Germany.

Other distinguished members at the symposium included Philadelphia’s Mr. Richard M. Shain, Helene Neveu of Oxford, Kinshasa’s Leon Tsambu, David Coplan from Johannesburg, Heike Becker from Cape Town , Montreal’s Bob White and director of Africa Music Archives Hauke Dorsch among others.

In our recent interview with the self proclaimed ‘best lyricist’ and one of the most hard hitting rappers in Kenya, Kenrazy, a lot was brought to light including opinions that might raise debate.

On account of being the best lyricist, we had to find out the criteria behind this title, and it turns out that according to Kenrazy, some of the Kenyan artistes have really lame lyrics and makes you wonder why you are listening to their tracks in the first place. This is true (I don’t mean about the particular artistes mentioned though).

Check out Kenrazy going hard on what he terms as lame lyrics.

With the awesome growth of the Kenyan gospel music industry and the constant music coming from it, competition has proven to be a lot stiffer than it is for their counterparts in secular music.

Iclaat is not a new comer in this field and he displays his capability in this song. He goes all out on the video and the flow that he uses to deliver his lyrics, kind of reminds me of Chiwawa’s flow.

Having taken the crunk approach for the song ‘Kadhaa’, which I have to say, managed to pull it off, you know that the video had to have a hyped up activity going on. That might explain the guys doing all the stunts with the Rollerblades and what not.

Check out the video below.

Very rarely do we see new comers in the music industry make a debut with a really hot and interesting video.

This groups of artistes managed to throw a party for the shoot of their video and guess what, the party WAS the video. As they drunk the night away and danced with the beautiful ladies, the video managed to tell more than the song does.

The song ‘Iko nini‘ which is intended to be a party song is done by rappers Generali, Deksta, Muchii and Triple A.

Check out the video below and give us your honest opinions.

It’s all about the love for rap, and every rapper should obviously posses it. Better yet, every rapper should be able to lay down some awesome bars anytime time on request.

I just randomly came across this video on YouTube featuring Nairobi’s Crew Teflon rapper, Accurate. This group is officially the next big thing to come out of Nairobi, just moments after Camp Mulla.

Their skills on the mic cannot be compared to their age. They may be young, but their skill isn’t.

Check out Accurate on a normal day.

The Music Copyright Society of Kenya presented awards to the biggest contributors in terms of royalties at the Crystal Ballroom of the Laico Regency on the 14th of July.

Besides music legends, icons and contributors, they also recognized artistes who songs have received the most airplay in a number of radio stations. They include:

Radio Africa Group – Wyre
KTN – MOG
Capital FM – Abbas
Ghetto Radio – Zakah na Kah

One artiste was not the most played on any of the named stations but the plays his music got across all radio stations beat out all the rest, which means he is the artiste who receives constant airplay across the board. And it is:

Overall – Nonini

Self proclaimed ‘best lyrics’ Kenrazy has been all about the music. Having done music collaborations for most part of the year, Kenrazy is not about to stop or go slow.

Seeing that he is clearly one of the most hardworking rappers as we have always stated, Kenrazy, just like any other artiste, has had people who disagree with him on more than one matter.

On a recent interview with Kenrazy, Team Ghafla dug in deep into the life and music that sorounds him. With some of the fans disagreeing that he is the best lyricist, we had to hear his argument and get what exactly he means by this.

Take a look at the interview below.

Celebrated Kenyan gospel artiste Mbuvi is set to release his brand new music video ‘Wewe Mkuu’ later this week.

Directed by Dr. Eddie, the song is destined to be high quality and as inspirational as its lyrics. Mbuvi, a former worship leader at Parklands Baptist church, has become one of the leading contemporary Kenyan gospel artistes in the industry with his deep worship songs.

Click here to checkout Mbuvi’s full biography

Have a look at the teaser trailer to the song ‘Wee Mkuu’ below…

The Abbas tour continues. The former K-South rapper performed at the after-party of the 27th edition of the Summer Jam Reggae Festival in Fuhlinger near Koln in Germany. He performed at the gala night together with a Kenyan, German-based MCee Suppa Rubba.

Earlier, Abbas was among the 30,000 fans who showed up to watch performances from international reggae stars, Beenie Man, Collie Buddz, Sean Paul, Stevie Marley among other prominent artistes.

Between now and the end of his tour, Abbas will have hopefully performed in Finland, Holland and Sweden. Before the show in Fuhlinger, Abbas had previously performed in other German towns, lectured at a German university and exhibited his videos at a symposium.

Chiwawa has joined Twitter…twice. The rapper joined and followed a fellow rapper and a local radio station and made two tweets but about an hour later, he started using a new account with the same avatar and bio. He’s been using the second account more consistently and it seems to be the one he’ll be using from now on.

On both profiles, @Chiwawa_King and @Chiwawa254, he describes himself as a “Kenyan Hiphop Artiste, CHAT award winner, Song-writer, Producer, Dedicated Father & Family Man. LIKE MY PAGE – CHIWAWA on FACEBOOK WORLDWIDE.” On the second profile he immediately followed fellow music personalities, mostly rappers and urban radio stations.

One of Chiwawa’s earlier songs includes Get Crunk with Attitude. He made an entrance into the Kenyan music scene with a diss to the Kleptomaniacs titled Tunaendelea. His biggest hit to date  is Mnafeel Aje. He recently released AbbaChiwa Show with Abbas.

1. Prezzo talks trash about Nigeria’s Goldie
2. Video: Miguna Miguna Tells All on Jeff Koinange’s ‘Bench’
3. The war against Prezzo in the Big Brother house is now on!
4. This is why the 6 BBA Housemates nominated Prezzo for evictions
5. Can You Believe this? Alex Nominates Prezzo Again?
6. Female rapper ready to take the industry by storm
7. Outstanding artistes feted at MCSK Gala Night
8. TPF’s Jackson is NOT a professional musician – says Endemol Kenya
9. You can now download Tusker Project Fame 5 music
10. Camp Mulla niminated for MTV Iggy ‘Artiste of the Week’ feature

STL has dominated the Kenyan hip hop scene as one of the most consistent female rappers in the country’s hip hop scene. Enter Lega-C, a new artiste who raps in both English and Swahili ready to represent the local female rappers.

According to her profile, “A writer writes about themselves to express who they are. A musician puts it in a song and hopes the world can understand. (No need for me to put down my bio) I am Lega-C and this is just the beginning of everything. I have to offer. Press play :))
BEAUTY AND THE BEAT!!!!!”

She records her music at Hypemasters Entertainment. Check out her track, Homemade, below.

Thursday Nite Live is fast becoming one of the most popular weekly events in Nairobi. The live show promotes original acoustic, jazz and roots music. This week, Roots International welcomes Abbi. Entrance is free.

Abbi is a vocalist and default frontman of the Kikwetu afro jazz, afro fusion band. His career 20 years ago as a member of The Boyz, an a cappella group which later changed its name to Safari. He has also previously been a member of Achieng’ Abura’s band. His debut album Mudunia  was released in 2003, then the sophomore album, Indigo, came out four years later.

The event takes place at Choices Bar & Restaurant on Baricho Road between 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. Artistes who have previously performed at Thursday Nite Live include Sauti Sol, Mishel and Dela, Makadem, Yunasi, Eric Waianaina, Winyo and Stan among others.

This is by far the weirdest and most hilarious photo that a Kenyan celebrity has ever been in, and scariest at the same time.

Have we called Ala-C to confirm what exactly he was doing with this questionable character at this queer location, you ask?

No. Quite frankly, I’m not sure we are ready for the answer. What possible acceptable answer could we get from this? For now, lets all just laugh and wonder. We’ll get the facts later.

It’s really funny how guys come up with this hilarious photoshop ideas. This just cracks me up.

I wonder what the concerned party has to say about this.

Sauti za Busara, one of the leading international music festivals on the continent is calling on all artistes across the region to submit their performance requests for the next edition wich is set for the month of February 2013 in Zanzibar.

For artistes performing at the Festival, organizers usually give a modest performance fee and cover local expenses in and around the Festival area, including travel allowances, accomodation and food allowances.

To be considered however, your music must be original, connected with Africa and be performed live as no playbacks will be allowed.

Your application can only be considered if you have sent a completed application to the organizers before 31st July 2012. Your application must include the following:

    a completed form including short biography (max 1000 words)
    one or two recent recordings (CD or DVD)
    one or two photographs (JPG or paper)

Click here to view the complete registration process for the 2013 Sauti Za Busara Festival

GBO (Golden Boy Odongo) has finally arrived. His interest in rap music begun at age 10 when he started composing. By age 14, he had enough material for an album but had to abandon the whole thing after he had trouble securing funding and recording space for the project.

At 16, he met K-Yos and AR, producers at Miagi Studios. He recorded Goin’ For Gold, his first mixtape at Miagi in 2009. The rapper later went on to record the single, DTA (Death To All). In the last two and a half years, GBO has released five singles and two videos. He has also released two albums worth of material, and he is not stopping there.

In the next 18 months, GBO plans on releasing three mixtapes, the first one being The Birth of Me. He plans on releasing a video for Death To All and other singles from his mixtape by the end of the year. Meanwhile, you can listen to GBO’s Death To All in which he features T.K. (Trevor) below.

Last week, we spent some very productive time with singer and activist, QTY, popularly known for her songs such as Crazy, Zunguka and Come Back.

The fierce singer gave us information on her music career and her personal life as well.

But before everything else is revealed, take a look at the hang out.

We had the privilege of having the self proclaimed ‘best lyricist’ Kenrazy right here at the Ghafla offices and got up close and candid with the rapper.

We got to know much about Kenrazy which has been revealed in various footage.

We even got an exclusive shout out to one of the fastest rising media houses in Kenya right now. Check it out.

video

Many artistes ask what the best way is to connect with fans or further their musical career in what is proving to be an increasingly competitive market that is thirsty for fresh sounds and quality music.

Influx Swagga has some of the answers you may be searching for, as the established artiste was at Ghafla! recently and had lots to say about his music and what made him become the successful Kenyan musician he is today, boasting a steady and growing fanbase and lots of love from a number of music lovers who faithfully follow the goings-on in his life.

We are introduced to the man behind the music as he reveals more about his life history, the challenges he has faced as well as teh secrets to musical success.

Checkout the interview we had with kapuka artiste Influx Swagga….

Crossover 101 is looking for a new host. The weekly Sunday morning show has gone through a number of changes since the show started. It started off with the Kubamba Crew of DJ Soxxy and DJ Mo who later moved to Citizen TV to start the Kubamba Show.

The show was later hosted by Viyerrah who left some time last year and Nancy Kihenia, who co-hosted with him, stayed on as host. It is not clear why they need a new host and what Nancy’s role will be.

According to the communication they put out:

“Can You Fit Into These Shoes?
Do you have the charisma, character, presence to host the hippest, coolest gospel show?
Are you the one we are looking for?“

If you think you are the right fit for the show, you can email crossover101@ke.nationmedia.com.

The organizers of the regions greatest reality TV talent show, Tusker Project Fame have gone a step further this time with the introduction of musical downloads.

Fans of the remaining seven contestants in the Tusker Academy will be able to download their favourite performances of the weekend show, starting from this past weekend’s show on a dedicated extension of the season’s website.

The songs which are available were the rising star’s own compositions, including Ruth Matete’s ‘Falling’ which was inspired by Mariah Carey’s ‘Anytime You Need a Friend’ as well as Jackson Kalimba’s ‘Safari’ which is a song about the journey of his life and how far he has come.

To download the songs, you can go to: http://www.tuskerlager.com/music

As Kenrazy keeps on doing his music and introducing new artistes to the music industry, his name grows bigger and bigger and most of his music are on many’s playlists.

However, there has been speculations on the relationship between him and Calif Records, as well as Jomino Entertainment. Soon after his departure from both labels, word has been that beef sprouted between the rapper and the said labels.

At a recent interview with Ghafla!, Kenrazy opened up and told us everything concerning the so called ‘beef’.

Catch it all in the video below.

Jua Cali is working on a new album and recently released featured tracks: Baba Yao, Kuna Sheng and Si Siri. The last release being a collaboration with gospel artiste Juliani. The album Genge Yajayo is expected to be released soon and he is working on promotional material.

Last week, a behind-the-scenes video for Si Siri hit the Internet. And this week, photos from the shoot have also been released. The one-minute video showed Jua Cali sporting a new hairstyle. The photos shows him actually getting the do done. From the look of things, the change in his hairstyle will be part of the video.

All the photos seem to have been taken at the same location, so there’s a chance the video will only have one scene. But since it has been shot in front of a green screen, scenarios might change. But then again, it doesn’t look like Jua Cali and Juliani had a wardrobe change during the shoot. Check out the photos below.

You can check out the rest of the photos here.