Month: August 2012

We recently got in touch with Ghetto Radio’s presenter Esther Kagamba and got to have a one on one with the beautiful lady. Take a look at this Ghafla Interview and get to know her better.

GHAFLA: Describe Esther Kagamba in a few words.
ESTHER: Cheerful, forgiving and self motivated.

GHAFLA: You are Ugandan, yes? Most people automatically assume you are Kenyan since you have around for a quite a while. What’s has been your experience as radio host in a foreign land? Do you ever consider moving to a radio station back in Uganda?
ESTHER: I know my family name (Kagamba) has some resemblance  in Uganda and Congo, but am born of Kikuyu parents. Very Kenyan!

GHAFLA: You are doing a great job at Ghetto Radio as a radio host. Congrats! Ghetto Radio is now the most listened to station by the Kenyan youth. Do you consider this as an achievement? How is working at Ghetto Radio like? What is the most ridiculous call you ever received on air?
ESTHER: it’s is in our mission as a Ghetto Radio team to make our self better every day. Working for 89.5fm is most def very fun, best team mates, we r a family. Most ridiculous call? Lol… fans will always do whatever they got to do, to get your attention.

GHAFLA: When did you start your journey in radio? How was it when you were starting out? Are you finally where you wanted to be?
ESTHER: one year down, Maji Maji recognized my talent and made use of it 🙂 but it was not on a silver platter there is a lot u got to learn. Am still very far from my horizon.

GHAFLA: You have recently been nominated to Mwafaka Awards. Kudos. What was your first reaction on learning about the nomination? Do you think winners of such awards should be given money in addition to the trophy?
ESTHER: Thanks… I was happy for the nomination. Especially because I got two entries (Presenter and for my show GNL with Dj Prince). Money accompanied by recognition…. I would not mind!

GHAFLA: Who are your mentors and role models in the radio scene both locally and abroad?
ESTHER: I listen to a lot of Ghetto Radio, I got to be In touch with my Sheng plus it has the realest Radio personalities.

GHAFLA: There has always been the never ending argument that radio personalities do not qualify to be called celebrities? What’s your take on that?
ESTHER: Let them say what they want say, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I do not regret having a normal day with my friends.

GHAFLA: Tell our readers and the world something that they don’t know about you.
ESTHER: I have a twin!

GHAFLA: What would you say are the current ills facing Kenyan radio? How do we get past them?
ESTHER: Ill is a strong word…but of i could substitute it with Weakness?A  lot of foreign content on air. Especially music, but again there is a lot of poor production in upcoming artists.

GHAFLA: We have been witnessing hiring of media personalities who do not have any college training as radio hosts and anchors. Do you think it is necessary for radio hosts to get any college training like say a course in Mass Communication before being hired at our local radio stations?
ESTHER:it’s 50/50 for me. It’s a skill! Some have it, some need to learn it. But having a background on being a host will make u better.

GHAFLA: Any advice to young women out there who would like to become radio hosts one day?
ESTHER: you know what you want, be patient. Always strive to earn it.

Sauti Sol came back from a month-long European tour where they promoted their new EP and performed in some of the biggest continental festivals in front of huge crowds. They also took the time to shoot two videos for singles on the EP.

Last weekend, they had their first performance since their return at the August edition of Blankets & Wine. The 36th B&W of the monthly event featured, besides Sauti Sol, Tumi from Tumi & The Volume and Yunasi among others. ‘Sol also sold their first physical copies of their self-titled EP in the country.

The band rocked the event with an electric performance that was obviously the toast of the evening. You can check out a video of the band’s performance of one of the singles from the EP, below. Here is Sauti Sol with Love Or Leave live. Video by Andrew Onyango.

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VJ Mopreme is a jockey with Empire Sounds, one of the leading DJ units in the entertainment scene. We recently interviewed him on a number of issues concerning the DJ world.

We asked him about the impact of riddims on reggae. “As a core member of Empire Sounds, you are one the DJs who are spreading the Jamaican dancehall music genre specifically riddims among the Kenyan youth. What has the response been?”

He responded, “Empire Sounds is taking over! The response has been  overwhelming, we have fans who even travel with us. We play both roots and dancehall, so you can be sure we balance.”

We also asked him about a debate that has been the rage in the reggae music world, “Do you feel like riddims kill reggae/roots music?” He responded, “Roots will never die, dancehall came from roots, so the culture I believe is in sync.”

Esther Kagamba is one of the presenters at the most listened to radio station by the youth, Ghetto Radio. She has been in the industry for quite some time now and the listeners just love her.

She has also been nominated for two awards in the upcoming Mwafaka Awards and stands a good chance of bagging them all.

We have however been wondering whether the winners of such awards should be given money in addition to the trophy. So has some of the nominees.

Esther Kagamba for one, would not mind getting money with the trophy at all.

“Money accompanied by recognition? I would not mind. It would spice things up,” Esther Kagamba told Ghafla.

Do you think money should accompany the awards?

In a recent interview with VJ Mopreme, Ghafla! asked him what he thought about DJs using mixing software. The VJ made clear his stand on the issue without beating around the bush as most of his compatriots do.

 “There is a new crop of Deejays coming up that have been weaned off DJ mixing software such as Atomix Virtual DJ, Acid and not the traditional turntable. Would you call these guys deejays? Do you use this software in your gigs?” we asked.

“This debate has been there for a long time but it all goes back to the beginning. What is a DJ? An artist specialized in playing music using turntables to entertain an audience,” Mopreme clarified.

The VJ further reiterated, “Now hear me clearly. If you can’t play using turntables, you are not a DJ! Virtual DJ is meant to give fans that experience of being a DJ. No, I don’t use those softwares.”

Most of these rappers spend a lot of time being ‘underground rappers’ and when they blow up in the mainstream media, they are then referred to as newbies, while they have actually spent years in the music industry.

Take Rabbit aka Kaka Sungura for instance. This guy was already comfortable in the music scene way back when Chiwawa was blowing up. Chiwawa is actually his mentor and I was surprised to find out that they actually did a couple of songs together.

Rabbit finally made it out of the ‘underground’ category and is now one of the best and most celebrated rappers that we have right now.

One of their first collaborations was titled ‘Kaa sa si sisi’. Have a listen.

On Friday, Bamboo had his video launched at Volar.

And for those of you not fortunate enough to make it, we have some pictures of the event. The event was graced by the who is who in the entertainment from his brother Kimya to Juliani to Camp Mulla to Tina Kagia.
Team Ghafla was also present to give you the sights of the night:

Remember that article that we ran a couple of months back, about two inmates who had released a hip hop album in prison? One of them is out and about to shake the music industry with his music.

Little Vin is enjoying his freedom and can’t wait to have his first show away from the prison compound. He is however already familiar with the stage as you can see. Check out the hip hop convict.

One of the biggest local Genge groups, P-Unit have a new track out. The artistes have featured on a new song, Nataka Kukupenda, a song by popular Zambian artiste, K’millian. The group also recently released a new song with Uganda’s Klear Kut.

K’millian is known in Zambia for such hits songs as Kakabalika, Pa Ulendo and I’ll Be Waiting For You. His album, Another Day spent 21 weeks at the top of the Zambian charts. His second album spent 14 weeks as the highest selling album in the country.

P-Unit are currently working on their sophomore album, Wagenge Hao Tena which is set to be released next month. The group which recently launched their new Website, performed in Juba last month to an overwhelming reception. They have also launched their merchandise and are looking to grow their fanbase locally and around the continent with their latest material.

Check out P-Unit and K’millian’s Nataka Kukupenda below.

P-Unit, the genge music group that was put together by rapper and now radio presenter, Nonini, has release a new single featuring Uganda’s Klear Kut. The group is looking to get a wider audience in the African market with their new musical ventures. P-Unit also recently released a track with Zambia’s K’millian.

The trio of Frasha, Gabu and Bon’eye has collaborated with highly acclaimed five-member Ugandan hip hop group, Klear Kut. The group was formed in 2000 and has grown to be known for their tight lyrics in such songs as All I Wanna Know with Juliana and Superstar with Bebe Cool.

Klear Kut

P-Unit have always released sureshot tracks since they came together as a group in mid 2000s. They ruled the charts with such club-bangers as Si Lazima, Kushoto Kulia and Una. Their collaboration with Mimmo, Kare, was named by most radio stations as the best song of 2010.

You can check out P-Unit and Klear Kut’s Fresh below.

One of Kenya’s top music producers, Blackman, has merged his production company, Blackman Entertainment, with a top Nigerian production house, CAMP (Cobhams Asuquo Music Production).

Blackman is responsible for producing such tracks as Juliani’s Mtaa Mentality and Sara Mitaru’s epic track, Make Way among others. Blackman just came back from the U.S. where he was in business talks with Warryn Campbell, renown songwriter and producer who has worked with Kanye West, Xzibit, Dru Hill and Musiq Soulchild among others.

Cobhams Asuquo is the producer and co-writer behind the internationally acclaimed afro-soul album, ASA (by Asa). Those into more mainstream or club music have probably heard his work as producer for MTN Project Fame winner, Chidinma’s Kedike.

What this deal means is that all the artistes in Blackman’s label have access to the Nigerian market through Cobham’s label, which they can use to market their music. Cobhams’ latest track includes a collaboration between Stan Iyke and Tiwa Savage. You can check it out below.

Robbie, a gospel music artiste from Zenith Productions, has finally released his debut single, Took It All Away. The song has a unique sound compared to a lot of the new gospel tracks coming out now. He describes his work as “cosmic music with a message.”

A message from Zenith Productions about the artiste says “We want him to be the face of worship music in Kenya. Spreading the word of God is not all dance and praise. We have to take time and worship him.”

Took It All Away held its launch on Radio Jambo on the 3rd of this month. The singer took the time to showcase some of his older work. Robbie is now preparing for the shooting for the track’s video, which the Zenith management has already signed off. Check out the track below.

We saw the ‘Raila Dance’ from Katenga music, we went with it. God only knows how Jalang’o and DNG came up with ‘Katumbo Dance’, we also swallowed that. Now, a ‘Kemboi Dance’? What’s next?… Miguna Dance?

I actually have nothing to say to this because only he (Kemboi), can pull this one off. Trust me, I’ve tried. Unless you have just won an Olympic marathon or something of the sort, don’t try this at home.

Digga chose to dedicate a whole song to this new and weird dance and appropriately named it ‘Kemboi Dance’. I get that it looks like the ‘dougie’ and all, but seriously? The video could have been more of the Kemboi dance than the dougie. This is too much. Kudos though!

Take a look.

G Kon is currently riding on the wheel of positivity and his latest song tell it all. I don’t know if this song is inspired by recent alleged events involving him and Avril, or any other stuff that he’s been going through, but fact is, he has turned his back to all negativity and is urging his fans to do the same.

His latest song is titled ‘Wacha iende’, referring to all the negativity and bad energy, and has this party feel to drive the message through. Despite being away from the music scene for some time, G Kon is still on his grind.

Straight from the house of JOMINO, here is G Kon’s ‘Wacha Iende’.

Xtatic’s story about how quickly she rose to fame, how just one track was enough to get her noticed by ROCKSTAR4000 and become the first Kenyan artiste to get signed by Sony Music Group is amazingly inspiring.

Just as fast as she rose, she quickly went to South Africa and recorded her first album with The Fahrenheitz. She is already back in the country, ready to put out new music. Wild is her first post-Sony-signing track, and it was released exclusively on Capital FM last evening.

The artiste has not only been receiving accolades locally, but now also internationally. The young rapper has been featured on Shot 97. The Website had this to say about her in the article titled “Say Goodbye to Lauryn Hill.”

“SHE IS THE FIRST KENYAN FEMALE RAPPER WITH AN INEXPLICABLE FLOW, WHO IS ARTISTIC, SEXY AND A VISIONARY OF GREAT WORK!. THIS RARE JEWEL, DISCOVERED BY AFRICAN NATIVE GROUP, XTATIC IS “XTATICALLY” THE GREATEST AND UNDOUBTEDLY THE BEST OF RISING KENYAN TALENT!“

Keep it Ghafla! for the online release if Wild.

When I say that Q-Tasi has come a long way, I really mean it. Unlike most artistes and celebrities who claim to have come from the streets, this singer is REALLY from the streets. The real deal.

Q-Tasi and his close friend and colleague were still street urchins when producer DJ Stone discovered them and decided to sign them to his record label. They were then known as Machizi, straight from the streets and enthusiastic about music.

Their first single, ‘Streets tumehama’ was an instant hit and motivational track to many. These days, very few of Q-Tasi’s fans know exactly where he came from. He was actually surprised to find out that we know about this part of his life.

Just seeing this video, has made me respect Q-Tasi way more than I already did.

MO-2 is an upcoming gospel artiste and a commerce student at Kenyatta University. He has just released his first official song and made his debut in the music industry. The song is Unanipenda and it features another upcoming artiste, Liqweed.

MO-2 describes Unanipenda as a zouk track, where he basically acknowledges God’s love for him. The song was recorded at ATL Entertainment. He is planning on shooting the video for the song soon.

The song is heavy on the vocals, with MO-2 on the verses and Liqweed on the chorus. The song is laid-back unlike the usual upbeat, new-age gospel music. Even the ragga bit at the end blends well with the slow nature of the song.

A while ago i had the pleasure of having a sit down with the beautiful Q-ty.

And we had a truly candid conversation in which she spoke about her devastation at losing her sister to HIV/AIDS and how that plunged her into a depression of sorts.

She also let on that it was during her darkest moment that light shone in and pierced her heart and she found a renewed vigour for life: she would fight the disease that had claimed her sister.

And as the sages of old held, prevention is better than cure ergo she would fight the ravage that is HIV/AIDS by doing her part to prevent new infections. That is how the Q-ty Foundation was concieved and passed into reality.

She launched her foundation on the 26th of July and already hit the ground running! She had a session at MMU on safe condom use. The thing is though, she had already been doing her dirt long before the colourful launch.

I for one want to register my salutaions for this brave beautiful beau as she rolls up her sleeves to fight HIV/AIDS. Alot of artists both locally and internationally have foundations but how many can claim they are in the trenches doing ye dirt with their support staff? Q-ty can for one!

There have been many talent search contests in Kenya, but whether they really translate by introducing tangible products into the industry is up in the air. Lyra Aoko is one of the few that came out of one and she is proving to be one of the hardest working artistes right now.

She has appeared in Wyre’s Happy, J’Mani and Collo’s Radio Love and Nick Mutuma’s 254 Anthem among others. She has also done a few solo projects including Sioni, Kipofu and now Colors of Life. The teenage singer won the Samsung Ziki Stars talent search when she was still a teen and she has been hitting the studio hard since.

Her latest single showcases her strong vocals in a sureshot poppy RnB track. Colors of Life was produced by Pro’voke, who is undoubtedly one of the best music-makers in the country at the moment. As usual, Pro’voke does a brilliant job on the production. Check out Colors of Life below.

Q-Tasi is one artiste who has been through quite a lot. Many artistes talk about having gone through struggles and very hard times. Well, what they went through is nothing compared to what Q-Tasi experienced.

Back in 2002, Q-Tasi was still a street urchin and he and his friend turned things around by turning their talents into a gold mine. All this was through DJ Stone’s help, and God of-course.
In our recent interview with this devoted artiste, we got to know a few things about that part of his life.

Check it out.

So, looks like it is not only Tina Kaggia who is leaving 1FM’s breakfast show. Marcus Olang’ who has long hosted the show with different co-hosts is leaving the station permanently. Tina Kaggia, however, is moving later in the day to host mid-morning. Tina Kaggia previously hosted the mid-morning show on Classic 105.

The two are being replaced by Genge music artiste, Nonini, who was already on air this morning. It is not clear where Marcus Olang’ is going to next, or if he is even moving to another radio station in the first place.

Nonini is a multi-award winning artiste who started out in Calif Records and is one of the pioneers of the Genge music style. He was recently elected as an official at the Music Copyright Society of Kenya.

French Boy -one half of the group Deux Historians is at it again.

He has released a track titled “Sijui” and the video directed by Media Stream tells the story of a girl French Boy is trying to woo. The lass in question is a shady one from some back waters and he basically tells the tale about how his bopys are in shock that he would fall for her type.

The video is of top notch quality and though i am too gangster to have emotions ergo too gangster to be touched by love songs, this one comes close! It’s an awesome track and the vocals are also on point.

Gentlemen, i believe your girlfriends will have found a new lovesong to get mushy to but look on the bright side, the track is a good one. I give it a 5 Ghafla rating because of the production work, vocals and video. The combination of talents that went into making this piece of work a masterpiece.

Give the track a listen to and you be the judge of just how awesome (or not -if your idea of music is cats making love violently) is!

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News has it that Nonini has replaced Tina Kaggia on 1FM’s breakfast show. Nonini will now be hosting with Marcus Olang’ as Tina Kaggia moves to the mid-morning show on the same station.

Tina Kaggia was previously a mid-morning radio show host on Radio Africa Group’s highest rated station, Classic 105, before moving to 1FM Breakfast with Marcus Olang’. Some may think that Nonini is new to radio hosting but he has previously worked as a celebrity radio presenter at YFM, which is now known as Hot 96.

Nonini is a multi-award winning artiste who broke out in the early 2000s from Calif Records. He was one of the artistes who created the Genge music style. He is now an official at the Music Copyright Society of Kenya.

Coast’s hiphop saviour is back at it again!

Ngozi Nyeusi, the lad that gave us “Kiongozi wa Upinzani” is back with with a bangin’ new hiphop track that features Kimya. The title called “Pesa” is a banging track that is bound to get all the real hiphop heads bopping!

The track has a voice on loop that says “Pesa ni kila kitu!” and it got me thinking of Kenya’s golden age of hiphop and i can see that our hiphop scene is far from dead! We are now witnessing the birth of a star that looks set to single handedly bring Coast from the musical doldrums.

I actually can’t wait to see Ngozi Nyeusi on a track with Octopizzo! That would be trully sick! But for now the track gets a full 5 Ghfala rating! Check it out below:

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