Month: April 2014

With just hours before her husband is laid to rest at his final resting place, Mary Njeri Kahura better known as Njesh took what precious little energy she had to scribble a note to her beloved husband, Peter Kaberere.

Short and straight to the point, Njesh’s note was full of emotional words but not sombre. She said, “Fare thee well my Beloved Peter Kaberere…..Say hi to Priscilla. …What a legacy….So so proud….Dance with the Angels.”

Rest in peace Qabz.

Despite throwing his weight behind Uhuru Kenyatta in the run up to the 2013 polls, rapper and entreprenuer, K-Nel, meet and posed for photos with former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga at a conference in Atlanta.

K-Nel whose clothing line, Anglohili, has become a major attraction to Kenyans living in the diaspora had attended Raila’s Conference at Morehouse College in Atlanta and admits he enjoyed the 90 minutes’ session.

The meet up made K-Nel relish the moment he’s shared with both Raila and DP, William Ruto. Here’s what he had to say;

“A Moment with Kenya’s Vice President/Former Prime Minister; Certain moments in my life elevate my ambition.Today I realized I have met 2 of Kenya’s top Politicians I.e The Vice President Hon W. Ruto and The former Prime Minister Hon Raila Odinga In a time frame of 5 months.

I have learned a lot from these 2 and it has changed my perspective of how I view certain political issues. As I continue to STRESS on my NEUTRAL POSITION, my focus has been and will always be the wellbeing of my country KENYA and it’s citizens. My focus is the wellbeing of our kids, the leaders of tomorrow who could be you or I. Let’s not allow Politics to CORRUPT us, but hopefully use that platform to BUILD.

To conclude…….Looking forward to meet the President next. #Ambition”

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Last evening, Gospel family and fans assembled at the Parklands Baptist Church for a memorial concert held in honour of one of their own, Peter Kahura Kaberere.

The church was packed to the brim as friends and fans came out in their huge numbers to pay homage to one of the founding fathers of contemporary Gospel music in Kenya. Gospel artistes, deejays, hypemen and even preachers were at Parklands Baptist to celebrate Kaberere’s life.

A requiem service is currently underway at the CITAM (formerly NPC), Valley Road for Kaberere after which he will be laid to rest at the Lang’ata Cemetry.

Here are some images from last night;

Rest in eternal peace, Qabz.

Africa’s “Grammy Awards” (in intent), KORA Awards has been listing the best artists of the moment as selected by fans across Africa every week as they count down to the KORA Awards 2014.

Through their Facebook page, Kora Awards, they give fans chance to select their best artistes from Eastern, Central, Western, Southern and Northern Africa before coming up with a complete list of the top artistes that week.

This week (KORA’s Week 14), Tanzania’s Diamond Platnumz beat Amani and Kidum to represent the region on the list. Diamond moved from number 14 last week to number 3 this week, a major leap in deed.

“Thanks alot my fans, appreciate so much…i believe your votes are what made me be there…please let’s keep voting… i strongly believe together we can…..” posted Diamond on his Facebook page.

Here are this week’s winners;

KORA Awards are given annually for musical achievements in sub-Saharan Africa. This year’s venue for the awards has not been settled on but Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia and South Africa have been shortlisted as possible venues.

So far, Achieng Abura, Big Pin, DNG, Wyre, Kidum, have each won a KORA Award.

Stereo Heroes promised to take over East Africa by storm and they are living up to their promise.

Their latest release, “Let us Party” which features Stevete the Lyricist is currently topping Mdundo in terms of downloads and the newbies have now been signed to mTECH. mTECH is a company famed for taking local music to the international scene, beyond the Kenyan frontiers and is famed for making Camp Mulla a huge success.

Camp Mulla

Speaking exclusively to Ghafla, Stereo Hearts revealed that

“This is a huge milestone for us, mTECH are going to help us sell our content in Skiza tunes.We’ll therefore concentrate on just making great music as marketing is taken care of.This partnership will see us get better and better, watch this space Kenyans”

‘There comes a time in a man’s life when to get where he has to go – if there are no doors or windows – he walks through a wall.’ – Bernard Malamud

That’s exactly what MC Kelly did. After leaving Genius Entertainment, the contemporary Gospel hypeman had to stand on his own. Kelly, known for his energetic performances on stage and commanding voice on the M.I.C coupled with his unique dance moves with his dancers has made him one of the most sought after Gospel MCs.

With rich experience having performed at Groove party/tours, Coca Cola open Happiness, Tukuza live show (KTN), Crossover live shows (NTV) among others, he formed his own company, Hype Mover Creations and has already established a solid footing.

As a matter of fact, he’s already doing events one of which is taking place this Sunday (13^th April) after a successful one in Nakuru.

The Sunday event, The Uplift, will take place at the K.A.G Church in Buru Buru and will feature Gospel artists; Gloria Muliro, Pitson, Bahati and Guardian Angel.

Be there to support a brother.

Its official, Konshens has landed. The Jamaican artiste spoke to members of the media and public through a press briefing hosted by Guinness at the KICC helipad.

Konshens will be the headline artist for the Guinness Evolution party that will be held tomorrow at the KICC. Other artists who will perform alongside him will include; Wyre, Juacali, Habida, Victoria Kimani, Ken Wa Maria, Joe Mfalme and MC Kris Darlin

Konshens, popularly known for his hit single “Gal A Bubble” was flanked by his entourage comprising of recording artists Javarda & Mark Hize, who are signed by his Record Label SubKonshus Records.

Here is what went down at the press briefing

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Deejays have a unique ability to inspire, motivate, and enliven. Through their actions, deejays touch the hearts and lives of all Kenyans. There are those who have done extra ordinarily well over the years and have been recognized by the Kenya Book of Records.

The Kenya Book of Records is a unique book on known and unknown intriguing facts about Kenya,it’s pioneers and record holders. It’s an amazing compilation of positive facts about Kenyans, by Kenyans, for Kenyans, and the world. The book offers a well thought out summary of Kenya’s history, culture, heritage and record breaking achievements of its people over the years.

The Kenya Book of Records 2013/14 has featured the top deejays in Kenya; past and present who have made an impact in their field. Here’s that;

Legendary Disco DJs

Paco Perez

DJ Pinye

DJ John

DJ Babs

DJ Adams

Hussein Abdallah

Mdosi

Best DJ Groups

DJs Republic

Mobb DJs

Homeboyz

Code Red DJs

DJ Stylez

DJ Adel

Current Best DJs

DJ Crème de la Crème

DJ Joe Mfalme

DJ Kaytrixx

DJ Hassan

DJ Delph

DJ Space

DJ MO

Vera Sidika is, beyond a iota of a doubt, one of the most bustluscious and bootylicious divas of our time. Part of the reason she attracts love and hate in an almost equal measure.

Ever since the sands beneath the Nairobi social setting started shifting, a new crop of influential persons were thrown into the scene. They codified snobbery, they made careers out of fame, and they did some “amazing things” for this city; they are socialites.

One of them is Vera. Even she absolutely hates that word (so do many other women to whom you might once have affixed the label) she’s one of the most sought after video vixens in Kenya. So far she’s only featured in one Kenyan music video with a couple more from West Africa.

And now, his “rapcellency” Prezzo hooked up with her and made her his “new gal”. Take a look;

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This is the first single from Prezzo’s 2014 album, Rapcellency.

Woo hoo! It’s Friday! Our favorite day of the week. We’re soooo looking forward to the weekend. The anticipation of this weekend’s unwinding is finally coming to fruition. But before that, here’s a wrap up from yesterday;

#1 Gone Too Soon: Popular Kenyan Rapper Passes Away

#2 Fellow Gospel Artistes Join Citizen TV’s Kambua in Mourning Her Late Dad

#3 Check out the Top 10 Trending Images in Nairobi

#4 Aww! Wahu and Nameless 2nd Daughter Is All Grown Up Now. Take a look

#5 Willliam Ruto Poses For A Selfie With Citizen’s Top reporter

#6 “Otonglo Boy” Makes a Huge Comeback

#7 Brenda Wairimu & Nice Githinji Caught In A 10M Inheritance Dispute!

#8 After Twerking At Ghafla! Offices, See What Socialite Risper Faith Has Gotten Herself Into

#9 Check out Prezzo when He was Still Struggling

#10 And finally, Gospel Artiste Cancels All His Shows & Music Releases Following Death of Kaberere & Kambua’s Father

This week alone, the Gospel fraternity has been dealt a double blow following the untimely demise of two of its members.

Last Sunday, talented vocalist was electrocuted while at a car wash he owned, due to a faulty wire, on Sunday afternoon. Early Thursday morning, death struck again this time robbing Citizen TV’s Kambua of her dad, Professor Manundu.

Following the demise of these two celebrated personalities, Gospel singer, Kizzo B, has cancelled all his projects for the month of April. Making the revelation on his Facebook fan-page, Kizzo B said;

“Hey friends mambo.

Just to let u knw that nimestopisha SHOWS ZOTE nimekuwa nazo this month and I won’t release the video of NENO LA MUNGU(new single) this month like vile ilikuwa imepagwa. Just to show RESPECT AND KUWAPUMZISHA NDUGU ZETU WALIO TUACHA…..R.I.P KABERERE AND MZAZI WA DADA ANGU KAMBUA….pole kwa every 1.

KIZO B”

Kizo B

Meanwhile, a memorial concert is being held in honour of Kaberere at Parklands Baptist Church from 5.30 PM.

Congratulations to Yunasi Band for signing with one of the best music labels in 254, Sub Sahara Entertainment, this week.

They join an established and recognized label that includes some of Kenya’s most successful and internationally acclaimed artists such as Mercy Myra, Abbi, Kanja, Camp Mulla, Kusma, Tiri, Shappaman among other stellar up and coming artists such as Military Swagg Team, Sequiera and Biko.

The Yunasi Band that consists of Thobias Imani, Erick Odhiambo, Davis Ngalah and Simon Maranga has developed a unique East African music style called Sesube. Sesube is a combination of Sega, Isikuti and Benga. It takes sounds and inspirations from local Kenyan communities, cultural styles and languages and fuses those sounds with a European component. The sound is achieved by playing a variety of instruments, both traditional and modern. The band sings in several languages including Swahili, English, French, Luo, Kisii and Luhya.

Yunasi has managed to collaborate with international artists for recording and joint performances: The band collaborated with a Belgian Blues artiste, Rolandvan Campenhout, in the album, Atomic Power which won the best folk album in the 2006 Belgian ZAMU Awards. This was preceded by joint concerts in Nairobi and Belgium. They also collaborated with a French singer, Nicoletta to perform concerts in Nairobi and Paris. The band also co-performed with the South African rapper Tumi and the Volume at the Blankets and Wine festival, Nairobi.

The band boasts of awards such as Winners of the December 2007 BBC’s Next Big Thing Competition, 2004 Kisima Award (Kenya) for best afro-fusion band in Kenya and a nomination for an all-African Kora Award

A-Rap Kibz, pronounced ‘Ay-Rap Kibz’ (Edward Kibet Kipsanai), began rapping at the young age of 15 as a result of his affection for music since he was a little boy.

Influenced by his desk mates, he went from writing down lyrics to recording in a studio by 2012. Currently, the soon to be 20 year old artist has a couple of tracks under his belt, with the first of his upcoming project titled “The Dream Kid” being “Kelele” which features another great artist,  Jus Waxx or Winston Irungu, and was produced by Hypemasters.” He is influenced by international acts such as Kanye West and Drake, locally Rabbit.

”Kelele” is a club banger, which basically brings about fun. Both Kibz and Waxx approach the track with catchy lyrics, and basically bring ”Kelele” 

Check out the track below and tell us if it’s a HIT or MISS? 

The music industry has suffered yet another major blow after US-based Kenya artiste K-Star recently passed away.

According to Rap Nairobi K-star was found lying in bed, unconscious by his mother who screamed and asked his sister to call an ambulance.

The sister Esther Aburi revealed that “She checked on me and I was sleeping and then she went to my brother’s room and my brother was not moving when she talked to him. I heard her screaming. I ran to his room and she said, ‘Call 911 now’. ”

K-Star unfortunately was pronounced dead on arrival at Jersey City Medical Center.

May his soul R.I.P

Taurus music has been busy at work.

The stable has signed yet another awe-inspiring Zambian Duo by the name Urban Hype who are currently a big hit thanks to their successful singles ‘Freezer’ and  ‘Chimbilimbili’ which have an incredible afro feel to them and get just about anyone moving to them.

The Afro-Beat group “Urban Hype” blends 3 different styles of music to bring that feel good vibe to the young, old and young at heart.

Taurus Musik has lots more coming up. It is rumored that they are in  talks to get a talented thirteen year old on board. They have also  closed a very lucrative deal with an iconic Kenyan female DJ.

Watch out for details coming your way soon,meanwhile here is ‘Freezer’

While there are approximately 1 million jobs that are more difficult than being a struggling entertainer, there are few that seem as depressing and demoralizing. Entertainers are constantly forced to put on a smile and head out to shows where they will face near-certain rejection.

With lush red carpet fashions, million-shilling videos and shows like Young Rich focusing on celebrity wealth, it’s easy to forget that most stars didn’t grow up rich. In fact, quite a few standout celebs started out poor or underprivileged, only to find financial security when they struck out on their own.

Most celebs have struggled to get to where they are even if they come from wealthy families. The good is it isn’t permanent. And Prezzo knows that too well.

Today ‘his rapcellency’ uploaded an old photo of his and captioned, “Tough times don’t last but tough people do #ThrowBackThursday #MasterMind #TrulyUnruly #Rapcellency #YoungPrezzi”

Take a look;