CABU GAH DIARIES: The Kenyan Music Industry Needs Songwriters. Desperately. Size 8 Should Be The First Beneficiary.

For an industry that prides itself in growth,there is one aspect of growth we are all lacking in; Expert Songwriting. And we need that in the industry. We need it NOW!!!

This article was spurred by the latest Size 8 song called “Jemedari“. After she made much hoopla about it,as if it was even worth it,I got around to listen to the song on January 1st 2015. Clearly,it wasn’t the best way to start my Year.

The song title,obviously,is not thaaaat creative but then again,its a Gospel song and we know just how cheeky they can get when they are pressed to be creative in song titles. I mean,we have Gospel songs titled “Bahasha ya Ocampo”,’Furi Furi”,”Sari Sari”,”Dawa Ya Mede” and ummm….more worse titles.

That’s not where my beefs are,though. I want to try and make sense of this whole “Jemedari” song. It started off nice. Actually,the chorus is real good. But the verses…the verses….Good Lord! Size 8 urgently needs a Jemedari wa Kuandika nyimbo.

The verses were painful. Excruciatingly repetitive,shallow,lacking in content,bland and futile. Besides the chorus which,somehow is sweet,whoever wrote her verses needed to be fired ASAP! Unfortunately,she wrote them herself. In the same style and fashion that she had employed to pen all her secular jams.

You know things are about to get real boring when You hear words like “Mkare” in 2015. Words P-UNIT popularized 10 Years ago. She goes on to repeat,over and over,those particular lines throughout the whole span of the unfortunate 3:49 minute song. And for lack of better words and lines to throw into her verses,she drags the chorus soooo damn long. It keeps going on and on and on eating up precious song time and offering nothing really new.

And just when You think she has a new verse now,she launches into the tried and tested Christendom mantra,”If he has done for Me,He will do for You too” and ends up,like the rest of the song,dragging the refrain all across the song and then,in the last suicidal move,launches into that very loong,stretchy chorus again and BAM! The song is over.

A kindergarten kid could have written that song. At 3pm In the afternoon. After a heavy dish of matoke na mananasi.

But this really is NOT about Size 8’s lack of songwriting mojo,Its about a whole industry’s,basically.

And while we appreciate that we DO have very amazing songwriters in the Kenyan Music Industry,the likes of Ben Aime of Sauti Sol and Collo and Ruth Matete andf the folks over at Hart_the Band,the biggest bulk of the industry needs to STOP writing its own content.

DNA’s case,for instance,is beyond redemption. He’s not only armed with the lamest lines and rhymes,It nearly impossible to wrap Your head around a DNA song. And thus write a song for him. I have talked about Willy Paul a thousand times too. And how badly he needs a songwriter who will deviate form the usual Willy Paul Kitanzi/Machozi/Mama/Maurana themes. All of which go nowhere anyway.

No matter how good a singer or performer Beyonce may be,she desperately needed SIA to write the song “Pretty Hurts” for her for it to be the smash it it ended up being. And look what happened.

Sia,too,wrote ‘Diamonds‘ for Rihanna and look what happened.

90% of the biggest music stars You know had their famous hits written FOR THEM! Yes,even the Best Rapper who Ever Lived,Nas,has admitted to having his music written for him by his own younger brother. And ghostwriting is not a new thing to HIPHOP anyway.

Songwriiting is a talent. And most songwriters may not even be good singers after all. The fact that You can sing good,sell records,perform impecabbly and maintain celebrity visibility does NOT mean You can write as awesomely either.

Songwriters write from the heart. The write from inspiration…form the depths of their souls…from the sounds of silence. As opposed to a pop artiste who just writes to please masses and make a quick buck and big record.

The Kenyan Music Industry is replete with ‘singers’ and ‘performers’ who badly need material written for them. We also need to create a songwriting industry…composed of a team of the best and sharpest songwriting minds whose core business is to create songs,write them and send them over to Record Companies-like Ogopa or Penya or Sub-Sahara-and make their money out of it.

I bet there are thousands of genius songwriters out there who would pen amazing jams for Avril,Size 8,Kendi,Ala C,Kenzo,Kidum,Victoria Kimani,Tiwa,Wahu,Marya,Habida etc etc.

Artistes like ALA C,for instance,should QUIT writing their own music ASAP! So should 90% of the industry.

Having Your song written for You,like Collo wrote Brenda’s ‘Good For Nothing‘,helps in ways You can never imagine. Besides having a fresh sound,A songwriter enables You to tap into Your deepest self,express Yourself more differently,explore other themes,look at the world from a different perspective and have a whole different sound and tune altogether.

Jaguar too needs a songwriter. Infact,2 or 3 or 4 songwriters. And he will NEVER be the same again.

Kenyan artistes must allow Kenyan songwriters to thrive,shine and prosper by allowing them to write songs for them and paying them renumeratively.

And Kenyan artistes must dump either the superiority complex that tells them that NO ONE can write a song better for them than themselves or the stinginess that tells them that paying someone hard cash to write a song for You is wasting Money.

This is 2015. I need to hear different sounds…different themes and different approaches at Music from our Superstars. And that can only happen if they allow songs to be written for them.

I believe we have enough superb songwriters lying idle in this country. With awesome music lying idle in their bedrooms. Use these People!

Oh,and Amani too,that girl needs soooooo many songwriters. Gosh!

We need our own Stargate. Our own The Dream, Our own Neyos. And our own SIAs.

Let’s make it a different Year. Will we??? One song at a time.