RIP Esir; My Tribute.

I was born in March and I’m very proud of that fact because alot of musicians were born in this month. Sadly, this was also the month that we lost one of Kenya’s brightest stars. 

Esir was a trailblazer, he brought lyrical potency to a genre laden with lacklustre talent and skill. His mastery of Swahili was evident in the many hits that were unleashed posthumously. Tomorrow happens to be the anniversary of his death, untimely death might I add. Thus I felt like I should write something small concerning that.

Everytime I remember South C’s finest, I feel like death robbed music of an artiste that would have captured the world’s attention had he been alive today. That should not be misconstrued to mean that there aren’t other talented people around, of-course there are. A dime a dozen. Esir however, I feel had drive, copious amounts of it. He had that river-like flow, that captivating imagery, and the vocal delivery needed to make hits even from songs that had a sombre mood like hamnitishi. Did he have a premonition about his death? Everytime I hear that song I wrestle with that thought. I know I’m not alone.

I only knew him through his music, but in my own way there was always a sense of familiarity. Vicariously maybe, because I also grew up in South C. And maybe because Brenda, who sang Mos mos lived in the next estate. I’ve never met either, knew her brother though…you get the whole six degrees of separation drift. I hope.

So today, the radio has been playing his music, which made me very melancholic. Invariably, I felt ‘led’ to pay homage to him in my own way. From Maisha and Bumba train featuring Nameless, to leo ni leo and Jo, it stilll feels like yesterday that those were chart topping hits. Time does fly, vanishes like morning dew in the kalahari sun. Again, this piece is really me externalizing, thus it’s a tribute at best, subjective at worst. 

From Wikipedia, I got a complete list of songs from his debut album nimefika just to paint a backfdrop for this piece. I hope I did a stellar job. 

• 1.Jobless corner 1 (Skit)
• 2.Kamata
• 3.Bamba
• 4.Moss Moss
• 5.Saree
• 6.Jobless Corner 2 (skit)
• 7.Lyrical tongue twister
• 8.Hamunitishi
• 9.Boomba Train
• 10.Leo ni Leo
• 11.Nimefika ‘Jo’
• 12.Saree
• 13.Kamaiko (skit)

 Today Jeff wrote about the Esir Notorious Big Connection, read that here. RIP Issa Mmari, I honour your memory