Is 'juju' hunting Mombasa artistes?

An artiste takes to the stage and the event’s MC hands over the microphone to him. The microphone jams and goes silent. He tries to play his playback CD, which also goes mute. As the MC takes the microphone to intervene, it somehow starts to work.

Because juju is real, so the stakeholders say, this artiste has a spell cast on him, he might need to visit a witchdoctor to have his music issues sorted out. Jealous rivals have fixed him in his place. It happened the other day in Mombasa. In fact, it is a common occurrence.

More than two decades since the popularity of contemporary Kenyan music and the coast is still playing second fiddle to Nairobi. Part of the biggest reason is the lack of unity caused by what Hidaya hit-maker Susumila terms as jealous and selfish motives.

“Chikuzee has been struggling for airplay and he is jealous that I am making headlines with Hidaya and other hits in circulation,” Susumila told Radio Maisha during an interview last week. This was after Chikuzee sensationally accused Susumila of practicing witchcraft leading to his (Chikuzee’s) downfall.

“I have a lot of respect for him, but he needs to look for other ways to remain relevant other than pushing my name in his problems. He has had court cases and other problems but all he needs to do is work hard,” Susumila said of the fellow artiste, who gave details of how Susumila’s house is full of suspicious paraphernalia that point to black magic.

The beef between the two artistes can be explained by their opposite career trajectory. While both were the hottest artistes when they broke out into the scene, Susumila has been able to move ahead of his contemporary. Susumila has become part of the small clique of artistes that has been advising Governor Hassan Joho and his County Executive for Youth, Sports and Gender Mohammed Abass. Other artistes include Armoury Beyby and Johnny Skani. These artistes can be regularly seen hobnobbing with the political class in the County and it is an open fact that they make the rooster for every event funded by the County.

While Chikuzee has claimed that he is Susumila’s musical teacher, it was actually the latter that was on radio years before Chikuzee released Si Vibaya, his first hit.

“I can tell you for free that the accusations are stupid and that is why it is only here (in Coast) that these things come up,” says Street Hustler rapper Cannibal.

“These things always resurface after sometime but it is silly and very petty.”

Celebrated and award-winning artiste Ally B has also suffered from accusations about his wealth. The artiste was said to have closed down his studio in 2013 after going broke.

While explaining that he had left the management of the studio to another artiste due to his busy schedule, he calmly explains that there was a lot of jealousy and baseless claims from other artistes from the coastal town.

“These are all rumours from people who are not happy about my progress,” he expounds.

On the current Susumila-Chikuzee accusations, Ally B explains that he is surprised by the turn of events, as the two were actually friends.

“We are all know how Susumila and Chikuzee were buddies and they even did two songs together that were hits. All in all, I know Susumila and the hard work he puts in his music and I believe there is nothing dark about him,” says Ally B, who has just released Mr Bembea.

“When an artiste manages to remain relevant in the current industry, people will always question their strategy but I always want people to work harder. That is the only way one can eat,” adds Ally B.