Chizi’s lyrical talent

By CRYSTAL OKUSA and DAVID ODONGO

Dan ‘Chizi’ Aceda’s intelligent lyrics when fused with an intricate musical arrangement stand heads and shoulders with Africa’s greatest. This was evident at Chizi’s Benganology album launch.

On a chilly Friday night at the grounds of the National Museum of Kenya, guitar sounds and drums take over the otherwise usual silence in the night. A highly illuminated stage and relaxed, casually dressed patrons take their positions. They engage in chitchat, a drink in hand as they listen to Villagers Band lead singer Chris Adwar. Accompanied by his band, Chris’ strong baritone voice takes us through songs of their latest album The Norfolk Hotel. Most of the songs are Adwar’s true-life experience as he invites a friend named Kaka on stage to rap the section of Mr Walker. Kaka raps from his eyewitness account. This is but the curtain raiser for the man of the night Dan ‘Chizi’ Aceda.

After the virtuoso performance by Villagers Band, the crowd barely gets a chance to catch their breath as the melodious voice of Carol Atemi booms from the speakers.

After all these years of great performances, she still takes you on with caressing music like you are listening to her for the first time. The crowd chants her name encouraging her to continue singing, but the time has come for some Benganology action.

After a standing ovation and cheers, the slim dreadlocked musician takes the stage. Clad in plaid shirt and jeans, he composes himself, warming the crowd with the classic hit Wacha Waseme. Legendary artiste Eric Wainaina joins him on stage. Despite the very clear resemblance in their tune, they do not disappoint as it proves to be a great way to set the ball rolling seeing that the audience is already in line preparing to dance at the climax of the song Mimicking R&B artist Neyo, Chizi gives a local feel to Neyo’s song Mad, throwing in a Swahili version of the song and adding his own lines for a different touch of creativity.

Curvaceous Sanaipei Tande joins Chizi on stage for the Not the one single, a song that Sana helped write alongside Monica Obuga.

Benganology, his second 13-track album, has been his comeback showpiece into the music scene after a long break from the first album Suluwe.

Known for his love for practicality in song writing, Chizi has done his best to make the Benganology album relate to the average person. Taking turns to entertain the crowd during his performance was his well-rounded Wananchi Band.

Soufle and Blackberry were the hit songs of the night. Soufle takes us through life transformation of a once broke man who could not afford to take a girl for an expensive date therefore losing the chance of dating her. In Blackberry, a continuation of Soufle, the man has a wealthy new life, with Blackberry being his new form of communication and residential address Spring Valley. Now, he can fool the girl hook, line and sinker as she is at his beck and call.

Isaac Khahula’s tasty bass lines provide the perfect complimentary foundation to Chizi’s thoughtful material. In turn, Johnny Wainaina proves equally adept at handling the lead guitar on a number of songs, while Pascal Masika is a genius on the drum set. Kevin Njuguna has proved over and over again that his nifty fingers can work magic on the keyboard while Katunge Kisuke, Doris Onyango, Grace Muna and Dela Maranga provide an enchantment when it comes to the backing vocals.

Chizi’s second album, Benganology overflows with charisma and is incredibly versatile. From light-hearted dancehall scorcher Kumekucha giving thanks to God for bringing forth a new day, his sombre Narudi, on the other hand, is so moving it could coax a tear from a rock. Saida is a sassy number infused with a glorious dose of R&B. Chizi possesses all the pizzazz and sex appeal of a celebrity. His impassioned vocals and weighty lyrics are delivered over an amazing instrumentation leading to a rich harmony laden chorus.

The album was borne from strong belief that Benga is the archetype of all genres of music.

"Benga is the music of a people whose resilience and a sense of self belief are second to none. She is the result of the honest interaction with the phenomenon that is humanity by those who still believe in freethinking. And just like the human race, Benga has her roots in Kenya but belongs to the world. She is mother to kapuka, genge; sister to reggae, married to hip-hop and godmother to R nB and soul. All the people of the world have their very own Benganology," assert Chizi.

Chizi strives to be different.

"I want to do things differently from any other artiste. I focus on giving a very good energetic performance. Anybody who comes to my shows will get hooked as a fan." He says. Chizi’s live performances are exceedingly vibrant, as the band is capable of entertaining diverse audiences. Which makes perfect sense; after all, Chizi, could be the crown prince of Benga!

He believes Kenyan music is appreciated all over the world because it is great. "Good artistes like Ayub Ogada attract thousands of fans when they perform in Europe, but Kenyans are slowly turning to appreciate other genres of music," he says. Recently, Mr. Vegas curtain raised for Juacali. This proves that local music is better, he adds. "What’s more gratifying to an artiste than seeing Kenyans appreciate his music?" he asks.

Chizi objects to the common use of the term ‘world music’, declaring, "There is nothing that is really Western or Eastern music— we made that all up. What is so-called ‘world music’? That completely depends on your perspective, where you are located yourself. What is exotic in one place is commonplace or traditional in another. There is only the world, and there is only music."

Having only started studying music at 23, Chizi may as well be a late bloomer.

He joined Kenya music conservatory and studied for eight months. "I never studied music in primary or Secondary school, in fact at Strathmore School; we only studied, Math, Physics and Chemistry."

Currently Chizi is studying Architecture at the University of Nairobi. "My dad was a guitarist. I can say Africans are musical by nature. Africans are artistes at heart," he says.

While as he is not as comfortable as he would prefer, music pays his bills.

"I can’t say am as comfortable as I would love to. You see, few years back, my main problem was how to pay my band, right now, that isn’t a problem anymore. So I am now focusing on how to build a very good and well-equipped studio".

It’s taken him three years to release a second album.

Kijiji Records released his first album Suluwe. But this time around it has taken him more time to release the second album due to numerous setbacks. "The industry was down and I couldn’t get a studio well equipped to record a band." It took a co-ordinated effort of R-Kay, David Muthami, Aaron Rimbui and Chris Adwar to produce the Benganology.

Chizi once roughed up Kevin Mulei, CEO of Groove Awards but says that’s history now. He says it happened along time ago and they settled their differences two days after the incident. "It was a simple case of miscommunication. I felt he had treated me badly, but he also felt I was pushing him too hard," Chizi explains. "What actually happened is, I had been told to come with my band at midday, so when I had been backstage for six hours, I got upset and confronted Kevin. It turned out that he had planned that I perform as the last act".