Rufftone to wed fiancee Krystal after nine years

Rufftone and Krystal in past event [Photo: File]

The two lovebirds were on an outing when Rufftone dropped those magic words. There, at the entrance of the busy Nairobi Prestige Mall Plaza, Rufftone went down on one knee, dug into his pocket, fished out a ring and asked Krystal:

"Will you marry me?"

"Yes, I will," she agreed.

It was an awkward, but sweet, moment. Krystal had not seen it coming and the casual manner in which Rufftone had done the drill made the proposal look like a joke. She was not sure he had made it.

"When he proposed, he went down on is knee and put the ring on my finger and said 'Si ni hivo sasa' (that's it). I expected something grander. Since, I have been hinting for a proper proposal but I do not think it will be coming," says the bride who will tomorrow walk down the aisle in one of Kenya's much-awaited celebrity union.

With a sheepish smile, Rufftone glances at Krystal. She looks back at him adorably and one can sense the affection between the two lovebirds. They exchange jokes around the proposing issue with Rufftone even going ahead to admit  he thought Krystal would slap him over the casual proposal. An animated laughter follows.

It all started with a recording plan back in 2005 when a friend took Krystal, then an upcoming gospel artiste, to Rufftone's studio to record her music. She hardly knew this Roy Smith man and her first glance left her thrown off.

"He was looking real shaggy and too casual. He was wearing shorts and sandals yet I was here, officially dressed to meet a whole CEO of a recording stable. At first, I thought he was just one of the staff. How could this be the CEO?" she recalls.

"I was 19 years old then. I did not know who he was or that he was famous. I actually thought I was going to Ted Josiah's studio. Despite not being very impressed at the first encounter, I secretly thought to myself that his height was great," narrates the rather soft-spoken beauty.

Rufftone describes his soon-to-be-wife as 'understanding' and looks on fondly and teases her as she shares their love story.

"She gets me. She is very understanding and supportive and most things I do that would annoy most people; she takes it on with grace," Rufftone says.

After their first 'recording' meeting, Rufftone made sure to ask for meetings with her as often as possible. Secretly, he was warming up to her and as green as she was, the born-again young Krystal would always wonder why this recording business was dragging from stage to stage.

"One song would take months to produce and I think it was his way of keeping me around. I eventually started liking him but he would be sending all these mixed signals. I was not sure how to act around him," Krystal points out.

When they finally started dating officially in 2007, Krystal started thinking and dreaming of their wedding six months into the relationship.

"I started talking to him about the wedding and his answer would always be that the wedding will come soon. He always found an excuse to postpone the proposed dates we had made. It could be a concert he is taking part in or a project the studio had taken up. I thought we would have been married by April 2009," recounts Krystal.

So what happened that the once bad-boy secular singer, then Mr Igi Igi, now turned gospel artiste decided it was time to quit the bachelor's club.

"Krystal has been very patient with me over the years and she has taken a lot but she never left. I decided to put all the projects on hold including the new music I am working on. I realised music will always be there so it can wait," explains Rufftone.

He adds that a wedding was a platform to start a God fearing family and for Krystal, a wedding was not so much the people that would attend but the fact that they would say their vows to each other before God.

"What matters at the end of the day is that I go home with my husband having said those vows before God and starting a marriage with God in it," she adds.

The couple did the traditional ceremony commonly known as ruracio in 2012 at Krystal's home and according to her culture given they are from different cultural backgrounds.

"She is the one who will be taken from her parent's house so we decided to do it their way, for her and her parents," Rufftone explains.

Was he nervous meeting her parents for the first time?

"I was nervous, but not as nervous as I am now as we await the big day. She is the first born in her family so I was worried about impressing her parents," he admits.

Though the years of work on the relationship from the two gospel artistes has finally culminated in a wedding, it has not been all smooth.

"At some point we separated mostly because I just could not understand all the mixed signals he was sending. I felt my expectations were not being met and I travelled to Namibia where I had a chance to move on but my heart was still his. I prayed for a sign on whether I should hang on and when I got it I, travelled back home," recalls Krystal.

"She wanted us to talk it over yet she was far away so I asked her to come back home. When she got back I laid my cards on the table and confessed that I loved her and always had," Rufftone continues the story from his point of view.

Krystal revealed that Rufftone had confessed that he had had a prayer that the woman who would be around the longest would be his wife and as it turned out, she stuck around for quite a while.

"Rufftone is one man who has taught me patience. Ours has been a different kind of relationship and I am amazed at my grace," she adds.

During the interview, Rufftone admits that though he is excited about the wedding, he is nervous about it.

"Given a chance, no man would choose to have a wedding. I am a free lion who is about to get caged and that is hard because a wedding means I am agreeing to being caged but I'm happy that we are finally at this point. If she is happy then I am happy," he says.

Krystal who had not made up her mind on what dress to wear a week to the wedding reveals that the highlight of the wedding for her will be the exchanging of the vows and the cutting of the cake.

"The cutting of the cake will symbolise a meal I will share with family and friends and meal time with family is very important for me," she points out.

According to Rufftone, the hardest part of planning the wedding has been with service providers and managing the expectations of their fans.

"People are drawing their own pictures on how they think the wedding should be and finding the line where we strike a balance with our family and friends has been tricky," he explains.

The Mungu Baba singer and goodwill ambassador for Public Diplomacy of South Korea reveals that he hopes eventually they will have six children but Krystal is of a different opinion.

"I want two children and the decision on whether to have any more children will be based on how the first two pregnancies will go," she says.

Krystal reveals that her soon-to-be husband has taught her everything she knows about music and the industry and loves that he is a great listener. She talks passionately about marriage; a clear indication of her excitement on her upcoming nuptials.

She reveals the theme of her much-awaited wedding will be hot pink and gold with the gentlemen in black and or grey suits. The bridal party will consist Krystal's younger sister called Cate, Rufftone's sister Jojo, her cousin and of course the best maid.

The line up on the groom's side will include popular names in the industry such as Harry G and Daddy Owen who is Rufftone's brother and who is scheduled to wed sometime later in the year.

"Daddy Owen will also be tying the knot soon but I had to wed first being the first born son and according to culture. At least, now I can stop holding everyone back from getting married," says the jovial Rufftone.

Rufftone, who is not only an artiste but also a businessman with a clothing line, Ruffwear, a music stable where he first met his soon-to-be wife, Lampstand Records, and a travel company reveals that they would be travelling to South Korea after the wedding.

"I will be going to familiarise myself with the country and the language being their goodwill ambassador in Kenya and it will also be part of the honeymoon. I do not want to reveal too many details on that," he says.

We wish the couple all the best and blessings in their marriage.