By George Orido

Award-winning Denmark-based musician Victoria Wanjiku launched her album, Halua, with a powerful rendition of her favourite numbers at the Alliance Francaise.

The singer, who goes by the stage name VQEE, left the crowd begging for more at the end of her show. Shouts of "We want more. We want more" rent the air.

Throughout the two-hour performance the crowd could not help but sway and dance with her.

A section of fans at the launch of musician Victoria Wanjiku’s album at the Alliance Francaise.

Not even her parents could keep still. They swayed to the scintillating beats from their daughter as they moved to an open garden at the venue.

The show opened with Wachilia, which borrows from Kikuyu traditional beats blended with modern pop.

VQEE, accompanied by her ten-piece band, provided a three-hour gig with a variety of themes — including love, peace, culture and nationhood.

Abbi, the Afro-fusion giant, joined at intervals to sing his latest songs, including Freedom. Halua has 15 tracks all derived from Kenyan traditional beats but with a blend of modern pop. "The name is apt for the album because it took me three years to create a beautiful unique sound from traditional African beats blended with modern elements," says VQEE, recently featured in the Emmy Award winning Danish TV series Livvagterne (The Protectors).

Rich Heritage

VQEE’s inspiration to blend traditional with pop is to try and salvage a rich heritage whose oral transfer from one generation to another has suffered a setback.

"There is such a huge appetite for African music in Europe, especially East Africa," says her producer Seest. The album features Kenyan producer and rapper Wawesh, Bongo Flava star Mzungu Kichaa and Danish rapper Jusaman.
In the track Tamati she urges leaders to stop misleading the mass into ethnic antagonism.

Her motivation to sing Tamati was to help stop bloodshed that bedevilled Kenya after the 2007 elections. "I was working on my music in the studio in Copenhagen in 2008 and suddenly my beloved country was on fire," recalls VQEE. Wachilia calls upon Kenyans to forgive each other and move on as a nation. "There is such a very important and useful gain in staying together as nation devoid of tribalism," says VQEE.Her song Ukai, which has a rich Kamba beat, is about the daily chores of women in rural Kenya. VQEE started singing in church at the Holy Cross Catholic Church. Later she joined the Kenya United Nations Students Association art and culture department where she honed her talent.But her main mark on the national stage was when she joined Heartstrings Ensemble and featured in various British and Kenyan plays at the British Council auditorium.

Truly African

"It is during this time that I attended a workshop facilitated by Ghanaian artiste Selete Nyomi of the Agoro Arts project, and I was selected by the British Council in 1998 to attend the Theatre Company’s guest student programme," recalls VQEE.In Ghana she met colleagues from Holland, England, Germany and Denmark and singer/producer Claus Seest.

"I had this urge to produce some truly African stuff and I thought of VQEE who I had met at Agoro. I had to travel to the US at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) to interest her in my new project," says Seest. VQEE had then successfully auditioned for the UCLA Summer programme for media and production and had opportunity to feature as guest artist in TV series like The Geena Davis Show, and The Wheel of Fortune.She also featured in original productions, Kali Ma, a musical and poetic theatre piece based on a Hindu Mythology, and Street Jam TV lifestyles show aired on Black Entertainment Television.

Halua was recorded at Click studio in Copenhagen.