Lupita and Otonglo time: Kenya’s art scene in 2013

BY GEORGE ORIDO

NAIROBI: Kenya’s entertainment scene in 2013 was decorated with colour amid soaring number of productions, increased state funding and support, more eminent international presence and a few lows, including dearth of annual awards and introduction of new ones.

Without doubt, gospel music swelled the most. The industry has everything to smile about as artistes Gloria Muliro, Willy Paul, Emmy Kosgey and Roughtone took over the bragging rights from secular giants.

Today, hits such as Sitolia by Muliro, Taunet Nelel by Emmy and Roughtone’s collabo with the hitherto dreaded General Service Unit personnel in Mungu Baba have become favourites among most Kenyans, even non- converts.

This surge can be attributed to better sound quality as well as stunning videos that come along with these productions.

It is within the same hem that Napenda by Christina Shusho and Geraldine Oduor has found its fame among gospel music lovers.

This is however not to say that secular musicians did not fly.

Indeed, Jaguar’s Kipepeo’s success was a vindication that his Kigeugeu satire was not a fluke. Kipepeo’s lyrics brought back decency and subtle romance into our music that had been beleaguered by morose and repulsive undertones for quite some time.

Other musicians who made a mark in secular music included Tanzania’s Diamond Platnumz with his classic piece My Number One.

Big development

The song’s arrangement is easy and entertaining, bringing back the jazz taste into modern pop music in East Africa with such a good flavour.

Its video was arguably one of the best in 2013.

It will be another six months before we know who among the artistes earned the most from the Music Copyright Society of Kenya. But what we now know is that the current record holders in earnings are Nonini and Jaguar in the secular world and Eunice Njeri, Alice Kamande, Ringtone, Marion Shako and Sara Kiarie in their gospel music endeavours as announced in an award ceremony held in July.

The much awaited and failed performance by Ivorian Reggae Star Alpha Blondy in Nairobi remains one of the biggest low downs of the year.  But in a big development, the Youth Enterprise and Development Fund announced a Sh300 million support for music production.

The fact that the collateral is the copyright of the music produced, the Youth Fund became the most accessible fund for music production in Kenya ever.

Another Sh300 million was set aside for film production with a similar lending terrain.

This announcement was crucial for a sector that has seen a big slum inactivity including the dearth of the Kenya International Film Festival (KIFF) initiated by Charles Asiba and funded by the Kenya Film Commission that is facing dissolution after the government decided to merge parastatals.

Oscar nomination

Asiba has however started a simpler version of the festival and called it the Kenya Documentary Film Festival which attracted a handful audience in its inaugural event at the National Museums of Kenya’s Loius Leakey Hall.

But the biggest break for Kenya’s film in its 50 year history was Lupita Nyongo’s win at the 17th edition of the Hollywood Film Award in October.

For her sterling role in 12 Years a Slave she was crowned with the New Hollywood Award and also earned an Oscar nomination for the Best Supporting Role.

Lupita bettered the record set the previous year by Oliver Litondo at the 11th AARP Awards in Beverly California when he won the Best Actor award for his role in the movie The First Grader.

Nairobi Half Life saved the face of Kenya in the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) annually held in the city of Yenagoa, Beyelsa State in Nigeria.

The film, directed by David Tosh Gitonga, won the Best Sound as well as the most promising actor (Joseph Wairimu), leaving Nollywood to sweep most of the awards.

Unfortunately, this slack performance may be repeated since access to the allocated funds such as the one from the Youth Enterprise Fund has been hindered by bureaucracy – not a single project has been started from this fund.

Ogova Ondego, the AMAA East Africa coordinator, will have to mobilise the industry and see how best Kenya can perform in this esteemed award run by Princess Peace Anyiam-Osigwe.

But it was a very fulfilling year for theatre and drama, starting with the controversial play Shackles of Doom that saw the Executive compelled by a court order to allow its performance that had been deemed performance which had been deemed adversarial by the powers that be.

The episode also raised the visibility of the annual Kenya Schools and Colleges Drama Festival that attracts the participation of 10,000 students.

Today the festival stands high as the biggest source of original Kenyan stories with thematic touch, addressing many contemporary, economic, social and political issues affecting the country.

Otonglo time

It is in the same festival that Daniel Owira, a student at Highway Secondary School, captured the imagination of the nation with his narrative Otonglo Time.

So moved was President Uhuru Kenyatta that he not only hosted the lad to dinner, he also offered him a full school scholarship.

This gesture by the President was a tip of the iceberg with respect to executive interest in the arts after he went ahead and attended in person the annual Groove Awards at KICC.

In his speech during the winner’s state gala he hosted in Mombasa, Uhuru announced that his government would build a state of the art National Theatre and a Film Studio.

True to his word, the President commissioned a Sh100 million refurbishment project for the run down and decaying 400-seater Kenya National Theatre funded by Kenya Breweries Ltd as one of the Kenya@50 legacy projects, and becoming the first sitting head of state to visit the KNT.

He also committed to reclaiming the Kenya Cultural Center land sandwiched between Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, University of Nairobi and the Uhuru Highway for the building of the ultra-modern national theatre.

The President’s own son Muhoho took the fashion industry by storm when he displayed his Khanga designs under the Nomad Fashion brand in August.

It was also gratifying to see First Lady Margaret Kenyatta attend a show at Kenya’s only repertory theatre, The Phoenix Players, when Mumbi Kaigwa staged For Coloured Girls who Have Considered Suicide in July.

Mrs Kenyatta was moved to tears as the women-only cast went through some of the most heart wrenching stories facing women in the world today.

Phoenix Players who have had many administration challenges in the past seemed to have got its footing with David Opondoe at the helm. It successfully runs the annual musical with Kenya at 50 gracing the intimate 110 – seater theatre.

Music jamboree

Yet the most robust theatre in Kenya today remains the Alliance Française in Nairobi, comprising the Prof Wangari Mathari Auditorium and the Alliance Française Garden that hosted many international and local artistes.

For this, Alliance Française won the Best Theatre Space in the inaugural Sanaa Theatre Awards initiated by Tone Communications and supported by Standard Group and National Organisation of Peer Educators among other benefactors.

The award came as good news to the theatre fraternity after Mbalamwezi Awards went under 10 years ago.

Among others, winners included veteran playwright and director John Sib-Okumu for his original production The Elements, Oby Obyerodhyambo for his production Wanjiku’s Dilemma, Sammy Mwangi and Victor Ber in their directing roles at Heartstrings Entertainment, Simon Oyatsi as the Best Actor in his role in Fred Mbogo’s The Eulogy of a Neat Man among others.

The annual Kenya Music Festival remains the largest music jamboree in Africa attracting a total of 100,000 participants at the national level alone.

And this year it survived by a whisker after the teachers strike nearly occasioned its cancellation in August.

2014 looks very good for the arts and creative industry, which will certainly increase its five per cent contribution to Kenya’s GDP.