By Kenan Miruka
Humming and punching away at the piano keys, Caleb Tai seems to enjoy every minute of the music lesson.
After a while, his students stand up without prompting and sing their hearts out.
They are performing a piece from Wolfgang Mozart who Tai considers a great composer of our time.
After about three minutes, the room goes silent. It is time for what Tai calls ‘lesson proper’.
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It is only when he asks a student to set a projector and his computer that one realises he is blind.
Caleb Tai went blind at the age of five. His parents told him early in life he would have to fend for himself and make it in the world. |
| Caleb Tai with his wife, Ruth, at their recording studio. |
The Tai’s have sung and recorded various gospel songs together. Photos: Kenan Miruka |
"I know when I hit the keyboard, I connect with them," he says.
Though bereft of sight, Tai’s prowess in playing musical instruments is the envy of many.
"It is like his fingers have their own eyes," says a student.
The subject of his blindness is something Tai rarely brings up, unless in a jokingly manner.
"When you tell him ‘you see’, he tell ‘yes but not that kind of seeing’", says another student.
"I rarely think about my condition because God has given me another kind of inner vision, which is my talent in music," he says.
Tai lost his eyesight aged five. From then on, he had to learn to leave with his condition. In Gucha, where he lives and teaches, Tai is a renowned singer, music producer and sound engineer.
"I have combined my passion with education to become what I am today," the father of four says.
He holds a Masters in Music from Kenyatta University where he also pursued a BA in the same.
Witchcraft theory
The singer says superstitions almost cut his dreams short.
When he lost his eyesight, some people believed it was witchcraft and advised his parents to take him to medicine doctors to reverse the spell.
"They thought it was something that could be undone," he says.
However, his parents offered to take him to a medical doctor who diagnosed Tai with colour blindness.
"Doctors said it was an inborn weakness of the optic nerve. I see large still objects like cars and human beings but not clearly," he says.
Before he went blind, Tai remembers his father loved playing the accordion.
"I loved looking at the movement of his fingers," says the teacher.
When he went blind, Tai could sit and pretend to play the accordion or the piano.
"Then I also hummed familiar and imaginary tunes," he says.
Other children found it funny, but pretending to strum a guitar, play a guitar or accordion was the only thing he did with ease.
"I did not need eyes to see my imaginary instruments. It was fun," he says.
Since his movement was limited, he spent more time playing imaginary instruments and singing.
"I was suddenly thrust to unfamiliar world. Since there was no preparation or any form of counselling, I learnt to cope the best way I could," he says.
He had to bear taunting from other students.
"Some were cruel, but I did not let them break my spirit," he says. As he struggled to cope with his blindness, his brother enrolled him in a special school in Likoni, Mombasa where he sat his Certificate for Primary Education in 1977 and emerged the top student at the coast.
"That year, I appeared on the newspapers. I did not consider it a feat because I was blind. I had prepared long and hard for the examinations," he says with a smile.
He joined Thika School for the blind for his O levels and attained Division One in 1981 –– an equivalent of mean grade A in today’s KCSE.
"Though my condition did not bother me much, people always looked at me as the blind child who has excelled. It felt bad that I was not judged like a normal person," he says.
His condition almost denied him a place at Alliance Boys High where he wanted to pursue his A levels.
Learning challenges
"I wanted to go there because they had music. The school however did not know how to deal with my condition then," he says.
The Kenya Society of the Blind came to his rescue. They offered him a typewriter to do my notes. The school then agreed to enrol him
While there, his greatest challenge was to keep up with the lecturers.
"Since I could not see anything written on the board, I depended mainly on hearing. I could not afford to lose concentration at any point," he says.
At the end of it, he passed with three principals.
While at school, Tai attended part-time training during weekends and holidays at the Kenya Conservatoire of Music under the sponsorship of Thika School for the Blind and Alliance school.
The training inspired him to pursue music at the university.
Before joining university, Tai taught at Moi Forces Academy as an untrained teacher.
" It was easier at Kenyatta University since I had done nearly all the practical classes during my part-time training," he says.
He graduated in 1988 with a Second Class honours Upper Division degree and became the first student to be admitted for Masters in Music the following year.
"Some of my classmates included Prof Emily Akuno who teaches at Kenyatta University and is the head of the music department. Reuben Kigame joined much later," he says.
The Teacher Service Commission employed him in 1991. He has worked at Itierio, Kisii Teachers College, Kagumo College, Kisii School and Nyanchwa Mixed Secondary School.
Investment in music
"I am a performer. While in school, I performed at the Kenya Music Festivals and outside school, in churches. I could play the guitar and the keyboard," he says.
Using savings from his work as an instrumentalist for choirs and from his teaching job, he bought a keyboard at Sh150,000 from the US.
"My dream after getting employed as teacher was bigger than the salary but I managed," says he.
Soon after, he started composing instrumental music and the first was recorded in 1991.
With his savings, he founded CalmTrux Studio in 2000.
"I used to play instruments at various studios in Kericho and Nairobi. Then I noticed most choirs were struggling to get recorded due to high costs that included travelling," he says.
Born in a family musical, Tai’s father sung and played the accordion for a traditional music group while his mother was a choir singer.
"My father later began singing gospel after converting to Christianity," he says.
Tai can play a piano, guitar, drums, accordion and the mouth organ.
Major achievements
"I also connect the piano to a computer to play the saxophone, violin and the trumpet in the normal way," says Tai.
He has recorded and produced music for secular and gospel singers. His wife Ruth, a sound engineer runs the studio that has nurtured talent in the region.
"The first choir I recorded was Muungano from Tanzania then Mwanza Town, AIC Igoma Volume 9 before many local choirs came to me," he says.
Among the local choirs he has produced music for are Waithaka SDA, Migori TTC, Asumbi TTC, Awendo East and Kinkaville from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
He also produced music for gospel singers Sera Ngirigacha’s and Shadrack Maasai.
In the secular genre, Tai has produced and recorded Kilgoris Traditional Choir’s and Sia Shankoye among others.
