Four top Kenyan producers have embarked on a process of creating a new music sound that will be presented for public listening and participation within two weeks.
The creators Teddy B, Ceddo, Motif Di Don and Ilogos were tasked with the epic duty during a national creatives forum held in Kisii town, a two-day bonding retreat that brought together over 50 industry players from across the country.
“We need to rethink our heritage, as creatives in this country. We need to ask our selves questions and come up with answers that give solutions to those questions,” said Walter Mong’are who was heading the delegations.
“We have been having a discussion with top industry players among them the producers who are actually meeting for the first time today. We have challenged each other on how we can work on some of the elements that encompass our national heritage musically. We have even been sampling our national anthem and comparison with the top anthems across the world and I trust that this venture will be a good turning point, a national sound talking,” noted Mong’are.
The new project that started immediately will also involve celebrated vocalists and music directors from across the county.
The retreat was an eye opening one where matters bedeviling the creative industry in Kenya were discussed elaborately. Among them was the need to push towards the implementation of the national music policy, creating cohesion among creatives, breaking the barriers that derail the growth of the creative[u1] industry in Kenya as well as wellness matters.
Among the entertainers present included conscious rapper Ekko Dydda, the Uchungulo family and Man Igwe as well as reputable producer Arthur K.
“There is a need for the industry to hold together and highlight the matters facing it from one vocal point. We have, for long, been so segmented and this has been working against us. The older generation of creatives need to work with the younger one and vice versa. Musicians need to work with the media and producers as so does everyone need to join in in this new movement,” remarked Ekko Dydda.
“This is the first time in the history of our entertainment industry that we see music producers coming together. Indeed, it is the first time we are seeing the stakeholders in the creative sector sit together and talk in harmony with a common course. This is a start of a new chapter,” said Arthur K.
The occasion also marked the the launch of a new music studio, Uplift Studio, a Kisii-based stake-of-the art establishment with an international outlook.
