Princess Jully: Life has not been easy

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Princess Jully (real name Lilian Auma Aoko), is one of Kenya's leading musicians. When her husband died in 1997, she took over his band and propelled it to national fame. She spoke to CAROLINE NYANGA

I grew up in a remote village called Makalda in South Nyanza. Being the last born in a family of nine, I was the apple of my parents’ eye although we led a difficult life. Sometimes, we even went without food.

My mother lost three children at birth, reducing our number to six. To make matters worse, my father died when I was one week old, leaving my mother, a small-scale farmer, to fend for all of us.

During a perfomance at City Cabanas [Photos by Maxwell Agwada and Evans Habil/Standard]

While in Kayole, I sold groundnuts and brown porridge in clubs within the estate. Fortunately, my husband and his band were able to land a contract at Kayole Club and I often joined him on stage to perform as his back-up singer.

Ironically, I gained more fans than he did despite his being a more established musician. I started to call myself Mbilia Bel because I thought my looks were similar to the Zairean singer. To my pleasant surprise, the prophecy made by Ondeto (he passed on in 1991) began to unfold.

As time went on, we landed more contracts in clubs within Dandora and Huruma estates. We also started to move around and, at some point, were based in Kisumu and Mombasa. Life became good the more we gained fame and money.

Being a beautiful woman, I had a hard time dealing with male customers everywhere we performed. I had to find a way of treating them well without necessarily getting personal because, at the end of the day, they were still our clients.

Prince Jully dies

One day, my husband fell sick after a concert in Kisumu. All had gone well during the performance. When we got down from stage, my husband shook hands with a musician he’d never seen eye to eye. People didn’t like this and I suppose they were right, because a few minutes later, my husband felt weak in his hands and could hardly play his guitar. He also complained of a slight headache.

I took him back to our house in Migori. A few days later, he died. I clearly recall my husband’s last words: "Piem ojemona," he said, which means; "the competition is too much for me to bear".

Despite my husband’s death, I did not lose hope in life. Even after friends and relatives deserted me, I moved on, took over the band and led us to fame. I achieved my goals. This was the only way I could maintain Prince Jully’s legacy.

I was also a member of Divas of The Nile group alongside Suzzana Owiyo, Achieng Abura and Mercy Myra. My dream is to redefine the Luo traditional music by bringing back the traditional instruments.