It’s About Time Kenyan Artists Stopped Whining About Nigerian Music, It’s Actually a Blessing in Disguise.

Nigerian music or no Nigerian music? That is one of the most controversial topics that always comes up whenever a discussion about Kenya’s music crops up.

Kenya artists are always touché about the topic and more often than not they blame Nigerian music for most of their woes. If not’s DJ’s playing a lot of it and sidelining their music, then it’s Kenyans wanting to listen to it and ignoring Kenyan music altogether.

Now here is the thing, I think Kenyan artists should actually look on the brighter side because Nigerian music is actually a blessing in disguise. And before you start throwing stones at me, let me explain why.

The year was 1997 and a boy band by name Jomenes Boys na Band under the stewardship of Johari Cleff headed by Bruce Odhiambo dropped a tune called African woman. Now African woman was not just any song, it was a fusion between traditional benga and pop which was doing rounds at the time. It was a good tune, well produced, well packaged and definitely out of the box. At least, that’s what creators thought until they took to radio stations for it to be played.

That’s when they got the shock of their lives as no radio station was interested. Even industry players they in good terms were hearing none of it. Apparently the song was too traditional and it couldn’t resonate with their audience which wanted something modern and funky.

They didn’t give up though, they continued distributing the song to bars, street music vendors, DJ’s and everyone else who had a platform to showcase and play music. Fortunately most of them loved the song, it was different and African so they played it, sold it and played it some more to the point that Kenyans couldn’t resist it.

They were feeling it so they played it in their cars, their house parties and requested for it in the clubs to a point where the song became so popular that radio stations couldn’t ignore it anymore; they bulged but unfortunately that was four years later. The same predicament had also befallen Poxy Presha with his total balla song which was not getting any airplay at all.

This situation continued until around 2005 when 2 face Idibia dropped his African Queen Song which basically revolutionized how we viewed music globally and also opened up the market for Nigerian music which now infiltrated the whole of Africa.

And what was common about it? It all had a traditional feel as it incorporated their language and basically major tenets from their culture. It however had this vibe so Kenyan radio stations couldn’t ignore it again creating a market for this type of music.

This created a niche and it’s because of that fact we have songs like Bank Otuch which is made in Luo becoming mega hits. And so many other songs of this nature are being created expanding our variety, portfolio and quantity.

And we have to attest quality is of utter most importance considering all the tunes Nigerians churn out day in day out. Actually according to Bruce Odhiambo, legendary producer and a witness who has seen this whole thing unfold, producers and artists should desist from worrying about quality and focus on quantity. They are not the consumers of the product.

They should flood the market to a point where Kenyans have no choice but listen to their own music.