Kenya News

American record labels scramble for Africa’s $80 billion music sector

Published

4 years ago

June 10, 2020

BY EMBUKANE LIBOSSO

The attention on Africa’s music and artists from global players is shaping up! Africa’s widely fragmented music sectors now makes it one of the last true music growth opportunities in the world according to an article on The Forbes by Kori Hale, CEO of CultureBanx.

One of the chapters in our history curriculum is called “The Scramble for Africa and Partition.” The chapter looks at European powers’ invasion, occupation, colonization and annexation of African territory. With the dawn of independence, the scramble took a new dimension in what many analysts termed as a “New scramble for Africa.” The world’s superpowers competing for the control of the abundant natural resources of the motherland.

Another scramble is happening in the music sector, but African musicians are successfully navigating the situation and the international music labels are listening. Kenya’s beloved boy band, Sauti Sol, after signing an historic deal with Universal Music Africa (UMA) for the Midnight Train, termed their deal with UMA as a milestone. The label sat down and negotiated the deal with them, taking into consideration their pleas.

Now more than ever, American record labels are increasingly looking to Africa. Warner Music Group inked a deal with Afrobeats label Chocolate City. Universal Music Group inked a multi-year licensing agreement with Boomplay, Africa’s top music streaming platform, while Sony Music’s RCA record label with names like Davido and Wizkid on their list are extending operations in the continent. Def Jam recently announced a flagship roster of artists including established names like Cassper Nyovest, Nasty C, Nadia Nakai and Boity (all South Africa) and from Nigeria, Afrobeats act Larry Gaaga.

With the sound of the Shekere (a Yoruba percussion instrument), Africa is celebrating. The independent African pop music business is having a renaissance. From Luanda’s Kuduro, to Accra’s Azonto, Nairobi’s Gengetone to Soweto’s Gwarra and back to Lagos’s Afrobeats, the boom is being fueled by social media, YouTube, a younger generation and untapped talent.

While music business has been in decline over the years, what makes Africa’s market special? Goldman Sachs estimates recorded tunes in Africa will reach $80 billion by 2030. Kori Hale, CEO of CultureBanx continues to note that more than 60% of people in Africa, where global music consumers are poised to triple, are under 25 years old, and heavily rely on mobile phones to do everything including streaming music. This means that this group of global music listeners are ripe to become huge consumers.

Sales in music in Africa were up by 8.1%, reaching $17.3 billion last year, according to industry trade body, IFPI research release. Yet, all this happened while the formal, established business was going through its worst years worldwide. Many believe that African artists, given the similar reach and clout accorded by international labels, can go toe to toe with Europe and North America’s most revered.

But even before the big labels, Mr. Eazi was deliberate on his attempt to get Africa music global through the emPawa initiative. emPawa initially sprang from Mr. Eazi’s desire to replicate a key moment in his career. “He always told us the story of the $1,000 investment someone made in his career and how that made a huge difference,” says E-Kelly, a producer and close collaborator who serves as one of emPawa’s mentors. “If he can give other artists a good kickstart, they can find their feet from then on.”

Music streaming is also on the spotlight in Africa. Whereas Boomplay, partly owned by China-based Transsion Holdings, Africa’s largest mobile phone distributor, enjoys the big percentage, Apple Music recently announced an expansion. Apple Music, previously available in only 13 African countries, including: Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa, will now be accessible in 17 additional African countries. These include Algeria, Tunisia and Tanzania, rivaling Spotify which is available in only five African countries (Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, South Africa, and Tunisia). Apple Music last week launched its first radio show in Africa. “Africa Now Radio with Cuppy” debuted on Sunday and featured a mix of contemporary and traditional popular African sounds, including genres like Afrobeats, rap, house, kuduro and more. Special guests on the show were Queen Sono, actress Pearl Thusi and Kiddominant, a Nigerian record producer and DJ.

Chinese social media app TikTok, which was instrumental in combining trendiness by a Kenyan content creator, Azziad Nasenya dancing to Mejja and Femi One’s “Utawezana” propelled the song to a million views in six days. The app is fast gaining recognition with music lovers in the continent.

“We’ve seen huge success with Latin music going global and we believe the same can happen with African music,” Universal Music’s executive VP of market development Adam Granite says.

While music in Africa is so sentimental and spiritual. it remains a people’s self-image, a story teller’s confidence, and, by extension, our chances for future success. The scramble is on!

Kenya News

The story behind the story Sema Stori brought to you by Docubox East Africa

Published

4 years ago

August 19, 2020

TOCaribNews

BY EMBUKANE LIBOSSO

The Sema Stori (Sheng slang for Stories that Speak) project is brought to you by Docubox East Africa with the support of Comic Relief Collaboration. Drawing fine young filmmakers from the East Africa region working within their local communities, the project seeks to spark conversations around mental health, early childhood development, gender justice, and the right to safe secure shelter and settlement.

Sema Stori is working with skilled and locally rooted filmmakers to share stories about the issues from their own perspective. It focuses on creating documentary shorts which will be made through small awards to talented filmmakers in the East Africa region, and with support to assist film makers in accessing mentoring, tapping into opportunities for their films to be seen, and focusing up front on the social impact they want to create. Docubox based in Nairobi, Kenya leads the project – an African led film fund, run by African filmmakers for African filmmakers.

Judy Kibinge, Oscar Academy nominee, founder of Docubox and known for producing critically acclaimed films including: ‘Coming of Age’, ‘Dangerous Affair’ and ‘Something Necessary,’ is well aware about the funding challenge among African filmmakers. Judy says, “I was too familiar with how difficult it was for African filmmakers to keep making excellent work without more support – funding, technical input, networks, the list goes on. We couldn’t have been readier to have a conversation with Comic Relief when we heard about the direction they wanted to take.”

The first film to premiere on Wednesday, August 12^th, 2020 was “It’s Okay Not To Be Okay,” a film by Eugene Muigai. The short documentary film is a personal story following the life of Eugene Muigai, a boy who has struggled with depression. It follows his personal journey from childhood through adulthood, as he struggled with feelings of inferiority, feeling misunderstood, hated, and alone, without a clear purpose to justify existence in this world. Mental health has long been a subject that has drawn stigma and ridicule locally, and that is exactly why Sema Stori chose it as one of the four pillars in the Sema Stori Program.

“I am a creative who is passionate about storytelling, and I enjoy every aspect of it,” Eugene Muigai speaks of his passion for film.

Every Wednesday the project will be rolling out the films on the Sema Stori Facebook page for the public to watch and raise conversations during the week. Later on a panel will be invited the following Wednesday after the documentary premiere for a series of talks and conversations. This will run from August to October. The month of August focuses on mental health.

Creative storytelling is a growing industry in East Africa. Judy Kibinge adds on the Comic Relief website, “We’re so excited and looking forward to supporting the creation of this series of short films – important stories told by local voices. We’ve left it entirely to our filmmakers to let us know what stories they are burning to tell, and Docubox and Comic Relief can’t wait to keep you posted about them all.”

If you’re wondering what impact driven storytelling is all about, Thank You For The Rain is a great example of this

supported by a range of organizations including Docubox. Released in 2017, it follows the story of a Kenyan farmer Kisiilu who started to use his camera to capture the life of: his family, his village and the damages of climate change. During the film we see him transform from a father, to community leader, to an activist on the global stage inspiring climate action.

Sema Stori is unfolding and that story behind the story is what the project hopes will end up being as powerful as the stories themselves!

Kenya News

“THREE!” An album celebrating love, life and happiness

Published

4 years ago

August 5, 2020

TOCaribNews

BY EMBUKANE LIBOSSO

Nigerian afro-dancehall superstar Patoranking announces his third album, Three, arriving August 28^th via his own Amari Musiq imprint and US-based Indie powerhouse, EMPIRE.

Contemporary and multifaceted, the new album bills from “Odo Bra” with Ghanaian highlife star King Promise to “Whine It” with Kenya’s Sauti Sol.

Without a doubt there’s no shortage of musical diversity on Three. The project delivers a heavyweight slice of conscious reggae on “Lion in the Jungle” while the tender “Matter” sees Patoranking reconnect with Tiwa Savage, with whom he previously teamed on breakout track, “Girlie O.”

“Three is a strong number,” Patoranking says of the album title’s significance. “It stands for how I see language. In making the album, we tried to look at love, life and happiness. If you are listening to any of the tracks, even if it is a dance track, I want you to feel love.”

Kenya News

Kenyan superstar Afro-pop quartet of Polycarp Otieno, Savara Mudigi, Willis Chimano and Bien-Aime Baraza drop first album with Universal Music Africa

Published

4 years ago

July 14, 2020

TOCaribNews

BY EMBUKANE LIBOSSO

Reviews.
Most writers who submit reviews are always cautious. Any art, book, play or performance you choose to review, you are always under scrutiny since you are dissecting someone else’s art and putting your voice as an authority.

I am a music fan. I enjoy music. I enjoy reviewing events and music festivals. I love music and sometimes writing about music, and not being a musician always ends up getting me in trouble over sentiments I write, that an artist feels was not right. But we always end up talking while at events, and agreeing to disagree. It’s fine because at the end of the day, opinions are personal.

The other day on my Facebook timeline I saw a post that Sauti Sol fans loving and praising the new album, are like Prophet Owuor followers. If you have no idea who the prophet is, let me save you that energy. Prophet Owuor, whose key messages are centred around repentance and holiness, enjoys a cult like following. The person, who shared on Facebook, went ahead to call Sauti Sol’s new album flat, and that those praising it were just cult followers to the band.

When I rocked up the Ngong Racecourse in 2016 to cover their “Live And Die In Afrika album launch” I wrote that they had definitely ‘come of age!’ That night, an 8-man band and a set of dancers, made everything explosive. From their choice of outfits, to the stage props—heck, they even ferried a piano and the actual benches they used to sit on while singing acapella back then at Alliance Francaise. I wish there was no Rona because honestly Midnight Train album deserves a live album party launch.

The intro draws the listener in and takes you back to the Nairobi Railways steaming engine vibrations before Midnight Train kicks off. Just like the train’s onset, it is mid-tempo and samples Toto’s 1982 track “Africa”. There is hope! We will reach our destination.

Insecure is the next track. We all have our baggage and insecurities we carry into the relationship. This song addresses that. The lyrics are metaphorical and sensational.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, Brighter Days release was perfect. It features the prolific Soweto Gospel Choir and in all its subtle politeness leaves that hope; brighter days will come!

With Disco Matanga and Rhumba Japani, there is an open invitation to dance and make merry. Rhumba Japani has been on a replay loop ever since I heard it and arguably it is one of my favourites on the album. How they tie in the party vibe to the politics in lyricism is amazing.

India Arie is an artist who has had immense influence on the quartet and to get her on the track My Everything, just shows how much midnight oil was burned. The jam is groovy, slow paced yet has all these blends of romanticism spiced on it.

The music video for Suzanna brings that funky throwback 70s retro perspective. The track explores today’s generation, and what it will do to afford a luxurious lifestyle. Leki Alaba Isama directed the video, and shot in the city of Lagos, Nigeria. It explores that African heritage in sound with the strings and the drums.

Overall, the album is uplifting and energetic. When the train halts, it gives the listener pause to ponder over love, jamboree, insecurities, politics and hope.