Artists Central Kenya.

28/11/2023

"... Those were going to be what I was changing to since my shoes and socks were wet, and when I arrived, the rains had started to fade off. Since the GWAV Hall was on the top floor of a building near where the caterers for the Sukari Presbyterian Academy/PCEA Church worked, I had to go down the stairs and leave my phone charging as another youth pastor kept spitting religious crap to the youth who attended his service for the weekly brainwash Kenyan Christians even fought for.

I sat down on a bench and began changing my shoes, after going down the stairs, and as soon as I wore my sandals, a security guard and two Administrative Police officers came to where I sat and began asking what I was doing.
I will tell you something I cannot seem to understand.

They saw me removing wet shoes and socks, wiping up my feet, and had seen the thunderstorm since early morning around the whole Kahawa and Githurai area, and had seen some members of the congregation attend services with umbrellas which didn't do much for them 'in the name of Jesus'. However, my behaviour of changing wet shoes instead of getting brainwashed like the others was now an apparent security situation..."

"...So, my life was going to be a life where I never depended on religion to feel welcome in any community, especially since I understood the disturbing fact that, especially here in Africa, Christianity taught children that those who accepted Jesus as their personal saviour were going to be good people who were 'saved by the blood of Jesus' and will be going to heaven. Those who did not accept Jesus as their personal saviour were seen as heathens/devil worshippers destined for eternal burning in hell.

You can imagine the unbelievably smug, superior, discriminatory, self-righteous, and downright judgmental attitude which came from Kenyans, especially the youth members and the congregation in privileged churches like the PCEA Kahawa Sukari (and believe me when I tell you, I saw those characteristics from a good number of them), and also relatives/siblings who were staunch believers..."

ALL IT TOOK WAS A CHANGE OF SHOES

By Haroun Risa

https://risaharoun.wordpress.com/2023/11/27/all-it-took-was-a-change-of-shoes/

© Haroun Risa 2023. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

There’s one thing people need to understand about heavy rainfall, inevitable, long distances to walk, and being misunderstood as an African child.Nobody will ever understand you when you begi…

21/11/2023

“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.”

– Anne Lamot

https://risaharoun.wordpress.com/2023/11/21/in-whose-name-again/

"...I have no idea what those officers were told by Dr. Purity, but after that officer returned the phone to Franklin, that officer turned to his associate, who engaged gear, and they drove away without a single second glance back. Mind you, these officers were trying to provoke us both, by kicking us out of the premises without even letting me collect my bag (which got searched, mind you, and made them feel terribly ashamed to realize we were right all along, we never provoked them back, we stayed calm the whole time, and we had no contraband or anything illegal they expected to find. Their shame bit into them so badly that they stopped saying a thing to us, and their confidence was shut down so badly by Dr. Purity over the phone, that they knew they were in big trouble for harassing innocent people in the church).

To be honest, we may have had Dr. Purity, a high-ranking church elder, get the police off our backs, but sadly, not a single person lifted a finger to help Franklin with assistance as he prepared for his journey. What shocked me the most was that these hypocrites preached love, and grace, lacing many ideologies with Bible verses ‘in the name of Jesus’, so as to continue the weekly brainwashing Kenyans were sucked in by churches so as to continue feeding the church organizations with weekly tithes and offerings which never truly helped out the needy, or did anything meaningful for blind church worshippers who kept crying out for Jesus Christ in their blind brainwash, never realizing that so much can be accomplished from within themselves, if only they opened their eyes and stopped giving the church more power over themselves ‘in the name of Jesus’.

Obviously, a lot of what gets collected as tithes and offerings is eaten up by some greedy church elders who only think about the posh V8 Land Cruisers they’ll buy, or what designer clothes they’ll shop for their wives, or what maisonettes they’re going to build ‘in the name of Jesus’. Material possessions have been worshipped by all these folks who work as pastors and church elders, covering up their fear of losing their material wealth by aggressive preaching methods, trying to make Christianity look like this guaranteed ticket to heaven, when many people now don’t give a damn about religion, especially the hypocritical Christian churches who keep blinding Kenyans ‘in the name of Jesus’, yet they (the church elders and pastors) are the ones who will cash in on the tithes and offerings, showing more corrupt tendencies than politicians who conduct money laundering in the same churches ‘in the name of Jesus’.

It is now time for Kenyans to understand a clear fact; these churches are nothing but buildings whose businesses are tax-free, and all they do is provide comfort to people who are in fear of going to hell, or death. So their preachings brainwash Kenyans to the point where a Kenyan will never see the truth behind what church elders are really like, and they’ll never be questioned for whatever they embezzle, since hey, it’s ‘in the name of Jesus’..."

© Haroun Risa 2023. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.” – Anne Lamot On November 20th this year, my longtime …

17/10/2023

All aboard the journey through Kenya's history at the Nairobi Railway Museum! We are your hub for knowledge, open Monday to Sunday, including public holidays, from 8 am to 5 pm. Come explore and experience the rich heritage of our railways. For inquiries or to plan your visit, please feel free to reach out to us at 0728787290. We look forward to welcoming you!

22/09/2023

29/08/2023

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐀𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐅𝐈𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀.

On Saturday of March 1963, the band (𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗝𝗮𝘇𝘇) had humiliated 𝐊𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐞 by ignoring his wedding and flying off to Brussels. No way they could use the group's name and label because Kabasele owned it all.

Dr. Nico then composed a hit 𝑩𝒊𝒍𝒐𝒎𝒃𝒆 𝒚𝒂 𝑨𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂 ( Champions of Africa) and they naively used the name of African Jazz in the lyrics as if Kabasele would accept his overthrow without a fight😂. But guess what! When Kabasele heard that, he took them to Court and this was the labour pains that gave birth to 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗙𝗶𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮 being led by three elombes; 𝐓𝐚𝐛𝐮 𝐋𝐞𝐲, 𝐃𝐫. 𝐍𝐢𝐜𝐨 and 𝐑𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐈𝐳𝐞𝐢𝐝𝐢. Izeidi established the Vita Label to issue African Fiesta's new recordings.

At this time the band had the following assigned members;
𝐑𝐨𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐮 who was the President and a singer, 𝐃𝐫. 𝐍𝐢𝐜𝐨 was 𝑪𝒉𝒆𝒇 𝒅'𝑶𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒆 and A solo guitarist, 𝐅𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬 𝐈𝐳𝐞𝐢𝐝𝐢 was a mi-solo guitarist and the Administrator of the band, 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐊𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚 and 𝐉𝐞𝐞𝐟 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐝𝐢 On trumpet, 𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐭 Who was a Percussionist. 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐝 (Nico's brother) a Rhythm guitarist) The band did well during the season. In record shops and night clubs African Fiesta was winning where it counted.

Songs from the Brussels sessions trickled out very few weeks and new ones extolling the African Fiesta name were recorded in Léo and during a second trip to Brussels in 1964. Iziedi, Nico and Rochereau arrived at an arrangement for sharing responsibility that seemed, for the moment at least, to restrain the restless impulses of egotism and paranoia.

In that 1964, Rochereau composed a song N'daya where Nico played Rhythm Dechaud (Nico's brother) played solo. The two brothers formed the music's ultimate guitar duo.

Later that year bassist 𝐉𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐩𝐡 𝐌𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐚 joined from Ngoma, Roger Izeidi's younger brother 𝐅𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬 playing maracas singer 𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐥 𝐌𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐥𝐞 and a younger woman singer named 𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐬 𝐌𝐲𝐨𝐬𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐬 also joined the band.

One other element distinguished African Fiesta from its closet rivals. Where O.K Jazz and Orchestre Bantou championed the saxophone, African Fiesta countered with the trumpet of 𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞 '𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲' 𝐊𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚. This guy would attack his trumpet with an incredible ferocity sweating.
At the beginning of 1965, African Fiesta enticed the singer 𝐊𝐰𝐚𝐦𝐲 𝐌𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐢 away from 𝗢.𝗞. 𝗝𝗮𝘇𝘇. Later in the year Franco discovered that 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗙𝗶𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮 had contacted 𝐆𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐊𝐢𝐚𝐦𝐮𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐚, the saxophonist well known as 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐤𝐲𝐬, about playing for them. Fed up with such tampering, Franco placed an open letter in a newspaper. He accused African Fiesta of going beyond a mere search for musicians and instead trying to subotage O.K. Jazz. "𝑾𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒃𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 3𝒓𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉 [𝑱𝒖𝒍𝒚 3, 1965]," Franco wrote sarcastically, " 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑶.𝑲 𝑱𝒂𝒛𝒛, 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑭𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑽𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒂𝒍."

Indeed Franco's word made Verckys to stay in O.K. Jazz, but the matter didn't rest there. One of Kwamy's first composition for African Fiesta was a satirical piece entitled '𝙁𝙖𝙪𝙭 𝙈𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙚' (False Millionare). At first listen it sounds like a straight-forward commentary on the predicamentof those who, for the sake of status live beyond their means. "𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒐, 𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒚' Kwamy sings with Nico'a laconic guitar chimimg in behind him. In this ong Kwamy was accusing O.K. Jazz specifically Franco of withholding his money, and thus the titles 'Faux Millionnaire.'
And guess what, Franco replied with a song 𝘾𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙚

In October 1965, Roger Izeidi had gone to USA to investigate business opportunities for himself and African Fiesta. When he came back, Izeidi ran smack into deflating barrage of charges from his partner Docteur Nico. The main one among them was Nico's assertion that Izeidi illegally pressed records on an anonymous label ASL (Associated Sound Limited, an actual Kenyan Company), that were then sold in other countries. As Chef d'Orchestre of African Fiesta, Nico took it upon himself to fire Izeidi. He also hinted the Tabu Ley was involved too and he will deal with him soon. The three leader had equal shares (⅓) in the sales and agreement. And since Nico was only one third of the three member management team he was out-voted.

𝐓𝐨 𝐁𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐝.....

By Brian Adira

18/08/2023

𝐁𝐨𝐛 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐲, 𝐏𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐨𝐬𝐡, 𝐁𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐊𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐨 & 𝐁𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐖𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐫

12/08/2023

Dr Alex Connock, a senior fellow at the University of Oxford's Said Business School, who has written a textbook on the media and AI, and TV and theatre writer Lisa Holdsworth, who is chair of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain, speak to Sky News' Daily podcast about AI in Hollywood.

08/08/2023

Chris Rock’s autobiographical series 'Everybody Hates Chris' is getting an animated reimagining with 'Everybody Still Hates Chris.'

https://blexmedia.com/everybody-still-hates-chris/

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06/06/2023

🤯🇳🇬Last night was a legendary one for Burna Boy as he became the first African Artiste to sell out & shutdown the 80,000 concert capacity London Stadium in London, UK🇬🇧!! He's the first African artiste to solo headline a UK stadium.

He's arguably the BIGGEST ARTISTE TO EVER COME OUT OF AFRICA🌍🦍!!!

Gather here & pay some respect to greatness 💪‼️

Follow Min Grace Tah

27/05/2023

RESERVE SATURDAY, 17th JUNE, 2023 FOR THIS UNIQUE CULTURAL EVENT AT NATIONAL MUSEUMS OF KENYA , NAIROBI. LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU THERE:

21/04/2023

🛑 Records !!
Nigerian-Canadian rapper Dax has amassed over 1 Billion streams on YouTube 🥶🔥.

The remarkable thing about this is that Dax is an independent artist with no record label or mainstream support. Amassing over 1 billion YouTube views and more than 5 million subscribers in just five years is truly impressive.

Congratulations 🎉

21/04/2023

Kenyan rapper Khaligraph Jones has been nominated for the Album of the Year award at the 2023 East Africa Arts Entertainment Awards (EAEA). He will be competing against top artists such as Fally Ipupa and Diamond for the prestigious award. Khaligraph Jones has been nominated for his album “Invisib...