IAN KAMAU IN KENYA

One of the freshest artists to come out of hip hop in the last ten years is Toronto bred MC/poet Ian Kamau. It may be a forgotten fact but those who know the roots of this movement know that hip hop started out as a community and was all about each one - teach one. The foundation of hip hop established by the early greats such as Cool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Zulu Nation was based on a notion that the movement was for the benefit of the people other than the rappers themselves. This is one thing you notice about Kamau in all his music is that he is about the community. His music is powerful; it’s evident that Kamau is a scholar and a great conversationist who listens to the voice within.

His Trini parents named him Kamau a Kenyan Kikuyu name meaning ‘Silent Warrior’; perfect name for a poet MC that listens a lot. He has opened shows for K'Naan, K-OS, Saul Williams, The Roots, Michael Franti, Ben Harper, Ursula Rucker, Talib Kweli and Shad as well as collaborating with the likes of K-OS, Tumi (from Tumi & the Volume), Shad and many more. His connection with Africa is special to him and he loves spending time here performing and connecting with people.  His desire is to put his experiences into the world so that he may enter a larger conversation with people in different places. Early this year released the album; One Day Soon and embarked on a South African tour: Ian Kamau

VIDEO: The Village

Spark Africa and Kwani Trust have put together their energy to enable his presence in Kenya in the first week of August. He performs at Kwani Open Mic on August 7th. During this performance he will be supported by Kenyan poets Wanjiku Mwaurah, Number 8, Dembede Mido and Githuku Ndungi. He will be doing a lot of other interesting things such as doing music with Kenyan artists such as Juliani, Octoppizo, Bamboo just to name a few.  Keep it here for more.

TUMI LIVE IN KENYA

About six years ago I attended the Global Hip Summit at Baseline, Newtown, South Africa and in the mix was the biggest names in the industry internationally from Knaan, Guru and Zulu Boy just to name a few. In that same summit, I made one of the most important discoveries of my African hip hop research; I met one of Africa’s dopest MCs; Tumi from the group Tumi and The Volume. At the time, I had not witnessed an African MC so lyrically fierce that he could outdo any international MC out there. When I got to listening to his album Music from my Good Eye I was blown away. Tumi makes amazing music for the thinking Africa, the reasonable human. His lyrical wizardry is reminiscent of The Roots’ early days and he prefers music with live instruments; a highly admirable trait.

That aside Tumi is not your average MC he definitely has something to say, he has that African passion to uplift you while he enlightens you. A son of a South African political exile – Tumi was born in Tanzania to return to South Africa after the end of apartheid, his thought is musically universal. He is no doubt international no wonder Tumi spends most of his time on tour in North America and Europe than the African continent. This MC is a musical beast never to be slept on. His whole point of view and artistry is unrivalled by any other African hip hop artist yet. His genius is totally underrated in Africa so I made it my own vocation to have Tumi play in home city of Nairobi one day. Faced with the regular African boundaries setback, I battled on. But as our ancestors once said – “Where there is a will there is a way’.

Six years later with loads of patience, Tumi is finally in Nairobi. He will be gracing the stage at the international festival Blankets and Wine on Sunday August 5th at Leisure Gardens, Mamba Village, Karen. This will definitely be a hip hop lover’s heaven he will be mashing it up with the Kenyan band Yunasi and also on stage will be the international Sauti Sol and Michel Ongaro. You can’t miss this.

More Blankets and Wine Details 

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FUNGA DEAL WORKSHOP

FUNGA DEAL

(The Art of Negotiating Deals in the Art Industry)

Facilitators: Spark Africa and International Art Deals Negotiator Ross van Horn 

Dates: Friday 11th – Saturday 12th May 2012

Times: Both Full Days 8.30am – 5pm (Lunch Included)

Venue: Conference Hall at Pride Inn Hotel, Westlands Road, Nairobi- Kenya (Next to Graffins College)

Workshop Details: Participants will learn how to identify a good deal, how to negotiate a good deal for their businesses, skills for strengthening their negotiating power, how to understand negotiation as a way of life to achieve their goals.  

Who Can participate: Artists/ DJs/ Singers/ MCs/ Rapper/ Artist managers/ Art gallery owners/ Film makers/ Fashion Designers/ Event Managers/ Studio owners/ Music Producers/ Graphic Designers, Copy writers/ Illustrators/ Cartoonist/ Graffiti writers all other creators

Price: Ksh. 6,000/- for two days

PAY BY MPESA NOW: 0718 328 717 

(Limited Spaces First Come First Served Confirmation Message will be sent a week before to confirm participation)

FUNGA DEAL: The Art of Negotiating Successful Deals in the Arts Industry

By Buddha Blaze

(CLICK ON BANNER TO READ)

Over the years that I have been in the music industry, I have realized that an immense number of artists are losing out to the industry because they lack the skills to negotiate a fruitful deal. Many artists either get either duped, played or whatever names they want to call it because they do not pay attention to the details that are required to highly benefit from an arts deal. Most of these mistakes have been due to negligence, lack of knowledge and purely because they knew no better. We all know that in the art industry it’s never really about how much talent you have even though it’s very important but artists with better negotiating skills go way further than those that don’t. No wonder the disparity in artists.

What I have leant from this experience is that talent alone will not bring home the bacon, negotiating skills, networking skills and follow up skills are necessary to be a completely self-reliant artist making a living from the talent. As an artist you need to look out for the signs that make a great deal, you need to know when to give up on a deal and when a deal is too sweet to be true. Most artists are not meant for this kind of thing it’s a thing of the experts. I teamed up with Spark Africa and international art deal negotiator Ross van Horne of van Horn Consulting to create the first two day workshop on how to negotiate a successful business deal in the arts industry.

Ross van Horn is a global negotiations expert having worked in his home country of USA, Europe, Asia and around the African continent. Through van Horn Consulting he has led numerous consulting and training engagements in private and public sectors. Organizations he has consulted to are in the field of telecommunications, FMGG’s, health care, oil, gas, publishing and United Nations. He is a former Associate Director of an art gallery in Hollywood, CA. In his trainings he utilizes the internationally recognized simulations from the Harvard Project on Negotiation. Ross has the passion for this workshop and he loves to share his knowledge. See more of his work: Ross van Horn.
 

Spark Africa is an arts agency that’s been in the African arts industry for about 10 years now, negotiating for artists, making deals and developing as many artists as it could possibly manage. Over the years artists have come and go but those who remain at the top have a special skill our lengthy credentials speak for themselves Spark Africa The Funga Deal (Close the Deal) workshop will focus on how to negotiate a deal under tough circumstances, how to identify your clientele, how to read the language of negotiators and how to turn NO into YES. It is a process and it requires necessary professional skills and a keen eye.

We are inviting artists, managers, DJs, dancer, visual artists, designers, creative, dancers, actors, film makers, performing artists, artists managers, studio owners, photographers and those in this filed. For Ksh. 6,000 in May you will have a two day experience that will change how you look at your career.

Contact us now if interested at word@sparkafrica.com for more details. Call us at +254 718 328 717

WIN A TICKET TO SEE NNEKA LIVE IN KENYA

NNEKA LIVE IN CONCERT
Opening Performance By Dan Chizi Aceda
Hosted By Buddha Blaze
Venue: Treehouse, Museum Hill, Westlands Nairobi
SATURDAY 4TH February 2012 (7PM)
ENTRY: 500/-

Advance Tickets are avilable at Goethe Instiut - Nairobi. To win a ticket all you have to do is answer this question: Advance Tickets Online: http://tixpress.com.132.blankserver.com/artiste.asp?eventid=124

Press Conference: Thursday 2nd Feb, 3pm Venue: Kilimambogo Conference Room Nairobi Safari Club, University Way

WHAT IS THE NAME OF NNEKA’s LATEST ALBUM?

The first 20 people to follow and reply this question on this blog automatically stand a chance to win a ticket to see Nneka Live in Kenya. Good on you.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/323638384335360/

Nneka ft Nas - Heart Beat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp5FdsaP2QU

A bit about Nneka


Nigerian songstress Nneka grew up in the Delta region, and later relocated to Hamburg - Germany. Her first album was Victim of Truth (2005) followed by No Longer at Ease (2009). She impressed Lenny Kravitz, he invited her to be supporting acthttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif on tour. In 2011 she released her third album; a multi-faceted and “politically conscious”, a potpourri of Reggae, Soul, Afro, R&B and Hip Hop.
Daughter of a Nigerian father and German mother; Nneka Egbuna follows the footsteps of Fela Kuti and other artists who use music for community. She is setting out for an East Africa tour to Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zanzibar. Some regard the powerful vocalist Nneka first as an activist, and then as a musician. “If there were no pain in the world, I wouldn’t sing,” says the soul singer

Nneka is internationally well known and has performed all over Europe, USA and is getting Africa to know her. She has toured with award winning Nigerian star; 2Face. She has made songs with top rappers such as Nas, Damian Marley and toured with Knaan. Nneka is the future of African music.

www.nnekaworld.com

EXHIBITION FOR AFRICAN HIP HOP IN NEW YORK

By Buddha Blaze pics by Jesse Shipley

MUSEUM FOR AFRICAN ART - NEW YORK

Jesse Shipley from the Museum of African Art in New York has embarked on an initiative to showcase the rising phenomenon that is African hip hop. Hip hop in West and South Africa has been given the shine it deserves but its East African hip hop that has lagged behind in the exposure – this doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. So Jesse Shipley arrived in Nairobi January with his South African compadre Dzino from Rage Productions to have an exterior look at the budding hip hop scene in the city of Nairobi. Their aim is to see artists in Kenya who are using hip hop as a tool of communication and innovation and empowerment.
POINT BLANK EVUMBI

Spark Africa put together an African Hip Hop Exhibition Meet Up which included meeting all the players, innovators, illustrators, artists, b-boys, activists and personalities influenced by hip-hop and using it as a tool to address political issues. This also includes artists and personalities who are merging their creativity with modern technology in order to get their message across to their audiences. Hip hop as we know it is not all about shouting down in a microphone but it also needs a sense of sophistication in terms of being technologically ready and innovative enough to be used as an activism tool for now and the future.
SPARK AFRICA

The African Hip Hop Exhibition Meet Up led us to Pawa 254 to meet a successfully innovative hip hop artist in Kenya; the gospel influenced scholar and former member of Ukoo Flani Mau Mau – Juliani. This is an artist from the inner city Dandora slums of Nairobi, he has catapulted hip hop into the realms of corporate Kenya without compromising anything that he started out fighting for many years ago. Pawa 254 is a creative centre founded by photographer Boniface Mwangi who is also influenced by hip hop. This centre houses many creative people and gives them an opportunity to focus on their creativity.
JULIANI AT HIS BASE IN PAWA 254



BONIFACE MWANGI AT HIS OFFICE PAWA 254

After being inspired by Juliani and Boniface Mwangi at Pawa 254 we head over to Sarakasi Dome – the current home of WAPI the biggest hip hop movement in Africa where many artists started their careers. It is here that meet Point Blank Evumbi a hip hop scholar, illustrator, cartoonist and lyricist. This is the kind of multi-talented artists that will dictate the future of Kenyan hip hop. We also meet a whole group of other upcoming hip hop artists including Abbas, Checkmate, Moroko, Kimya, Alai K and many more. We headed out to one of Nairobi’ hip hop studios – Phoenix Records where we met with owner Flash.

ABBAS a.k.a DOOBIEZ INTERVIEWED BY JESSE SHIPLEY

FLASH AT PHIENIX RECPORDS


The African Hip Hop Exhibition Meet Up proceeded to Just a House; the studio of Jus A Band a group that defines Nairobi genius creativity to meet group members Bill and Muli. These are some amazing voices in Kenyan music using innovation and technology to make the most amazing music. They went viral with Makmende a few years ago and still leading in creativity. We also check out Kibera; the home of Octopizzo and graffiti writer Bankslave who give us a tour of their neighbourhood. In the slums of Kibera we find what hip hop has been doing in the community through graffiti and positive music. Kibera is not just a slum.

OCTOPIZZO IN KIBERA


GRAFFITI WRITER IN KIBERA PEACE BASE


JUST A BAND AT JUST A HOUSE

The African Hip Hop Exhibition is coming up soon in New York; keep it here to know which artists were chosen from each country in Africa to participate in this initiative by Jesse Shipley from the Museum for African Arts. It is important to give the African hip hop scene an international face because the genre has given a lot to the continent including inspiring a voice of change, reason and development. Hip hop has been involved in politics, social change and even inspired advertising. Hip hop has given to many what would have never been given to them. Hip hop has built careers, characters and families. Big Up! Hip Hop.

MY LECTURE AT THE PRESIDENTIAL MUSIC TRAINING CAMP

Pics by Spark Africa and PPMC



It was a beautiful sunny day and the venue was Greenfields Hotel in a serene part of this mountainous county which overlooks one of the highest points across the African continent. Highly exciting than that were over a group of over 80 talented and enthusiastic music students from all over Kenya who had gathered at the hotel to seek knowledge on how they could further their soon to be full-time careers. The Permanent Presidential Music Commission had been kind enough to invite me and I see this as an opportunity to help young people getting into the music industry to be fully prepared before they even venture in.



The one thing I have observed in the industry is that when musicians start out, they only think about how they will make money and be rich. What I have often advised them is that the money will not be made unless they are passionate enough to be able to receive it. Talent in the music industry is only 10 per cent of the work it the rest is how ready an artist is and how committed they are to make it. I gave the story of how a five minute chat between Nigerian artist DBanj and mega superstar Kanye West led to a signing on his label Good Music. They coincidentally met at a Dubai airport; DBanj was ready and he looked the part.

DBanj was mistaken for Kanye West when he walked into the airport because Kanye was on his way too. Dbanj waited for him and within five minutes let him sample his music. He was at the right place, right time and was so ready for big things. Most artists rely too much on talent but we live in an era where talent can be learnt so that’s not the overriding factor when it comes to success in this competitive and cut throat industry. So organisation is an artist’s best chance at winning. I made the student understand the importance of having the basic management tools they can have cheaply before even venturing into the industry.



I’ve met many artists wanting to succeed but don’t even have a biography of themselves. I mean the industry is so demanding that you may not have time to play for every record and business executive you meet. You need to be able to drop them a brief bio and music in the quickest time possible. The people who run the music industry don’t have the time to listen to your millions of stories about what you have done. If they can’t read it then it’s a waste of time. Now many up-coming artists may not have the funds to pay someone to write them a bio so they need to write their own bio but always remember to write as a third party.
Your bio has to have the five second attraction rule – it takes that much time for anyone who is going to change your career to get interested. Your bio must first have an interesting and artistic look so if you want to play around with fonts that’s okay – it shows your personality. Secondly your introduction must be brief and to the point – where you started music, your influences, your story. Your story will always sell you.


Some artists such as Knaan, 50 Cent and Emmanuel Jal have succeeded mainly because they sold their story well. If you have a deep story it should be at the top of your bio. That’s what will catch the needed attention.
Thirdly the photography in your bio must be of the highest order even if it’s not done professionally; its must show your full character. If you are into fashion that must come out flawless. If you are a performing artist then the picture must show you playing an instrument, if you sing about environment then look like you care for it. Keep it classy yet simple. After the photo, put in your bio the highlights of your career so if you played in high school choir let it be known. Your bio must be the most basic description of yourself in five minutes of meeting someone; Remember the people who will make you real money don’t have the time