Kenyanpoet

• 'Close Up' bringing the Arts to TV with Akisa Omulepu

  Posted: February 28, 2011, 4:17 pm by N.W

  "Close Up" is a new program that will be making a debut on Kenyan TV station NTV on 5th March with the first guest being none other than the Drummer Queen - Muthoni Ndonga.
  
  I caught up with the show's host Akisa Omulepu on twitter(@ABrandNewWorld) and here are her thoughts on the  heavily anticipated show.
  
  
  KP: What is the name of the show & what is it about?
  “Close Up” is a weekly lifestyle show profiling the people and places shaping today’s Kenya. The show will focus primarily on arts, culture, community and literature but is not limited to those areas.
  
  Who is Emerge Omnimedia?
  Emerge Omnimedia is my production company that I launched in 2010. The company is dedicated to excellence in programming. Emerge Omnimedia’s first project is ‘Close Up’ and it will air on NTV, Saturday’s at 6:15pm.
  
  Tell me about you as the show host & CEO
  My name is Akisa Omulepu. I’m a television producer, host, writer and art lover. I grew up in New York. My father was Kenyan and my mother is Panamanian. My undergraduate degree is in Economics from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. I also have a Master’s in journalism from Columbia University.
  
  My journalism experience includes working for CNBC, The Source Magazine, Black Enterprise Business Report and a host of other places as a freelance journalist, copy editor and writer.
  
  I lived in Nairobi briefly as a child and went to Msongari. I moved back to Nairobi some years ago.
  
   Who is your target audience?
  Close Up is a family show. Therefore it will have broad appeal.
  
  
  What is the aim of the show, what do you hope to achieve?
  Close Up plans to put a spotlight on underreported people and places in Kenya. There are a lot of fantastic things happening that remain hidden gems.
  
   How different will your show be from Insync; an art program that was discontinued on NTV?
  I think times are different from when Insync was on air. Social media was still evolving at the time. Close Up will have a significant online component.
  
  Why Kenya?
  Why not Kenya? My father was Teso and part of the Tom Mboya airlift program. Growing up I had a very clear sensibility that Kenya, and Africa as a whole, would be part of my future works.
  
  Do you have any sponsors yet?
  Some companies see the value of advertising to the burgeoning middle-class in Kenya. The companies joining the show will be tapping into consumers that want to buy products that reflect their lifestyle. Those are the companies I will focus on. From telecommunications to health & beauty, Kenyan consumers have an ever-expanding buying power that shouldn’t be underestimated.
  
  Previous art shows have been pulled off air due to lack of sponsors, how do you hope to tackle this?
  The reality is Kenyans want variety in television programming. Diverse programming is a good thing for the Kenyan viewer. More importantly, I believe Kenyans want to see themselves reflected on well produced television shows. Importing more than 75% of local content is not a sustainable business model. Some sponsors realize this and are staying ahead of the curve in sponsoring local content.
  
  What are your thoughts of the arts in Kenya?
  What artisans do and don’t create in all forms (buildings, furniture, literature, etc) is a direct reflection of where a culture is at any given time. Their work is important and critical in a civil society. Art in all forms serves to inspire, motivate and its intrinsic value is immeasurable.
  
  With that said, I think the arts in Kenya is vibrant but not widely appreciated or publicized. Close Up hopes to do its small part to profile a wide variety of people in the arts and other fields.
  
   Close Up will be airing on NTV on  Saturdays from 6:15pm

  
  

• Public Lecture : Obama's Revolution: What lessons for Africa by Prof. Horace Campbell

  Posted: February 21, 2011, 3:54 pm by N.W

  Public Lecture: Obama's Revolution: What lessons for Africa by Prof. Horace Campbell, author of recently published "Barack Obama and 21st century politics"
  

  Prof. Horace Campbell's Book Barack Obama & 21st Century Politics - courtesy of www.horacecampbell.net

  
  
  
  Respondents: Tom Maliti, political analyst and Njoki Njehu, Director, Daughters of Mumbi Global Resource
  
  Moderator: Hakima Abbas
  
  Venue: University of Nairobi,  Taifa Hall
  
  February 22, 2011: 5.30 - 7.30 p.m. 
  
  
  Prof. Horace Campbell has authored the following books;
  1.Rasta and Resistance From Marcus Garvey to Walter Rodney
  2. Reclaiming Zimbabwe: The Exhaustion of the Patriarchal Model of Liberation
  3. Pan Africanists and African Liberation in the 21st century.
  
  His lecture will be on his most recent book: Barack Obama and 21st Century Politics: A Revolutionary Moment in the USA. It will take place at the University of Nairobi on Tuesday.

  
  

• Ex-Inhibition

  Posted: February 7, 2011, 1:30 pm by N.W

  Traffic avoidance is a way of life in this bustling city that has more vehicles than are actually necessary. In one such attempt I found myself near the Goethe Institute, which is increasingly gaining artistic prominence through its bold exhibitionism of progressive ideals and budding artists. These artists’ themes mainly revolve around prevalent class conflicts that are experienced by inhabitants such as those living in Kibera vis-à-vis those who live in the more upmarket areas such as Lavington.     
  Kibera-ismOn this fateful weekend, the Goethe people were paying homage to what they said was one of our very own and very best in the art of filmmaking, having moved from strength to strength with the passing of time like the adage of good wine – Judy Kibinge. On show was perhaps one of her several documentaries on guess what…yap, you guessed it right – Kibera!  Well, I still decided to go ahead and pitch camp, who knows perhaps more juicy acts would follow. Besides, why should we misjudge the book cover, Judy may bring out a third dimension to Kibera, which I had not envisaged.

  Map of Kibera - courtesy of www.mapkiberaproject.yolasite.com

  
  As the reel roiled on, two amusing things happened. Local activists of the NGO kind started vacating while more of what I would consider as expatriates made their way in. The Kibera tale did have a third angle after all! Somehow, the social welfare cum human rights activists could not bear the documentary or they had seen it many times over. Better still, in the presence of their expatriate donors, the documentary may have brought out the ineffectiveness of social welfare activism. It was like a form of NGO guilt – the expatriates had entrusted them with sums of money to help the urban poor, where was the progress? A tinge of scandal was in the air…   Coincidentally, the late comers were just in time to see how a radio station, started with donations from USAID, was helping the people of Kibera to air their views, get informed as well as create employment. Wow! Their eyes glittered with pride, how they had helped these wretched, and sometimes ungrateful, people! What would these destitute do without this generous spirit; their usefulness has been clearly demonstrated and their right of place reaffirmed. Even though the show was not half way yet, Goethe’s exhibitionism had already served its purpose. In a form of what can be termed as “ex-inhibition”, it has exhibited the worthiness of the expatriate community while at the same time underlining the limitations of the Kenyan socio-economic fabric thereby reinforcing local allegiance to expats. Fifteen minutes later, I decided that a traffic update and some fresh air were in order, having gleaned what I could from the colorful documentary and its audience. However, after sauntering around town it became clear that the traffic had not gotten any lighter and the sensible thing was to go back to the VIP perch reserved for guests like me.  And so, I found my way back to the auditorium to once again muse at art in its virulent form.
  Killer NecklaceThis time round, a film titled “Killer Necklace” was showing and I must say that the picture quality was impressive. So I got myself a sit at the back of the hall and did my best to decipher its plot. Some aspects of the film vividly brought out the urban struggle with vice and virtue as experienced in both the inner city tenements (slums) and the leafy suburbia. The plot centered around a young man who found out the hard way that his strivings to be an accountant could not rescue him from the poverty that surrounded him and the only way out was to steal from the rich by any means; for even they had gained their riches through public theft in the name of politics and government contracts and such other dubious means.  Moreover, even if he became an accountant, he would be employed to count stolen money for the nuevo riche and in the end die poor!The film seems to carry with it the stack reality of helplessness that pervades society whereby the social-economic structure consists mainly of an extortion racket that goes all the way to the bottom of the “food chain”. But at the end of it, I felt that something had been left out. This chain of events begins with the proud African who has already amassed wealth and ends up with petty offenders in the periphery of this system. However, it does not account for the source of the rich man’s material wealth.     Perhaps, Judy did not want to offend the sensibilities of her hosts or simply overlooked the fact that the bulk of the wealthy African “businessmen” mint their dough as middlemen for expatriate enterprises and as such the vicious cycle actually starts with the people of Goethe!   Some of these foreign companies have been known to extract contracts from Government through the services of local politicians who ensure that the contracts come their way in return for a slice of the pie. In addition, foreign aid often comes with conditions that ensure the awarding of contracts to companies from the donor nation and as such it is a form of kickback. Consequently, the ills begotten of the current social economic strains do not originate from the middle man but are rather ordered from “above”.   I’m certainly convinced that Judy is capable of making a film that encompasses these silent contradictions. However, it would have to be aired elsewhere as the theme would go beyond the bounds of what Goethe might consider progressive. It therefore follows that for her to break out of this inhibition mould, she might have to break off with the traditions of her immediate sponsor and strike out into uncharted territory; away from her constrained exhibitionism or “ex-inhibition” for lack of a better word.
  By Poe. T. Critik 

  
  

• Afrosoul – Emerging soul from Africa or a fad?

  Posted: February 3, 2011, 12:57 pm by N.W

  The term has been used to describe a sound by a group quipped by Clay Muganda in an old copy of the Drum Magazine as ‘a band of young musicians with their composition popularly known as the Java song’. The group was Sauti Sol and term is ‘Afro Soul’. The group was fairly unknown then when they performed at the Wedding Ceremony for Eric Wainaina & Sheba Hirst back in the year 2008.Fast forward to the present and there is a whole breed of groups and artists using the same term to describe their sound.
  What exactly is Afro Soul?
  Though there has been no research or documented facts describing this ‘New Genre’ I will try and deduce reasons why it has the term soul and Afro- African.Having attended performances by most of these groups & Artists i.e. Sauti Sol, Aziza, Elani, Carol Atemi, Stan to name but a few, I would correctly assume that they are all heavily influenced by Neo Soul artists as well as African Music Artists. The neo soul term was first used by Kedan Massenburg  of Motown Record Company in order to describe Erykah Badu’s sound which defied soul, RnB or jazz tags as it had a blend of all these sounds including Hip hop.

  Sauti Sol - Image courtesy of www.kamataschool.com

  
  As he admits, he coined that term ‘Neo-Soul’ in order to market this unique sound.  He went on to produce D’Angelo, Lauryn Hill, India Arie and many other Neo-Soul pioneers who made it in the mainstream, better still, topping charts throughout the US and beyond.This term ‘Neo-soul’ has however never been fully accepted by these artists who consider themselves either as simply RnB or Soul artist.The term Afro Soul is thus nowadays used to describe an artist or a group whose music is a blend of RnB with African Instruments or sounds.
  Is this the making of a new Genre?
  The growth of a new genre from an old one is always look down upon as either a dilution or distortion of the original sound. Though this might be true, that is the only way that music grows; by feeding off what is currently there. It happened with the growth of jazz, Blues, RnB, Rock and most recently what is popularly known as crunk from Rap and Hip Hop.Thus it is becoming quite acceptable for these artists to call themselves Afro Soul.Where to draw the line?
  In the December 2007 issue of True Love, Carol Atemi describes her sound this way in verbatim“It is a mixture of Neo-Soul and Afro – kind of a Mirim Makeba, Jill Scott thing”She later on produced her first album ‘Hatimaye’ which true to her description does contain elements of African & Neo-Soul music.

  Nneka Egbuna

  
  However, like with every growing industry, hangers on or wannabes who will want to use the same tag to describe their ‘music’ never lack. And still from the same artists whose previous songs did have these described elements, most are known to push the envelope a bit too far.This sound is not unique only to Kenya. Maurice Kirya of Uganda; Ayo, Asa and Nneka (all of Nigerian dissent) have produced music that would fall in this ‘Afro Soul’ category.
  A new Genre or a Fad
  Whilst its great that there is a fresh and unique sound coming out of Kenya from young people apart from the Genge and Kapuka, I am still quite skeptical of this new breed of artists. For a new sound to be termed as a genre, it must stand the test of time while at the same time retaining the elements that made it unique. I still have not seen that consistency as most are still on their 1^st or 2^nd albums while others are still sharing spots with poets during open mics waiting for their big break in the music business.Thus, we can only watch these emerging artists  hoping that they will stand the test of time to listed as the pioneers of a new genre of music to come from Africa; the Afro Soul genre.

  
  

Blah blah blah

Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes