 |
| Ever Jovial |
Among all 5 counties making up Central
Province in Kenya, Kirinyaga County has for years, had the lowest
number of recorded Kikuyu Musicians. However John Muchira, of GithaaKia Ngai, fame is among the indigenous Kirinyaga musicians, reversing
that trend by singing and being good at it.
Early Beginnings
Born in Kiandae Village in Gichugu, the
33 year old musician loved singing from a young age, and had to be
forcibly removed from Kiandae Catholic church choir, as he was eager
to sing with them. At times the choirmaster allowed a young Muchira
to sing with them on noticing his musical passion. By class 6, he
was a percussionist for Githage Primary School band. “I played the
shaker,” recalls Muchira and loved listening to songs by Elizabeth
Nyambere and Joseph Kamaru.
High School
After primary school, he joined Kangaru
High School in Embu and Muchira’s talent blossomed. He led as
soloist, folk and traditional Kikuyu songs in music festivals, and
took up instructor roles when their teacher was unavailable. In Form
3, he was made senior choirmaster, and one poignant moment from then,
was quickly assembling a choir to sing for former President Moi, who
was passing by. He missed two Geography lessons as they hastily
rehearsed. “Then, Moi used to dish out money if made happy,”
Muchira remembers laughing.
Unfortunately, His zeal for music and
arts was not shared by his parents, as they saw no hope of making a
living from it in future. In fact Muchira had a backup plan to be an
electrician after high school as he loved staring at electrical
transformers. “My parents wanted me to struggle with difficult
sciences so I could end up in a “respectable career” like a
doctor or engineer.” Muchira told Kikuyu Musicians.
On his final
year at high school he got a C Minus grade. Muchira’s father gave
up on him as he deemed the grade too low to get him into any
respectable tertiary college then. He had to fend for himself and
that included, picking coffee as a casual laborer for a year.
Joining Kayamba Africa
That time he survived on musical
tutoring jobs he got from his home catholic church as an assistant
choir trainer. “I’d now train people who sang when I was a young
boy,” he remembers. Time to time Muchira was sponsored to attend
musical training seminars conducted by “Mitarakwa Ya Lebanon”
composer where he mastered sheet music.
Coming to Nairobi, he joined
a music centre led by a Kenyatta University lecturer Mr Ogola and got
further training at Kenya Conservatoire of Music. He ended up with a
Diploma in Music and in 2000, joined the famed Kayamba Africa. There
he got experience under training of Mr. Keya. “Kayamba had not
splintered then,” recalls Muchira.
Through the 1500shs Muchira got from
Kayamba Africa, singing at ceremonies like weddings, he could pay
rent at Mathare North. Since he had sufficient musical experience,
he formed the 20 member, Tarumbeta Africa Choir. Through it, they
rearranged traditional Kikuyu songs and sang them at ceremonies as he
continued training church choirs. One of the first paychecks they
got as members was at a wedding in Kariobangi South, where as six
members earned 500shs each in 2003.
Birthing Githaa Kia Ngai
That confirmed to him that they were
not badly off as Tarumbeta Africa. As songs they sang they didn’t
have copyrights, he opted to compose his own. That birthed his debut
album Githaa Kia Ngai (God’s Timing) which took years to mature
until recording in 2009. At Dede records where the album was cut, it
took 6 months to complete it as he recorded when money was available.
It cost him around Shs180,000 plus shooting the accompanying videos.
The title song ‘Githaa Kia Ngai’ he
wrote it as a personal encouragement due to hardships he went through
with his friends. “It’s a song urging people to trust GOD,”
said Muchira. He recalls he got the message first then the melody
later, though it took months to fine tune the song. The album has
other songs addressing handling of marriage conflicts and importance
of communication. “See if the family is sorted, the society will be
okay,” advises Muchira.
Composition Motivation and Advice
His motivation to those who listen to
his music is to give them hope and urge them, to thank GOD for life,
regardless of what they go through. Currently (2014) Muchira is
working on follow up album as the first one approach nearly 3000
copies in sales. His advice to budding gospel musicians is being
resilient and have right motives when in gospel music, even if they
don’t get instant breakthrough.
 |
| Singing Githaa |
“If the album flops, don’t stop
singing if GOD, gave You the message,” he adds. Still he adds the
album needs to be produced in a good studio and be of quality.
Muchira also advises budding musicians to allow songs they compose to
be critiqued by established luminaries. “Ben Githae does that to
my songs and even music tutors to ensure they are fine,” said
Muchira. He also cautions on fame and money getting into ones head,
after being successful as that leads to a quick downfall.
Notable Performances
Some notable performances he has done
were at Kariobangi PCEA Church, Kimunye ACK Church at Martha Karua’s
thanksgiving, and PCEA Memorial Church Thika at a wedding. Still he
yearns to minister in US or UK where his mentors like Ben Githae,
Loise Kim and Charles Kingori have gone. His aim in coming years, is
to be releasing 2 albums yearly not only in Kikuyu language but
Swahili and English.
Besides music, Muchira has been a
Master of Ceremonies (MC) since 2006 which he ventured on noticing
gaps existing in that sector, after attending many occasions. He
also believes Kirinyaga musicians can sing as well as others from
Central Kenya. His immediate aim is to release one album in the near
future, purely sang in Kirinyaga dialect.
To get to where he is, Muchira is
grateful to DJ Macjoj who put his videos on Youtube, and presenters
Jeff Kuria of Inooro FM, Evans Wanyoike of Kameme FM and KK of Coro
FM who got his music on air. In addition he is grateful to his encouraging mum and his wife and skeptical Dad gradually appreciating his music.
Reach Muchira on kikuyumusicians@gmail.com
Like or Follow Us Below
https://www.facebook.com/KikuyuMusicians
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment