Over Rubble & Hardstone
It's a quiet evening, a completely unperturbed night. I am enjoying my weekly poison as I look for something to listen to or watch. I was in the mood of listening to one of the trippiest podcasts on earth; The Truth. Lost in routine, I ended up opening tens of tabs from Vine, Soundcloud, tabloid blogs etc. I then found Chrish's Vine. I laugh sheepishly as I scroll through his page. Then I tumbled into something I have been looking for years. YEARS.
You see, the soundtrack to this Vine is a song I have been looking for since I was in grade school. I heard this song when I was really young. I was 5 years old when the artist, Hardstone (Mbaruku Harrison Ngunjiri Maina) released the song. I happened to hear it only for a short period as we listened to my parents' playlist most of the time. It was such a catchy, but calm song for 1997 Nairobi. The electric auto-tune details were never sampled in the then Kenyan music scene! The instrumental sampling of Marvin Gayes' Sexual Healing cemented the tropical rapport of the song. It was like, the modern version of Daft Punk.
You have no clue of how happy I am to have found this song today. I also came by the remake by DJ Pinye. Hardstone was ahead of his time. I did a deep Google search on him, and there is sadly not much to show for his music. He released an album which should be re-packaged for this market. He nor will any artist lack an audience for their music.
Did he make his money? Did he have good management? Is he creating more? What is he up to now. If you know any of the answers to those questions, kindly share them with me.
It is amazing that there is sudden new energy of young credible artists. I am hoping for consistent production of content from these folk. Karun, Kagwe, Lisa Noah, Pauline Ayuko, Jarel, 8 BITS, Mayonde etc. are defining the skeletal basis of New Age Kenyan scene. As a listener and a consumer, I am very excited. I am excited that I can now buy their music, because they are trying to make good content for me. You know?
It is scary that I had to hear this song from a person so far away, than a cover by an African artist. Is our content just going to be consumed in one gulp then forgot? Brand consistency is something artists can pay PR practitioners to maintain in their career. We need not just fade away. Well produced content should always be put in a situation where it has already been preserved for generations after.
Sidenote: I particularly enjoyed this song because the artists makes a reference to where I was raised.
*It doesn't mean well. It means hell used to be in Kirinyaga, and people would be sent to burn there with hell's demons. I am still trying to find out what this meant in Traditional Kikuyu culture.
You see, the soundtrack to this Vine is a song I have been looking for since I was in grade school. I heard this song when I was really young. I was 5 years old when the artist, Hardstone (Mbaruku Harrison Ngunjiri Maina) released the song. I happened to hear it only for a short period as we listened to my parents' playlist most of the time. It was such a catchy, but calm song for 1997 Nairobi. The electric auto-tune details were never sampled in the then Kenyan music scene! The instrumental sampling of Marvin Gayes' Sexual Healing cemented the tropical rapport of the song. It was like, the modern version of Daft Punk.
You have no clue of how happy I am to have found this song today. I also came by the remake by DJ Pinye. Hardstone was ahead of his time. I did a deep Google search on him, and there is sadly not much to show for his music. He released an album which should be re-packaged for this market. He nor will any artist lack an audience for their music.
Did he make his money? Did he have good management? Is he creating more? What is he up to now. If you know any of the answers to those questions, kindly share them with me.
It is amazing that there is sudden new energy of young credible artists. I am hoping for consistent production of content from these folk. Karun, Kagwe, Lisa Noah, Pauline Ayuko, Jarel, 8 BITS, Mayonde etc. are defining the skeletal basis of New Age Kenyan scene. As a listener and a consumer, I am very excited. I am excited that I can now buy their music, because they are trying to make good content for me. You know?
It is scary that I had to hear this song from a person so far away, than a cover by an African artist. Is our content just going to be consumed in one gulp then forgot? Brand consistency is something artists can pay PR practitioners to maintain in their career. We need not just fade away. Well produced content should always be put in a situation where it has already been preserved for generations after.
No good art should disappear.
Sidenote: I particularly enjoyed this song because the artists makes a reference to where I was raised.
Uría akaruma WangaríNgamutwara Kirinyaga,Kainagírwo kúu ní ngoma
*It doesn't mean well. It means hell used to be in Kirinyaga, and people would be sent to burn there with hell's demons. I am still trying to find out what this meant in Traditional Kikuyu culture.
Have a lovely time.
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