Back in 1859, novelist Charles Dickens opened his book, “A Tale of Two Cities” with some words which seem to capture Kenya musician’s experience in 2020: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
As we stayed up to scream, dance and usher in 2020 with song and reworks on that cold Meru night, several close friends and I believed that 2019 had been a tough year and so prayed for a prosperous new year. The optimistic gaze into 2020 was not just at the CITAM Meru sanctuary where we were gathered. The Mai Sisters (Dijok and Teejae) were at Sands Club in Kilimani with their R&B, the “Time Ma-chine concert” presented by Jamuhuri Events starred the famous Sauti Sol at Blue-Door in Westland’s. Country guru, Sir Elvis was at the Ngong Race Course and the Churchil Show was lming at Garden City.
In retrospect, none of us imagined that com-pared to the year we were leaving behind, the New Year would plunge us into a social, po-litical, economic and religious crisis unequalled by anything we had seen. None of us saw the Corona virus coming and no government, fam-ily or institution was prepared for the approach-ing darkness. The World Health Organisation (WHO) soon took the lead in telling us what sur-rounded us and how to cope. We were soon edu-cated and navigated around what Health C.S. Mutahi Kagwe told us was the “new normal”.Nobody knew that concerts would cease, conferences get cancelled, churches, hotels and clubs ordered closed and every musician challenged to reinvent themselves along the online media culture. Despite the disruption of the lives and work of Kenya’s musicians, there were challenges as well as some interesting opportunities.
CHALLENGES
First, there were no more crowds to sing to un-der the “new normal”. Social distancing was now mandatory, meaning there would be no live concerts, road shows, church conferences or crusades. Even church services were no longer possible, hence no choirs and receiving congregations. Bars and restaurants were not allowed to operate and the long curfew seasons just made things gloomier for Kenya’s musicians. During a radio interview one morning on Hot 96, veteran musician Kidum, was heard lamenting that for him it seemed like the end of a career.
Second, performance was affected. Mu-sic-making became increasingly difcult for groups that previously performed together. Studios and practice rooms became no-go zones. Choir meetings were discouraged. Proximity and band coordination was disallowed, just in case band members got the virus. Sharing of microphones and music instruments was discouraged. Depending on where lockdowns such as those in Nairobi and Mombasa found musicians, it would be difficult to meet and per-form together. Everything had changed. Third, many musicians were hit by an economic crash. They could no longer afford to fend for their families. It was now difficult to pay rent or keep up with the elegant public image through grooming. A spot check on a What-sApp group I moderate showed that a majority of musicians had no savings or retirement plan. It took fellow musicians with counselling skills to walk the group through economic readjustments as well as posts to cushion them against depressive tendencies.
OPPORTUNITIES
Despite these and several related challenges, Covid-19 became a great eye-opener for Kenya’s musicians, bursting open opportunities they had never envisioned before. For instance, the closure and limitation of physical spaces forced many to discover the power of social media and how platforms such as YouTube, Instagram and Facebook could become significant performance and business spaces. Through trial and error, countless musicians set up YouTube channels and learned the hitherto neglected art of self-promotion by asking their fans to subscribe to their channels or like their pages.
Second, musicians learned new ways of harnessing social media as a public sphere from where they could both perform and receive instant or delayed feedback through fan comments expressed through brief messages and emojis. They could publicise coming events, do live shows or even raise financial support from virtual audiences.
Lastly, the “new normal” opened the eyes of many musicians to the importance of copyrighting their works. YouTube algorithms awoke many musicians to the reality that you cannot just perform or publish someone’s song without consequences. Indeed, for the first time, paying attention to what was taking place on the worldwide web exposed many musician to the evidence that rogue companies had infringed on their intellectual property rights. This forced them to seek legal help for the registration of their works.
These challenges go to demonstrate that behind every cloud there is a silver lining and, as the Bible would put it in Genesis 50:19-20, sometimes what seems marked out for evil, may be turned around to produce some of the greatest goods.
The writer is a media consultant, teacher of apologetics and African history as well as a performing and recording artist since 1987 with a diskography of nearly 30 albums