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KINGS EDITION 23TH JUNE 2023 KARIBU OUT KENYANS IN THE UK MAGAZINE EVENTS EDITION OF TE BOX SECRETS FOR MUMS MUSA JAKADALA JUDY BWIRE KENYA’SFAST-RISING SINGERS, DANCE ARTISTE AND COMPOSERS. JAMES MWANGI GOSPEL ARTIST MC JESSEY a widely celebrated comedian in the Kenyan media industry. Read LIVE DRUMS & DANCE WITH @ MOSESDWINE DEOBA AUTHEN- MERCY MASIKA Gospel Artist LOOK OUT MUSA MERCY JAMES JAKADALA MASIKA WANYOIKE 1 6TH KINGS EDITION | AUGUST 2023 DEOBA AUTHENTIC NATUMI 2023 EVENTS MAIN ISSUE YOUTH FEATURE WELFARE FEATURE POLITICAL FEATURE CREATIVE WOMEN ABROAD COMMUNITY FEATURE AND MORE... 6TH KINGS EDITION | AUGUST 2023 1
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KINGS EDITION<br />
23TH JUNE 2023<br />
KARIBU<br />
OUT<br />
KENYANS IN THE UK MAGAZINE EVENTS EDITION<br />
OF TE BOX SECRETS<br />
FOR MUMS<br />
MUSA<br />
JAKADALA<br />
JUDY BWIRE<br />
KENYA’SFAST-RISING SINGERS,<br />
DANCE ARTISTE AND COMPOSERS.<br />
JAMES<br />
MWANGI<br />
GOSPEL ARTIST<br />
MC JESSEY<br />
a widely celebrated comedian<br />
in the Kenyan media industry.<br />
Read<br />
LIVE DRUMS &<br />
DANCE WITH @<br />
MOSESDWINE<br />
DEOBA<br />
AUTHEN-<br />
MERCY MASIKA<br />
Gospel Artist<br />
LOOK OUT<br />
MUSA<br />
MERCY<br />
JAMES<br />
JAKADALA<br />
MASIKA<br />
WANYOIKE<br />
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6TH KINGS EDITION | AUGUST 2023<br />
DEOBA<br />
AUTHENTIC<br />
NATUMI<br />
2023<br />
EVENTS<br />
MAIN ISSUE<br />
YOUTH FEATURE<br />
WELFARE FEATURE<br />
POLITICAL FEATURE<br />
CREATIVE WOMEN ABROAD<br />
COMMUNITY FEATURE<br />
AND MORE...<br />
6TH KINGS EDITION | AUGUST 2023 1
video<br />
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ABOUT ARTIST<br />
JUDITH BWIRE<br />
Afro-fusion artiste<br />
Rising from the shadows of other musicians, Afro-fusion artiste Judith Bwire has broken<br />
traditional barriers to carve own niche in the live music circles,<br />
writes Mwendwa Kitheka.<br />
In most parts of the world, young women keen to nurture individual musical sensibilities encounter countless<br />
hurdles. At the onset, chances are that they mould their professional career as background vocalists<br />
(BGV), in many instances, in male-dominated bands.<br />
For the majority, to step out of the shadows to chart one’s path as an independent recording artiste, takes<br />
years of hard work, consistency, discipline, and diligence.<br />
One of such musicians is Kenyan Afro-fusion artiste Judith Bwire aka Mama Afrika.<br />
“I started off on the ladder’s lower rung as a dancer, then rose to take on sporadic BGV duties. Yet at the<br />
back of my mind, I knew I was destined to be a singer,” she intimates to Spice. Judith is banking on almost<br />
a decade-long experience, thrilling revellers and enthusiasts at live music gigs, as the launch pad to make<br />
inroads beyond borders, preferably on international podiums.<br />
Her latest song is an indicator of steadfast focus on this goal. She collaborates with Ghanaian flute artiste<br />
Yaw Dela Botri on the track Gbefa, Akan word for travel. Akan is a community from Ghana.<br />
Her 2011 debut 11-track album Mama Afrika thrust the singer into the limelight. It also ushered a new<br />
dawn, shaping her captivating prowess as a skilled vocalist. Though she does not always grab news headlines<br />
as often as her contemporaries do, Judith has steadily sung her way into Nairobi’s relatively competitive<br />
and fast evolving music scene.<br />
Against the odds<br />
The soft-spoken singer hardly minces her words. She candidly recounts having to rise over myriad odds in<br />
a quest to find her footing in a predominantly male domain. “Growing older, I gradually figured out, what<br />
a man can do, a woman can try to do it in a more refined way,” she quips.<br />
Along the musical journey, a stint as a professional dance choreographer, added the much-needed sheen<br />
on her fledging Afro-fusion, neo-traditional music career. She would regularly perform as a Voi Primary<br />
School pupil in front of audiences, singing solos.This feat won her multiple Kenya Schools Music Festivals<br />
certificate awards and trophies.<br />
“At teenage, I knew that I wanted to be a singer, though it has taken much longer to identify style of music<br />
to pursue,” notes Judith.<br />
Singing has always complemented dancing; even in church where as a choir member, many in the congregation<br />
swayed in harmony as she sang most hymns’ lead vocals. In addition, her exceptional dance choreography<br />
skills have propped up inherent artistic prowess at live concerts and festivals in different global cities’<br />
venues.<br />
She has participated in gigs across Africa (Morocco, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Uganda), Europe<br />
(UK, France, Germany, Denmark, Spain, and Netherlands), Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Japan<br />
and China.<br />
In early 2019, Judith earned an invite as stage performer for a one-off production developed within framework<br />
of the Shifting Realities event held in Germany and Morocco.<br />
The project pooled together a collective of musicians, choreographers and contemporary dancers, drawn<br />
from Senegal, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria and Germany.(continue page)<br />
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ABOUT ARTIST<br />
Hellerau Quarter in Dresden and Dusseldorf cities<br />
hosted the two-month showcase, before shifting to<br />
week-long International Contemporary Dance Festival<br />
in Marrakech, Morocco. Notably, Judith also featured<br />
prominently at the Mitumba-A-Happening series of<br />
dance and musical shows staged in Tanzania, Kenya and<br />
Cologne, Germany in 2013.<br />
Raised in a home where music equipment occupied<br />
every free space (her dad owned a disco sound system),<br />
she gained immensely from attending the Agricultural<br />
Society of Kenya shows, where there would be live<br />
concerts.<br />
“I was underage then, and hang around nearby stands,<br />
whilst bands performed. Specific songs and harmonies<br />
playing on radio or cassettes players were also<br />
mesmerising,” she recalls.<br />
Conquering self-doubt<br />
Also memorable are moments when intermittent selfdoubt<br />
waves crept into her mind. Or having to stave off<br />
mild outrage emanating from cross sections of extended<br />
family for opting to plunge into the arts.<br />
Judith’s music career took root during elementary high<br />
school years, thanks to a conscious decision to embark<br />
on singing and dancing for varied church choirs. In 2006,<br />
a major break inadvertently cropped up. A call came<br />
through; Kenge Kenge Orutu System band wanted a<br />
dancer or backing vocalist, a last minute replacement for<br />
World Music Festival series concerts tour across Europe.<br />
“Watching excited, growing audiences from atop<br />
podiums, these experiences gradually fired my desire to<br />
fine tune my music career,” she notes.<br />
In early 2008, her musical dalliance blossomed. She took<br />
a leap of faith, a radical shift to transform her artistic<br />
abilities in pursuit of a recording career.<br />
“I knew I wouldn’t dance forever, but could actually build<br />
upon individual strengths. As an artiste and performer,<br />
I wanted to continue being on stage,” she adds. She took<br />
time off, learnt to compose and create music using the<br />
nyatiti. “I was excited to compose, sing my own songs,<br />
not copyrights.<br />
And just as a fish takes to the water, so did singing come<br />
naturally for me,” she remarks. Seasonal travels across<br />
the globe had come full cycle, bearing fruit in assorted<br />
elements she picked up from different cultures, now<br />
evident in her songs. In her view, after years as a BGV<br />
and dancer in other musicians’ shadows, boldly stepping<br />
out into spotlight as an artiste is a milestone.<br />
“Among our Manyala community, as a young lady grows<br />
older, she stops using her mother’s pot. She’s encouraged<br />
to use her own skillet pan to cook meals,” notes Judith,<br />
waxing philosophical.<br />
Her word to girls seeking to be musicians: “Pursuit of a<br />
professional music career is never an easy option. Success<br />
requires consistent effort; always explore new ideas.<br />
Keep an open mind, strive to learn, and don’t let anyone<br />
intimidate or derail your vision to create music.” Songs<br />
therein are Avakhone, Namacheke, Siamugera, Sikhai<br />
Malo, Dodo, Achali, Epondi, Rivero, Jakuria, and Pole<br />
Pole ft JP Ngandu. Subsequent single releases are Omuri<br />
and Mama among others.<br />
“I have been working hard to repackage the way our<br />
indigenous Manyala-rooted music style is delivered<br />
and performed, infusing a distinctive signature to my<br />
songs,” she notes. Manyala is a subtribe from the Luhya<br />
community.<br />
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EVENTS GALLERY<br />
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