Can Kenyan stars hold own shows?

It has been a crazy ride for Kenyan revellers for the past couple of years, more so, for those amped about international artistes flying into the country for concerts and club appearances.

Last Sunday, Boniface Nyaga did a piece on how much forgiving the Kenyan lot is, seeing as they can still afford to use their money on tickets and entrance fees to see the same artistes that leave them high and dry. And it’s all true, in all honesty.

We have had artistes like Burna Boy, Tekno Miles, Omarion, Davido, among so many others, who did us as Kenyans wrong when they visited the country.

Why do we keep going back, though?

That, we shall probably never know.

There is, however, a solution to this debacle, of which many people have been on about, especially after the last fiasco about two weekends ago when Nigerian star, Tekno Miles, was in town for a concert he was headlining.

Why can’t we have our own artistes headlining concerts instead of bringing international acts?

I mean, I believe that the large amount of money we use to purchase tickets or get access to clubs for these acts’ appearances can be of more use when it is used to pay our own, which as a matter of fact, are greatly talented.

In real sense, we as Kenyans really enjoy local music. Look at how much airplay it has been receiving on the radio? These same songs are also on replay in clubs, all around the country.

The main issue here is that we do not like spending on local artistes, whereas they need it in a great deal.

Multiple award-winning group, Sauti Sol, had a nationwide tour last year in promotion of their recent album, Live and Die in Afrika. They got to successfully take their amazing talent to Nakuru, Eldoret, Kisumu, Mombasa and Meru, all in a month.

Their manager Marek Fusch echoes the same sentiments and believes that there should be more local shows in the country.

“I believe local artists need to put on more local shows and take it nationwide and country wide too, like our Live & Die in Africa Tour. Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu can’t be the only places with focus,” said Marek.

He went on to add reasons as to why most Kenyan artistes fail to put up their own shows, among them being low attendance by Kenyan revellers.

“Kenyan cities outside of the known three; Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa, lack the proper infrastructure for this to be economically viable. One has to literally build venues from scratch, something that is really expensive. Revellers do not like paying for tickets as well, and if they do, they need to be super cheap.”

He added: “Low attendance also tends to be a really big problem, but is linked to many factors. The quality of performances as well as the entertainment factor is what lacks. In order for all this to change, we can’t keep on complaining and pointing fingers, we must simply change the perspective of the value for money in the industry by going out there and taking a hit and a risk by putting on shows and events that impress. We might break even or even lose money, but soon, it will come back to us and people will soon pay more and come out in bigger numbers. It’s a bit of a catch 22 situation, but it’s up to us in this equation to bring back the good name of the entertainment industry, not the market.”

Popular female artiste, Fena Gitu, had a sold-out show earlier this year.

The Doing her thing tho hitmaker knows that Kenyan artistes are more than able of headlining their own concerts.

“These concerts are great, but we are also more than capable of hosting our own concerts. I held my first concert this year; Fena Unplugged, to a sold out crowd at the Alchemist. It’s doable,” she said.

Local gospel artistes have also been able to pull off their own successful gigs over the years.

Musician Owen Mwatia, popularly known as Daddy Owen, held a three-day concert at the KICC late last year, to commemorate 15 years in the music industry. The Vanity hitmaker was able to hold a corporate show, as well as a family show, in addition to the Malaika Disability Walk, which fell on the same day as the World Disability Day.

Award-winning gospel artiste, Eko Dyda, attributed the international artiste issue to priorities. He further said that Kenyans should come together to build the music industry.

“This debate is just but a confirmation to event organisers, media and the public that foreign artistes have always been given priority, be it in excess airplay or events, for the longest time,” he said.

“Praising foreign content is basically putting our own local artistes down. The only time you hear so much of a local artist is during a scandal. It’s high time we unite and build ourselves up,’ said Eko

We can only hope that this issue can be taken up, so that we can have more concerts and shows of our very own in the near future.