‘Muziki Umeenda Shule’ initiative aims to promote upcoming musicians

Ezekiel Kimani during the interview in Nakuru on January 18, 2017. PHOTO| SULEIMAN MBATIAH

What you need to know:

  • Zae De Kim has performed in major shows, including the Groove tour, and has won awards that include the 2013 Rift Valley awards as the Artist of the Year, the 2015 Flamingo Awards Gospel Artist of the Year, with the song “Mbarikiwa” scooping the Song of the Year award.

Shunned by mainstream radio and TV stations when he tried to get them to play his songs, gospel artiste Ezekiel Kimani, aka Zae De Kim, opted to start Muziki Umeenda Shule to help him, and others like himself, get airplay.

But there is a catch.

“We take on artistes who promote messages of peace and moral uprightness,” he says.

 Soon after launching the initiative, he collaborated with upcoming musician Timam to produce two songs, “Refill” and ”Mbarikiwa”, which are currently riding high on gospel music charts. The Muziki Umeenda Shule initiative identifies and nurtures talent among the youth, who are then assisted to record their songs as well as promote them during public events.

“I realised that most young people are talented but usually give up when they realise they can’t raise funds to record their music,” says Mr Kimani.

The studio helps artistes record quality videos.

“Usually, I insist on quality videos because for the music to find itself in a radio and or a TV station, you have to push for airplay through ensuring quality video,” he says.

All the production work is done in Nakuru.

 “Some upcoming artists rush to get the prominent producers to work on their music and some of them end up not giving you their best because for them, the artist is ‘just’ an upcoming musician.

“In my experience, an upcoming producer would give an upcoming artist more time as they are also trying to create a name for themselves. “.

Zae De Kim has performed in major shows, including the Groove tour, and has won awards that include the 2013 Rift Valley awards as the Artist of the Year, the 2015 Flamingo awards Gospel Artist of the Year, with the song “Mbarikiwa” scooping the Song of the Year award.

He says three key areas of focus that have kept his music at the top: content, video quality and consistency.

“You don’t have to do music as a full-time occupation, but if you put a little effort into it, it can change your life.”