Timothy Kaberia: A lessons in humility

There is a reason why songs written by Timothy Kaberia are sung in churches all over Africa even though very few people, apart from those he prays with at Nairobi’s International Christian Centre, know this.

Kaberia a worship leader and the brains behind Pentecostal favourites such as Shangilia and Aye, is the textbook example of a conservative, media-shy musician. During the interview, he even asked: “Must you have a photo of me? Ah, radio interviews are much easier.”

Kaberia and The Klan, a band he formed with his friends in college, organises ‘Africa Let’s Worship’ — or just Aflewo — one of Kenya’s biggest annual worship concerts often attended by more than 10,000 people.

In Kenya, Aflewo has choirs in Nakuru, Kisumu, Nairobi and central Kenya. Aflewo also has a presence in Rwanda and Tanzania and he hopes to be in Ghana and Burundi soon.

Kaberia is the visionary and founder of the famous children band Sing Africa.

For a man who has been termed by music critiques as Africa’s Chris Tomlin, Kaberia only has a Facebook page for Aflewo. Patches of his music, which are shared by others and not him, are unobtrusively present on YouTube.

His reason for that, “laziness,” is simplistic: “When we were growing up, we did not have Facebook and Twitter,” he says.

PRIVILEDGE OF AGE

As the wave of change sweeps the Kenyan gospel scene, he has stubbornly stuck to his old school type of music where lyrics are ‘downloaded’ from popular verses in the Book of Psalms.

When pressed further about his shying away from marketing his music while his capital intensive productions involve up to 30 band members  and an audience of thousands, he says: “I think I have the privilege of age and maturity that I have been blessed with over the years. I have reached that point where I am confident in my identity as an artiste and I draw fulfilment from doing things in a way that I judge right. The pressure to push my agenda, be given a pat on the back or win awards has dissipated.”

In his opinion, the lack of identity in younger musicians is what plagues the music industry in Kenya.

“Nobody should define success for you in terms of awards, certain beats or videos in this ministry because if that is all there is, you will get into unhealthy alliances that will crash your light even before it is lit, you will be stressed out about sales and ratings,” he says.

He advises young artistes to have ‘accountability.’ “Get a church or pastor to report to, mature people to talk with because when you are alone, you never know when you begin sinking slowly,” he says.

Kaberia says he no longer gets frustrated by a crowd that is not responsive to a new song he is trying to introduce. He drops names of musicians that he looks up to.

“I may have listened to Hillsong, Delirious or Solly Mahlangu the whole week and I could not understand why the crowd did not get the song,” he says.

“Then I realised, they are not in my world where my ears are always up for new music. So I learnt to judge where and when to introduce new music.”

Even in his silence, Kaberia still tours the world and his concerts attract sponsors from religious, individual and corporate circles.

It was not surprising to find Kaberia leading worship when globally acclaimed worship leader Lenny LeBlanc and Don Moen came to Kenya in May, as well as the late motivational speaker Dr Myles Munroe.

The first, and the only, album that he released, titled Sound of Kenya, sold out barely three months after distribution.

Listening to each song on the album reveals Kaberia’s ability to fuse his simplicity in lyrics and performance and little bits of sophistication in the accompanying instruments.

Mostly written by him and produced by Camerounian drummer Romeo, he lives up to his name as a worship leader in the album: The lyrics are short lines, which leave much of the singing to his band and his listeners as he directs them into the next line of the song.

The album was produced live with the 700-man crowd that gathered at Bomas of Kenya in 2009 infusing the congregational feeling in the songs.

MISSION IN LIFE

From as early as nine, Kaberia knew he wanted to be a musician and started taking piano lessons. In high school, he studied music as a core subject.

When he enrolled for his bachelor’s degree at Daystar University in 1994, Kaberia would study music as an elective as there was no course dedicated to music entirely.

It is from Daystar, Kaberia says, that he became certain that his mission in life was to use music to bring hope to Africa, a conviction that would lead to his forming Sing Africa in 1996 and Aflewo concerts following in 2004.

The first Aflewo concert in 2004 was organised in three weeks and 6,000 people attended, though there were no posters or advertisements put up.

The soft-spoken man has had his challenges in the walk.

“Growing, just being a man …that is not easy,” he says. “Being on the kind of spot that I am calls for a lot of discipline and caution.”

Kaberia says that he guards his relationships jealously for without them, he has no strength.

He mentions musicians Pete Odera, Jack Odongo, his pastor DR Ron Sommers as men who “have stood by me throughout my journey”.

Kaberia is visibly reliant on the support from his wife, Mweru.