Penya's different sound and style

You cannot talk about Kenyan musicians and fail to have Just-A-Band, Sauti Sol and Dela in the top five.

Sauti Sol are still ruling the airwaves and Muthoni the Drummer Queen is all over with her song “Mikono juu ya hewa”.

However, the unsung heroes as usual are the people behind the revolutionary sound; they are the people who believe they are not made for TV or would rather act as the battery or engine, which is ever hidden from view at Penya Africa.

You can thank its founders, Robert “Wawesh” Waweru who is best known for “Wawesh ni mjanja” fame, Nynke Nunta who worked with Ukoo Flani Mau Mau’s “All over the world” album.

So how did a rapper go soft? “No, Wawesh is not a rapper, I am a music producer who composes, arranges, records, mixes and masters music for almost 20 years now,” he says.

“I also develop and manage talent in the area of music and lastly I am the executive director of Penya Africa.”

Wawesh says he wants to do something about our cultural legacy, which stretches beyond hip hop music.

“The Wawesh Mjanja was a personal project that I shared with the world and that was that, Makmende is going to set this record straight on my behalf once and for all.”

He says the current wave being created by artistes from his stable is not a fluke but a carefully studied and followed strategy.

“It’s not even the slightest of a fluke; we recognised a gap and unrepresented voice in the industry. We are also inspired by the people around us that have expressed a wish for change and more creativity and authenticity in the music of our country,” he says.

He however admits he never expects Kenyans to embrace their sound this fast.

“It has happened very fast and it’s a bit overwhelming since at first we got very little love from the main stream media.

"Penya’s vision is to build a sustainable a competent, globally recognised East African organisation that will inspire and develop innovative musicians to be influential agents of change both locally & internationally.”

Whats the game plan especially with Sauti Sol?

“We strongly believe that Sauti Sol are here to stay, they are the genuine thing and they play an important role in Kenya’s music industry, they show that indeed one can be young, write and perform great music that can be enjoyed by your entire family.

Their products are of the highest quality and our society have paid attention and also made sure that they now make a living from music alone.”

And they are not all about talk, Wawesh says Sauti Sol have the album sales to show for their work saying they have remained a best seller for six months.

Their second album is already written and will be recorded and produced during the upcoming European tour from June to August this year.

“It is another classic waiting to happen,” boasts Wawesh.

To maintain their relevance in a market known to chew and spit out its stars faster than they can get on stage, Wawesh says Penya’s strategy has been to associate itself with quality and innovative expressions of arts.

“All the artistes I work with are truly gifted musicians and they are able to connect with people on a deeper level, therefore our artistes are more likely to engage in a “marriage” than a one night fling with the fans,” says Wawesh.

“We intend to continue doing what we do best, simply produce good music, which is not the same thing as following trends and mimicking others.”

When it comes to the band of the moment, Just-A-Band, they have a licensing deal and are also co-managed by Penya Africa.

Wawesh says they produce their own music and they collaborate creatively in areas such as the visual productions.

How do they deal with “sibling rivalry” where Stan, Penya’s first artiste, seems to have been shoved aside by Sauti Sol, says they are open to it.

“We learn from experience and trust me on this one, Stan is coming and he is the best-kept secret of Penya.

As for “sibling rivalry” we are critically constructive towards each other by default and most things get ironed out before getting severe, the hierarchy is also very flat at Penya Africa, people are free to engage and contribute to their and our development in whole.”

For now, Penya is not releasing any new artistes to concentrate on the ones they have now although they are open to receiving demos from aspiring artistes.

“We run an annual in-house capacity building programme and its from this pool we hope the Penyans of tomorrow.” he says.

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