Between 2004 and 2008, I unsuccessfully tried to get into the Kenyan music industry. But the recurring answer from producers was I was not Kenyan enough. Meaning what? I didn't sing fully in the slang derivative of Kiswahili and I didn't sing enough party tracks, so they said Kenyans wouldn't listen to a Kenyan who sounded like me. This idea of otherism, the exclusion of a person based on their perceived deviation from the norms, goes to the root of the problems in Kenya. And it runs deep.
Kenya was invented by colonialists in 1895, and with it, came the erasure of our identity and the class system built on otherism. So by 1963, when we received our independence, these ideas had already become the new normal. Now, we've tried a lot of different ways to move forward since. We have a common language, currency, infrastructure, basically all the things that make a country a country. But all these efforts at nation-building do not go to the heart of the matter. Which is this: we cannot build what we do not truly love. And we cannot love until we love ourselves. The thing we have to heal, us Kenyans, is our lack of self-love, our deep self-hate and our existential identity crisis. And this is the work of nation-building that only the creative industry can do.
The idea that Kenya can only include some of us led me to found a music festival in 2008 called Blankets and Wine, to give a platform to myself and other misfits. Ten years later, we've programmed over 200 bands and put at least 100,000 dollars directly into the hands of artists and managers, who have in turn spent it on technicians, rehearsals, music videos and other things along the music value chain. Our platform has allowed for multiple Kenyan identities to exist, while inspiring the industry to discover and engage the wide variety of Kenyan music. What we do is necessary but insufficient. And we must urgently pivot into a live music circuit.
But there are other ways music can help heal the nation. According to a 2018 state of media report, traditional radio is sill by far the biggest distributor of ideas in Kenya, with 47 percent of Kenyans still choosing radio first. This presents an opportunity. We can use radio to help Kenyans hear the diversity that is Kenya. We can reserve 60 percent of all programing on Kenyan radio for Kenyan music. We can break down ethnic barriers by playing Kenyan music done in English, Kiswahili and other ethnic languages, on what is now single-language ethnic radio. Radio can help stimulate interest and demand for Kenyan music by Kenyans, while also providing the much-needed incomes by way of royalties. But more importantly, radio can help us build a more inclusive narrative about Kenya. For you cannot love what you do not know exists.
Other creative industries too can do the work. When you consider that 41 percent of Kenyans still choose TV as their primary medium, it's obvious that film has a huge potential. The meager resources that have been put into the sector have already produced world-class acts, like Lupita Nyong'o and Wanuri Kahiu, but we are going to need a lot more incentives and investments to make filming in Kenya easier, so more Kenyan stories can get on the Kenyan TV and spark off the really difficult conversations we need to have with one another. We're going to need to grow a lot more home-grown stars, so we can reverse the idea that we have to blow up abroad before we get the acceptance and validation of home.
Fashion too can do the work. We need to make it possible to affordably mass-produce Kenyan clothes for Kenyan consumers, so we don't all have to rely on second-hand imports. The first running shoe made in Kenya needs to be a local and global success as an ode to Kenyan excellence, epitomized by Kenyan runners, who are literally world-class. For these ideas to come to life, jobs will be created, and Kenyan ideas will be exported. But more importantly, Kenyans may finally consider themselves worthy of the love that we reserve for others.
Kenya's creative industry is dynamic, cosmopolitan, forward-looking, and without a doubt, a true manufacturing industry of the immediate future. But its true power lies in its ability to help heal the psyche of Kenya, so we can finally build a nation for real.
Thank you.
(Applause)
(Applause)
For this song, I'd like us all to take a minute and think about immigrant communities, and especially refugee immigrant communities, and the daily struggle they have to endure, building a life with dignity and meaning away from everything they have loved and known. If you feel any empathy for this idea, I ask to see your fist up in the air with me.
(Music)
"Million voice."
The mandem make some noise
With a million, million voice
All the mandem make some noise
With a million, million voice
Can't stop I, won't stop I
With a million, million voice
Can't stop I, won't stop I
With a million, million voice
This one dedicated to my people building something
Working hard to make sure that their children will lack for nothing
When them people come around and treat them like they're basic
I just want to LOL and tell them to consider all their options
Caution, natural distortion
You can't even kill us we survive even abortion
Say we cannot make it, watch us how we make it
Watch us in a minute come and run and overtake it
TED, clap!
Can't have enough of it
This our only way of life
Keeping, keeping on the grind
TED, will you clap like this.
Can't have enough of it
This our only way of life
Keeping, keeping on the grind
Keeping, keeping on the grind
The mandem make some noise
Like a million, million voice
All the mandem make some noise
With a million, million voice
Can't stop I, won't stop I
With a million, million voice
Can't stop I, won't stop I
With a million, million voice
Can I be your leader
Can I be your Caesar
If I show you how to make some more will you pledge allegiance
Is it always either
Me or you or neither
If I show you where I'm coming from, will you take a breather?
Cos what you'll find -- what you'll find
What you'll find guarantee will blow your mind!
I'll blow your mind -- I'll blow your mind
And then you'll see the reason I stay on my grind
Would you clap!
Can't have enough of it
It's our only way of life
Keeping, keeping on the grind
Keeping, keeping on the grind
Can't have enough of it
It's our only way of life
Keeping, keeping on the grind
Keeping, keeping on the grind
The mandem make some noise
(Cheering)
(Applause)
This next one is partly in Kiswahili, which is what we speak in Kenya. And it's about female friendship and female power. And girls coming together to build something that lasts, a true legacy and intergenerational worth.
"Suzie Noma."
(Drum music)
Sitting at the corner
Me and Suzie Noma
We ain't got no worries we are looking like the owners
Sipping on Coronas
Looking at the phone as
All them pretty boys come and tell us how they want us
Mambo ni kungoja, aki mtangoja
Sinaga matime za kuwaste na vioja
Planning how we want to take over the world soon
Riding on the drums and the clap while the bass goes
Hey! Shake it down shake it down like
Wait till you, wait till you see my
Hey! Shake it down shake it down like
Wait till you, wait till you see my
If you really know it and you really wanna show it
Be the way to go
Go and grab somebody, move your body, show somebody
Be the way to go
On this I know, all this I know, all this I know
On this I know, all this I know, all this I know
Iyo!
Scheming at the corner
Me and Suzie Noma
We ain't got no money but we do it how we wanna
Painting our nails checking our mails as
All them pretty boys wanna have us but they fail like
Aki mtangoja, leo mtangoja
Saa hii tukoworks hakunaga za vioja
Planning how we want to take over the world soon
Riding on the drums and the clap while the bass goes boom
Shake it down shake it down like
Wait till you, wait till you see my
Hey! Shake it down shake it down like
Wait till you, wait till you see my
If you really know it and you really wanna show it
Be the way to go
Go and grab somebody, move your body, show somebody
Be the way to go
On this I know, all this I know, all this I know
On this I know, all this I know, all this I know
And now you whine your waist
And now you screw your face
Exaggerate your waist
Resuscitate the place
Na wale wako fifty fifty comsi
Na wale wako fiti pia sisi
Tuko tu sawa mdogo mdogo yaani
Hallelu-yawa tumeiva design
If you really know it, and you really wanna show it
Be the way to go
Go and grab somebody, move your body, show somebody
Be the way to go
On this I know, all this I know, all this I know
On this I know, all this I know, all this I know
Iyo!
(Cheering)
(Applause)
