Kenyan music scene is broad,full of talent,unique and boring. Having one of the best standards (if not the best) in East and Central Africa, priding itself to a rich history and a visible evolution, it is sad and hard to accept that music in Kenya is dull. And this may lead some to say it's on a decline, or even the more audacious to proclaim it dead, and this is why...
KENYAN MUSICIANS ARE RIGID
Given that Kenya is blessed to have new and versatile artists emerging every day, we are usually given the pleasure to experience a wide range of musical prowess. It is common,artists come into the scene with different and unique styles,new and unheard voices and in most times their early works are marvellous hits. After the hits though, something happens. It is noted that Kenyan artists tend to lose the experimental, differently inspired creativity and rely on riding on the elements of their earlier successes. Redoing the same concepts, themes and creating a predictable "signature" expression through their production and vocal presentation.
PRODUCTION HOUSES LACK CREATIVITY
The music producer is an important cog in any musical scene gear wheel. He/she gives life to the collection of creative wording and vocals from any artist. They are geniuses at instrumental arrangements that evoke various emotions in every fan of music. Kenyan producers are such artists with the beat box as their paint brushes and sounds be their colours. But no artist can reproduce a specific piece of creativity. Styles may remain but there always remains a constant change in creative approaches. And that is the point Kenyan producers miss. They present works that are so similar and repetitive that the end resulting piece of new music sounds dull as it reminds listeners of an earlier work. A song we have heard before. Its like they fear extending the reaches of their production capabilities. And that is dead right boring.
LOW QUALITY VIDEOS
Kenya is credited as being a pioneer in the film and TV industry. It saw a steady growth since the 50's to become a power house in the digital visual arts in East and Central Africa. When we speak of "low quality" this is not much in the visual graphical aspects but on the part of creative content and themes in respect to interpretation of the song in play. A great music video is that which is visually captivating yet portraying the songs themes and a creatively story driven in line with the music it wants to visualize. Kenyan music video artists, lack the patience to thoroughly invest their creativity so as to achieve excellent videos. Locations, actors, scripts, are just a few elements usually ignored or little taken with such seriousness when making music videos. This limits their creative boundaries and leads to shoddy,dull videos that are undercooked,meaningless and boring.
QUICK MONEY KILLS CREATIVITY
All players and parties in the Kenyan music scene are there to make money. No doubt about that. But for a creatively vibrant Kenyan music scene, the rush for an easy earning results to mediocre works of music. The singer will write same songs all times, the producer will arrange beats without inspiration and the video artists will just shoot for the sake so as just to give a song a video. All artists should learn to concentrate on providing the best creatively into their work as the best creatively produced works will always pay their worth
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