Ugandan Soul musician Maurice Kirya, He will be performing at this May’s edition of the Koroga Festival
Its one of those life conspiracies where the sun & moon make a pact for certain things not to go your way. Being a music collector and a fanatic of certain music genres can be a punishing thing especially in this age of twitter & Instagram. You log on and see your friends like David Njuki posting selfies with all the musicians you have always wanted to meet before you die. Some, like we have seen this week end up dying before you ever see them perform live leave alone taking selfies together.
What I could have given to watch Prince live before he passed on!
I felt un-worthy to even attempt writing about him, his music and the effect his eccentricity had on me. Instead, I asked Mr. RW to pen one. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did.
Maurice Kirya is a musician I have always felt is over-looked by the many concert and festival organisers in Kenya. Despite having nice blend of music that borrows from his Ugandan roots as well as elements of Soul and RnB, Maurice has only been in Kenya for other reasons and not his powerful music and performances.
I can’t quite remember how far back my appreciation of his music goes, I think it was soon after the release of his first album Misubbaawa. In that album, he collaborated with our very own Winyo (He sang the vocals for Angalia Saa). I loved how they blended their voices as well as how different his music from that of other Ugandan artist such as Chameleon & Bebe Cool.
I remember asking him on twitter one time why he has never performed in Kenya, I can’t quite remember what his response was.
Maurice will finally be performing in Kenya at this May’s edition of Koroga Festival on 8th at the arboretum. It seems as though all the stars aligned for this particular edition as the Capital FM team have lined up a stellar group of musicians.
I chose not to go all wide eyed over Manu Dibango as I realized that everyone was talking about him and not Kirya or the Kenyan musicians (Different Faces Band and June Gachui) yet all have excelled in their respective genres.
So I urge you, as you spend hours on you tube preparing for Manu Dibango, spare some time and check out Kirya’s music. Sometimes its the artists we have low expectations from that end up really outdoing the main stars. I have seen this on so many occasions.
Come 8th May, I will be one of those Maurice Kirya groupies dancing my boots off. I hope you will be with me.