PHAT!buzz February 2021 Issue #240

FEBRUARY 2021

Issue: No. 241

Since 2000

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Tiera Gee PB:INTRODUCE YOURSELF TIERA GEE: I am Tiera Gee, a vocalist, entertainer, and songstress from Mombasa Kenya. I am also a mum to two beautiful daughters who make my life be worth living every minute.

PB:THINKING BACK TO EARLY CHILDHOOD WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH MUSIC? TIERA GEE: Music has always been a part of me, from it soothing me as a child to always intriguing me as I grew up. In how it would make everyone happy whenever anyone sung. My dad owned a club, and I would always spend time listening to his favourite tunes all the time whenever I went with him there.

PB:WHAT MUSICAL INFLUENCES DID YOU HAVE A CHILD AND WHAT ARE YOUR INFLUENCES NOW? TIERA GEE: I grew up listening to Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston and the great Boyz II Men. These artistes enabled me not only to get inspiration but also to shape my voice to who I am currently. Of late I have been keen on Yemi Alade, Sheebah and Nonie Fofie just to mention a few.

PB:HAVE YOU EVER GOTTEN FORMAL MUSICAL TRAINING OR ARE YOU SELF TAUGHT? TIERA GEE: I began by singing in the church choir and later expanded my vocals to self-training. I have also worked with Sarkozy as my vocal trainer at the initial stages of my career.

PB:WHAT MADE YOU FIRST REALIZE THAT YOU WANTED TO PURSUE A CAREER IN MUSIC? TIERA GEE: Finishing High School I had the prospects of flying out to the US, which did not happen as my VISA was constantly delay.

To pass, I hooked up with my childhood friends to do door to door entertainment in our neighbourhood, before making the decision of going commercial and started recording.

PB:YOU HAVE BEEN RELEASING MUSIC OVER THE LAST FEW MONTHS, WHAT INSPIRED YOUR COMEBACK? TIERA GEE: This cannot go without acknowledging my pilla; my Current husband Andreas Roll. He believes in my talent and together we thought we could take the music passion a notch higher.

PB: WHO HAS BEEN YOUR INSPIRATION ?

TIERA GEE: My inspiration is drawn mainly from life experiences not necessarily mine but those of others too!

PB: TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR LATEST SINGLES TIERA GEE: This year I had a team of people work under my record label Tiera Roll Music and I must sat it has been more about team work. If you check my catalogue you will realize I stepped out my zone to do tracks that I would say were a risk but which have definitely had an impact. My team has moulded a formula for tracks that cut across all listeners whether young or old, and so far its been a success. With Mtaniroga, Now & Forever and Kanungo, I am definitely looking at being at the top soon.

PB:HOW HAS LIFE BEEN DURING THE PANDEMIC TIERA GEE: There is no return on investment due to no shows. It has also meant taking it a bit slow on spending on videos, marketing and as such we can only pray for the best this year. On a personal level, I had to wait like 8 months to see my husband from Germany as the travel restrictions were very stringent.

PB:ANY WORDS OF WISDOM YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE ?

TIERA GEE: Patience pays, Good things take time, Learn to be creative about the circumstances you face in life for instance when life gives you lemons spice it up get tequila or perhaps just have lemonade!

@TIERAGEEMALKIA

@tiera.gee

Tiera Gee

Interview by Njeri Kimani | Photo courtesy of Tiera Gee

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Photo by Anyiko Owoko

Amaarae’s recently released full length project titled ‘The Angel You Don’t Know’ is a sonic testament to her love for music and her capabilities as an artist. The genre blending project has received global recognition by the likes of Pitchfork, The Guardian, The New Yorker, BET, CLASH Magazine and many more, and is currently at the forefront of major playlists on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, Soundcloud and Audiomack.

Since winning ears and hearts in 2017 with her self-released debut album Passionfruit Summers, Ghanaian-American singersongwriter, producer and engineer Ama Serwah Genfi has established herself as an exceptional and wholly unique force in an ever-changing musical landscape. Raised between Accra, Ghana, (where she attended high school), Atlanta, Georgia, and New Jersey, Genfi’s cross-cultural experience is the driving force behind the artist’s deeply experimental ethos and preternaturally emotive writing style.

Her Wande Coal featured “Spend Some Time” and sleeper hit, “Like It” (which ended up on Bella Hadid’s Instagram among other places), in 2019, were also fan favourites and received critical acclaim.

As a child, Genfi was an eternally curious, highly voracious consumer of all genres music. At home, she listened to the likes of Nina Simone and Aretha Franklin with her mother, but also discovered the swaggering and aggressive rap style of 50 Cent from a cousin. In Atlanta, she fell in love with the sweltering 808 and whimsy driven stylings of Southern rappers and would even go on to use the Sleepy Brown featured Outkast offering “SpottieOttieDopaliscious” as the inspiration for her 2019 appearance on Kojey Radical’s EP Cashmere Tears via the single “Sugar”.

During her time in New Jersey, where her current style choices were germinated by a merger of her innate black funkyness and the gothic influences of the predominantly semi-rural white environment in which she lived at the time, Genfi also experimented with her personal style –– vacillating between goth influences and street style; she also added alternative rock, punk and top 40 pop hits to her retinue. Yet it wouldn’t be until later in her career that the Afro-fusion songstress would lean into channeling the universality of pop lyricism into her own writing practice. Before Genfi’s metamorphosis into the singer-songwriter of today, she was sardonically penning her future into notebooks. One of her earliest songwriting efforts became the skeleton of her first song, a riff on R. Kelly and Usher’s single “Same Girl”, playfully retitled “Same Shanga ‘’ by a then 13-year-old Genfi.

“Being in Ghana and seeing the DIY culture of everyone around me really inspired me. My mates didn’t necessarily have the resources to create what they wanted but they also didn’t let that stop them from figuring out how to do it,” Genfi shares of her high school years, where, in addition to selling her mixtapes to classmates, she threw herself into learning the ins and outs of the producing and engineering process, a skill that would come in handy when she later established a Ghana based label Golden Child Entertainment Ltd, her own independent record label. Since then, the self-proclaimed “warrior princess” has truly stepped into her own, and in doing so, embraced the uniqueness of her artistic identity. Genfi’s instantly recognizable, mellifluous whisper-singing coupled with a compulsion toward pristine production (her cousin and fellow musician Dex Kwasi furnished her with Ableton Suite in 2009 and taught her how to use it), and the naked emotional honesty of her songwriting, make a powerful trifecta.

@iamamaarae

@amaarae

@amaarae

DJ EuniQe JAYJEY THE DJ PB: INTRODUCE YOURSELF

Deejay EuniQe: My name is Eunice Waweru. My stage name is: DJ EuniQe, a Single mother of Two (Twins), friendly and outgoing person and passionate about Music.

PB: WHAT ARE YOUR MOST DEFINING MOMENTS AS A DJ

Deejay EuniQe: I have a few. One moment was way back in 2010, when I was the main DJ at a street bash held by Bassline Entertainment. It was an epic experience ; I had never had the opportunity to DJ for such a large crowd.

Another was in 2011, when I got featured on the Sakata Dance Show, alongside, DJ Creme De La Creme and DJ Crossfade thanks to: Tony Mboya and Mr. Prime.

PB: AWAY FROM DEEJAYING, WHAT ELSE DO YOU DO?

Deejay EuniQe: I am a Businesswoman. I can go from selling eggs and rice supplies to baking. My children love cakes, so I enrolled for a pastry class and I ended up making a business out of it in partnership with my cousin, Jeanette.

You can follow us on: INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK: JEANIQE CAKES & DESSERTS. PB: DID YOUR PARENTS SUPPORT YOU AS YOU STARTED OUT AS A DJ?

Deejay EuniQe: My Mother is my greatest supporter and Number one Fan. She has been supportive and still is. My Dad was hesitant at the start, but eventually he came around.

PB: HOW DO YOU BALANCE OUT WORK AND YOUR PERSONAL LIFE?

Deejay EuniQe: I have set out boundaries and work hours, it helps me create time for myself and family.

PB: WHAT WERE YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGES WHEN STARTING OUT AND WHAT ARE THEY NOW?

Deejay EuniQe: When I started out, Deejaying was a male dominated field but it has evolved over the years.

PB: ANY WORDS OF WISDOM FOR ALL LOOKING TO BE A DEEJAY?

Deejay EuniQe: Current challenge is that the industry has become very competitive with the new upcoming Deejays, so I have to keep on stepping up my skills PB: ANY LAST WORDS ( ANYTHING YOU WOULD WANT TO SHARE)

Deejay EuniQe: Opportunities do not just happen, you create them. I believe that there’s a market for everyone so GO FOR IT!!!

Deejay EuniQe

@djEuniQe

@djEuniQe91

Robert Mũnũku C.E.O., Mau Mau Arts Mũnũku (b.1984) is an award-winning independent visual artist, writer & filmmaker from Nairobi, Kenya. Mũnũku began visual art at an early age of 5 years old, encouraged & supported by his parents, Frank Mũnũku (father) & Assumpta Pierra Mũnũku (mother). Later in his early 20’s Mũnũku learned digital art and fused the techniques with his previous preferred media (wood, paints, pencils, ink, etc.). In his mid-twenties he learned how to use DSLR cameras and began self-teaching photography & cinematography until he got his first camera.

After a period of disillusionment working in the Kenyan mainstream art industry, and also later holding a senior position in a foreign NGO, Mũnũku left & went ahead to form Mau Mau Arts as a way to fill the gaps these ‘big’ organisations had failed to, bringing his prior 15-plus years of working experience to the venture. He later transitioned into film work &, from 2017, Mũnũku embarked on multiple projects some of which include the mentorship of young creatives, documentary making, music & feature film production, all which serve the purpose of social commentary.

Biography by: MauMau Arts Image by: MauMau Arts

@maumauarts

@maumauarts

maumauarts

Since 2000

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