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Fast-rising Kenya music group Vijana Barubaru (Spikes Mshairi and Tuku Kantu) has exposed the rot in the Kenyan music industry while narrating their journey so far.
In a candid Interview with the E254 show crew, Vijana Barubaru acknowledged that their journey has not been easy but they are glad for all the milestones they have achieved as far as their music career is concerned.
They went down memory lane to narrate how they were almost signed to an Eldoret-based record label dubbed Big Afrique Studios courtesy of Comedian Eric Omondi who was acting as the mediator between the two parties.
According to the group, the virality of their first song “Sasa Hivi” (freestyle) got the attention of Eric Omondi who offered to sponsor the official audio and video of the song.
However, the deal never materialized despite them linking up with the comedian and producer Jegede to record the official audio to the song with hopes that Omondi will honor his promise of sponsoring their first video.
There was a time you guys were supposed to be signed to Big Afrique Studios here in Eldoret, what happened? The E254 Show hosts asked the group.
“We had done Sasa Hivi and it was trending on TikTok, but we had not done the official Audio or video. Then Eric Omondi called us asking who we are with an affirmation that he likes our song.
“He said that he had volunteered to take us to the studio we record the song and shoot the video.. we agreed but the deal was a bit too good to be true,” they said.
He took them to Producer Jegede where they recorded the first version of Sasa Hivi (a speed-up version) with plans to do the video already in the pipeline.
However, the reception of the song on the market forced them to drop another slow version of ‘Sasa Hivi’ that eventually became the official song that is available on different streaming platforms until now.
While all this was happening Omondi promised to link the group with Big Afrique Studios founder to secure them a recording and management deal.
“My management will help you with the negotiations to see if you can get a recording deal with Big Afrique studios, they gave us time to write all the things we wanted,”
Tuku Kantu interjected saying; “This is the only meeting I have ever had at KICC and Eric and his time told us how life was going to change for Us,”.
The meeting was successful and the boys were tasked to mention all the things they wanted when they sign the contracts. They were later flown to Eldoret to finalize things.’
That was the first time we ever took a plane from Nairobi to Eldoret. Big Afrique were the first people to put us on a plane…we were surprised by the cars that came to pick us up at the airport (the convoy was heavy). When it came to the deal, we were told everything will be okay, you guys go back then we will start that conversation officially,” the group said.
They were privileged to interact with the Big Afrique boss before they came back to Nairobi. During that time they were given Sh25, 000 each as pocket money.
Reaching Nairobi, the group kept the conversation going with hopes that they will sign the deal as promised but that never happened as it turned out to be a cat-and-mouse game.
“Nothing has ever been worked on and nothing came out of it but the painful thing is we later learned that money was released and not just some money but Sh450, 000. So technically we only go Sh61, 000 but the money that was released was more than Sh450, 000.
“Things happened but we don’t the details of everything in there, but how do you steal from someone in that manner?
After that, they (Eric and his team) exploited us badly, they used to invite us to Clubs without knowing we are doing club appearances and we are supposed to be paid,” the group recounted.
They finalized by advising young and upcoming artists to always be vigilant of people who want to exploit them when they are coming up.
“Artistes please, learn the business…and please don’t steal everything, Chuna ukipiliza. Don’t be like that,” they said BY MPASHO NEWS