Tuesday, November 11, 2008
by Ayokunle Joel-Taiwo
The power of music is immeasurable and no words can even explain the power of music when 5 siblings get together to form a musical group. I’m not talking about the Jackson 5, I’m talking about a group of 5 siblings from Kenya – The Firm-ly. During my interview (see below) with the group, the words that I can use to describe the vibe I got are Humble & Passionate. Humble in the sense that they are optimistic and believe in their music, passionate because the content of their music are issue’s that affect them and their community.
Ayokunle: How do you describe your type of music in terms of style?
The firm-ly: The firm-ly music is an Afro beat fused music with traces of rock, R&B and Jazz, reggae and bits of hip-hop.
Ayokunle: How did the name The-Firmly came about and what inspired that name?
The firm-ly: All the members of the band are siblings: four brothers and one sister, same mother and father, so this is a family, When we came up with the name we tilted it a bit to put a business aspect of it. Thus a firm. Hence the name The Firm-ly. We want to be together. We were inspired by our love for music and the problems we experienced watching our parents break up. We resolved to use music to hold us together as the children.
Ayokunle: What languages do you sing in?
The firm-ly: We sing in mainly Swahili but there are songs with English, Luo, Kikuyu, Mijikenda etc. Away form this album we have other albums in Purely English and purely Swahili.
Besides performing in Nairobi your hometown, have you had a chance to perform outside of your hometown? Is it something you look forward to in the future?
We have performed in other smaller towns within Kenya like Meru and Mombasa our home. But we have not had the opportunity to perform out of the country. Though as we talk there are chances that next year will be a very good one for us. We are looking at prospects of making a tour to Europe based on our capability of attracting a good promoters and sponsors. This though has not been finalized and we are keeping our fingers crossed.
Ayokunle: I got a taste of the following tracks Najivunia Kuwa Mkenya and Mr. Gasena form your website and I must say that I'm looking forward to hearing the whole album, can you provide a brief explanation of the 2 tracks, what are lyrics in the tracks about?
The firm-ly: Najivunai kuwa Mkenya is a patriotic song that explains the meaning of our national flag: Kenya based on a phrase “Najivunia Kuwa Mkenya (Proud to be Kenyan)” coined by our government speaker on promoting our pride in our cultures and country unity and peace. It’s more like a national pledge, people love it here.
This song has been used for national functions and actually won an award in 2005.
Mr. Gasena talks about an African English teacher called Gasena. It has been derived from a Giriama/Rabai folksong of the Mijikenda tribes of the Kenyan coast. It talks about a basic day of Mr. Gasena, his hard work, he loves his students, wakes up early, a very tough teacher that will do anything to get her student to learn English. The song would be sung by his students. Its more like heaping praises to hardworking teachers that nobody seems to give attention to in the normal world and yet they do a lot to change our lives.
Ayokunle: When should we be expecting the release of the album?
The firm-ly: The album is complete and we will be launching in April 2009. But the album is on sale and we have just started the marketing.
Ayokunle: Where can the albums be purchased?
The firm-ly: Locally it can be found in our local supermarket Nakumatt, we are marketing to the other music stores and outlets as well.
Internationally we are selling through CD Baby.com
People can also order through our website http://www.myspace.com/thefirmly.
One can also contact our manager Carol at +254722771442 or office @ +254202103013
Email: .
Ayokunle: Briefly explain The-Firmly's vision for the near future and what your fans can expect to see.
The firm-ly: Our main vision is to be an eye of the society, spelling out social and economic evils and to address to the plight of the disadvantaged. To pass on a message of hope to them that have given up, and to those that are able to help. We intend to do this by giving a high level entertainment.
The “firm” intends to work with the government and NGO's to participate in charity activities. We are members of a community based organized organizations: Restore hope ministries and we are currently volunteering to assist the patients of Mater hospital in Kenya in their art and medicine program.
To all our fans we have four words:” expect lots of fun!” Our album is full of danceable Afro fusion tunes that will be loved by both the young and the old, The East and the west, and within the same is cool music that will nurse you and massage your stress especially for those in countries with traffic Jam!
Ayokunle: Many artists are currently using the power of music to help improve situations in Africa, some use music to create awareness, some to criticise poor governing, so to prevent diseases, is this something that The-Firmly is also taking advantage of and how?
The firm-ly: In 2007 we held a Christmas concert in conjunction with restore hope ministries and local musicians to raise clothes, food and other needs for families in Kwale district that could not afford to celebrate due to poverty. A local PAG church in the area handled this. We are currently also looking for sponsors and funding to assist the same families get build a school since the nearest is over ten kilometers away and children as old as 9 years do not attend school since its too far.
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