By Davis Otieno
Music is part of our life and plays a very big and powerful role. Not only is music used to teach and entertain, it also inspires many people.
Dandora is one of the areas best known in the music industry for producing the legendary music group that sang conscious music. The music group was known as Ukoo Flani Mau Mau. They would do conscious music that deals with social issues that affect the communities and the country at large. Through their music, they inspired social accountability and called for good governance. They also got to travel around the world performing on big stages with well known celebrities like Snoop Dog. Through their conscious music, Dandora became known as Dandora Hip Hop city. The group dismantled in 2009. Some of the group members went to stay abroad and continue doing their music there while others decided to remain in Kenya and continue with music like the likes of Juliani. Others remained in Kenya but stopped doing music altogether.
From that time till now there has been a lack of conscious musicians, except for Juliani who has tried and built a studio known as Dandora Hip Hop City Studio. It supports and mentors young and upcoming musicians who are trying to bring back the lost glory of producing conscious music. Just recently, Dandora all stars musicians like Javan the poet, Maya, Dash Johnte, Madigolo, Elisha Elai,Abudhabi Tembekali and Kgz Heavyweight came up together to create a conscious music that addresses social injustice.
With the help of PAWA 254 Sauti Jasiri, the Dandora All-stars Artivists who use art as a tool to emancipate the people and preach the Gospel of Social Justice met and recorded an Album (Sauti Ya Mtaa) which speaks about the injustices people face in Kenya as well as the bad leadership by our politicians and corruption within our system. It also speaks about the full implementation of our constitution.
When the Musicians decided to shoot the video, their venue was at the Dumpsites and the streets. When I spoke to one of the musicians he said that they decided on the dumpsite because it is a world wide health issue and is one of their key problems affecting the people of Dandora, especially those working inside it. The musicians have tried to tackle most of the injustices Dandora people face. They say the music is purely for teaching the community and to awaken the people from slumber and from their comfort zone so that they may begin to make change.
#SautiJasiri
