For those that missed my interview in the Standard newspaper, here it is, along with the full, uncensored text...... We see you on Stay, and just love your acting. Its almost believable that you and Mkamzee are an item. Are you? Thank you. My character, Shane, is a riot to play. An item? I guess our viewers will just have to keep on guessing…. Did you solely write Stay or got some help from other script writers? I approached Damaris Irungu-Ochieng to help with some of the scripts. I enjoyed having her Kenyan female perspective contrast with mine. I am, however, writing all of Season 2 myself. Your background is in Music and Art, way before you came to Kenya. Did you just bump into the acting industry? Yes I did, in a way. I did do a lot of acting and performing in school and college but I had never done it professionally before I came here, though it had always been in the back of my mind. But in Kenya, I was lucky enough to be recommended for a role and fell into what I find to be the most enjoyable of all the professions I know. The role you are talking about, is it the one on MALI? No, it was for a small role on Changes. Then came Rugged Priest. Then Mali….. And how did you transform yourself into an actor, director and script writer for STAY? Well the direction was actually done by Ash Jivu and Claire Ash Meadow. But for the other roles I took on, producer, scriptwriter, lead actor I honestly had to do a serious amount of quick learning and trial by error, much to the chagrin of the people around me, I’m sure. But lucky for me, I always seem to perform better the more responsibilities I have, the more roles I play. For creative work for me, the greater challenge, the better. I would say key traits necessary for this quick transformation are patience and intuition. How do you juggle all these roles and still have a good quality final product? That’s really thanks to the amazing team that I compiled. Ash Jivu, Claire Ash Meadow, Justin Purefoy and Kwame Nyong’o, you can’t ask for a better team than that. But yes, stunning visual image is what we require and we’ll accept nothing less than what can compete with contemporary global film and TV at my company, Corder Productions. Is Kwame Nyongo related to Lupita Nyongo? And how if yes? Yes he is, her cousin. In fact she mentions his father in a recent acceptance speech as being her earliest and greatest supporter. Is this your first production? Yes. What kind of art do you do? And where can one buy/see them here in Nairobi? I do what’s called mixed media art, all abstract, in that I tend to work with materials like ash, earth and sometimes string and paper detritus. They can see them in person in my studio, or contact my dealer Roots Contemporary (Samantha Ripa di Meana), who has showrooms in Lower Kabete. How was your apprenticeship experience with Ousseynou Sarr in France and Senegal? Ahhhhhh, Ousseynou, what a truly beautiful soul that man was. It was amazing. I noticed him through a shop window in Bordeaux after moving near there. He was wearing what to me looked like lab coat (but are actually what artists wear in France) and had dozens of containers of unknown pigment-like substances and the next thing I knew this diminutive man had changed my art and my life. How did your experience with Ousseynou change your art? Please share a little more about this… I went from being your typical Abstract Expressionist oil painter to being a mixed media painter that uses natural and sustainable materials. I started shopping for my materials on the ground instead of in an art materials shop. And it is this kind of work that I teach when I do projects as a cultural envoy for the U.S. embassy, which is another profession of mine…. When you came to Senegal was that your first time in Africa? No, I traveled here immediately after college for a year. Then came back many times before Senegal, finally settling in Kenya in 2008. Im sure youve heard this question before. What brought you to Kenya? Serendipity. By good fortune or accident? Please share more about this Definitely good fortune. Are you here on a time-line? Or planning to stay? #stay (he laughs). Forever. Any other African countries youve been to? So many. Let’s count, I love numbers. Ummmmmm………ok 14, not as many as I’d hoped. One I haven’t and am desperate to go to is South Africa. Ive seen you on you tube, are you also a musician. What would you call your genre? No genre probably works perfectly, but let’s say Alternative Pop or Afro-fusion or just Alternative. What is the Nairobi response to your music? It’s been very positive, the people that have heard it. Most people haven’t heard it yet, I would say, and many people probably don’t realize they are hearing it when they watch ‘Stay. Oh yeah? All of the music that plays during the program? A lot of it. However, there are also songs by Dreamville, an amazing hiphop band of young people from Eastlands. And also we’re using some of Kanja’s amazing solo work, which we’re grateful to have. Do you write your own music too? Yes, I do. Besides writing pop songs, I compose music for film and I have worked already with Wanuri Kahiu and Judy Kibinge of different projects and do other music for my show on KTN, STAY. How many albums do you have now? I have one full LP, called ‘Reptile Land,’ (on iTunes). In Kenya, I’ve released 3 singles and people can find them on iTunes under the name “CORDER.” I’ve written an entire new album here but I don’t currently have the time to record more of the songs. Have you done any collaboration with a Kenyan artist? Yes, years ago I worked with MC Kah and one song of ours, “I Could Be Something,” which is on iTunes. Currently I’m collaborating with Kanja on 2 songs. One is the theme song of ‘Stay,’ which will be getting a proper release this year along with a video from my team. And the other is a tune called “In God We Sing” which is the deepest track I’ve ever had the pleasure to be a part of and we’re planning to shoot a video within the next two months. It’s my favorite song I’ve ever done and it has a lot to do as well with Trayvon Martin. So whos Trayvon Martin? And why does the song In God We Sing got to do with him? Trayvon Martin was a black kid that was killed fairly recently in Florida by a deranged non-black guy inside a housing estate, who of course was found not-guilty by the American courts. It became global news and for Kanja and I, the song is an expression of collaboration across boundaries of race and a chance to for us to recommend peace and education as the path towards racial harmony. Play any instrument other than a guitar? I play Nyatiti in the shower. Do you have any family? Yes, I’m incredibly lucky to have two beautiful and amazing boys, 15 and 12. Where do you get your inspiration from? The Earth. And people. What do you do in your spare time (if you got any)? I play tennis with my tennis foe and friend and we bash each other’s brains in for 2 hours. I do the most hardcore yoga I can find. Rarely. And I throw a frisbee as far as it will go in Karura Forest. Sorry, if I’ve hit any of you, Readers. Or your dogs. How is it like being a father? Do you live with your kids? If not how does the arrangement work? Are they in Kenya? Yes I live with my kids and they bring me the greatest pleasure of my life. I love being a father. I highly recommend it. Guys, go out and make some babies. What do you love most about being in Kenya? It might sound banal but Nairobi in particular has the best weather of any city I’ve ever experienced. I find the country to be stunningly beautiful: the mixture of sun, rain and clouds, the red earth, the trees and flowers, especially the crisp, friendly weather of the highlands around Nairobi. Otherwise I also particularly love the mix of old and new, traditional and modern. I love mixing opposites and there’s definitely a lot of mixing opposites here. Tell us a little about your background, where did you grow up and how was your childhood? “I grew up in an idyllic place just north of San Francisco (California) called Marin County, a beautiful piece of landing surrounding a striking mountain and straddling a cold and turbulent ocean. I grew up in a place that became synonymous with peace, love and counter-culture, the birthplace of the “hippies.” So I learned a deep sense of tolerance, an appreciation of the potential of the human spirit and a love for all things natural and “organic.” Are you dating? What’s your take about Kenyan women? As you know I am an extremely old and weathered man so the number of women that might be drawn into my sphere is extremely small. As for the few women that have tolerated my presence, I have found them to be strong, easy-going, smart and full of life. It’s actually fascinating the general differences between white and black women, which is a topic that could take pages and pages to discuss. But it’s something that interests me and that we explore in ‘STAY.’ And who really is Jason? A vagabond, a rebel, a preacher, the D*&%L! Hahaha, that’s a good rap. He’s the Don Quixote on the bench in Jevanjee Gardens. He’s the kind of guy that loves helping lost tourists. He’s an extremely old and wizened man. And I hope he’s winning.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 05:47:23 +0000