TRIBUTE TO E-SIR MMARI, SOUTH C FINEST I was born on the last day of feb, almost to this sad month of march and Im very proud of that fact because alot of musicians were born in this month. Sadly, this was also the month that we lost one of Kenyas brightest stars. Esir was a trailblazer, he brought lyrical potency to a genre laden with lackluster talent and skill. His mastery of Swahili was evident in the many hits that were unleashed posthumously. Tomorrow happens to be the anniversary of his death, untimely death might I add. Thus I felt like I should write something small concerning that. Every time I remember South Cs finest, I feel like death robbed music of an artiste that would have captured the worlds attention had he been alive today. That should not be misconstrued to mean that there arent other talented people around, of-course there are. A dime a dozen. i salute those who have continued putting kenyan music on the globe like kaka sungura, wyre, redsan, canniba, uko flani, kalamashaka, frasha, sauti souls and of course amani. Esir however, I feel had drive, copious amounts of it. He had that river-like flow, that captivating imagery, and the vocal delivery needed to make hits even from songs that had a sombre mood like hamnitishi. Did he have a premonition about his death? Every time I hear that song I wrestle with that thought. I know Im not alone. I only knew him through his music, but in my own way there was always a sense of familiarity. Vicariously maybe, because I also grew up in South C. And maybe because Brenda, who sang Mos mos lived in the next estate. Ive never met either, knew her brother though...you get the whole six degrees of separation drift. I hope. i was in class 6 at muguga green primary school, wetlands. on this fateful day, it was on a Sunday, i can remember this vividly, when i came from church. as my tradition, i switched on the radio and tuned it to kiss 100. the station was playing e-sirs songs repeatedly, and wondered what was happening. i thought maybe he was droping the album we had been waiting for on that day. when i tried capital and easy fm(then nation 96.4) the situation was the same. it was then on 1:pm bulletin that i learned of the sudden demise of this east African finest! So today, the radio has been playing his music, which made me very melancholic. Invariably, I felt led to pay homage to him in my own way. From Maisha and Bumba train featuring Nameless, to leo ni leo, bamba and Jo, it stilll feels like yesterday that those were chart topping hits. Time does fly, vanishes like morning dew in the kalahari sun. Again, this piece is really me externalizing, thus its a tribute at best, subjective at worst. I got a complete list of songs from his debut album nimefika just to paint a backdrop for this piece. I hope I did a stellar job. 1.Jobless corner 1 (Skit) 2.Kamata 3.Bamba( ft k-rupt and bigpin) 4.Moss Moss 5.Saree 6.Jobless Corner 2 (skit) 7.Lyrical tongue twister 8.Hamunitishi 9.Boomba Train 10.Leo ni Leo 11.Nimefika Jo 12.Saree 13.Kamaiko (skit) RIP Issa Mmari, I honour your memory
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 09:37:38 +0000
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