Rivalries between musicians are nothing new. They have been expressed and displayed in all manner of ways over centuries. Suffice
it to say they are necessary because they keep the musical creatives on
their toes as they strive to stay on top of the game.
It’s
been said that conflict is the driving force of drama, literature, film,
and other art forms. Certainly that’s true in the case of heavy metal,
but conflict seems far too mild a term for a music genre that
fundamentally traffics in screaming, wailing, sonic terror, lyrical
bloodshed, and theatrical presentations awash in leather, chains, fire,
and horror.
In fact, loud and angry inner battles routinely
drive musicians to heavy metal in the first place.
From there, the
combat often spills out into dust-ups with other fellow travellers
across the minefields leading to metal Valhalla–which in Scandinavian
mythology is the hall in which heroes killed in battle were believed to
feast with Odin the supreme god and creator, god of victory and the
dead. Wednesday is named after him.
Often,
such bad blood boils over into artists creating brilliant material in
an effort to top their competitors. Other times, it can lead to babyish
name-calling and creative breakdowns.
I too, in a period of
my life, put in a great deal of effort into not listening to artists
most people would agree were (at best) some of the most accomplished
musicians of their generation.
My reasoning, as can be
expected was entirely predictable and undeniably stupid. It was a
requirement for “true” Elvis Presley fans, in Mombasa I should add, not
to listen to Cliff Richard’s music.
In the latter day one
senses a perceived resistance by Nairobi of musicians from outside it.
This could possibly be because most of the big name musicians who have
seemingly made it in Nairobi have tended to come from outside or have
had links with other regions.
The Gwada brothers, long time
residents of Mombasa, started out as the Bata Shoeshine band in the
early 1960s. Part of their claim to fame was the African Sunset KBC TV’s Vioja Mahakani signature tune, a jazzy and bluesy instrumental. The
Shoeshine Boys morphed into the Ashantis Band incorporating Mombasa’s
Hussein Shebe with a residency at Robbie Armstrong’s Starlight Night
Club on Crawford Road (Milimani Road) once their contractual obligations
with Peter Colmore’s Hi Fidelity were concluded. The Ashantis, for a
while were managed by Mombasa’s Sal Davis (Salim Abdallah Salim) who
younger readers can best remember as Maia von Lekow’s dad an artiste in
her own right. The Ashantis are still in the business based in
Switzerland. The band that followed them at the Starlight were African
Fiesta Matata which boasted of singers Steele Beauttah, Anwar Rishadi
and Mohammed Mwache. The coastals claim Rishadi, Mwache and Steele
because Steele’s mum is coastal and he grew up and started school there.
After
the Air Fiesta the Mighty Cavaliers Band took up residency at the
Starlight. With Rashid Salim, Juma Bazwalley and Movicky Monzemba on
vocals, they also had an out of Nairobi dimension. Then more coastals
appeared on the Nairobi scene in the shape of Geoffrey Yeri Ngao’s Hodi
Boys atv the Hallians Club in Rajab Manzil building on Victoria Street
(Tom Mboya Street) featuring Feisal Brown and later Slim Ali on vocals.
They were followed by Kelly Brown and Ismail Jingo as solo artistes. So
all in all competition is necessary and needs to be kept alive.
