Shine champions - television interview

welcome back to the east circuit the only way to turn up your weekend I hope you're sending in those requests to white flat for Channel or the East Circuit on Facebook Twitter and Instagram our first interview it's not a guess to the e socket it's Anushka she's here again with a new song shine have you been since Lhasa oh I've been awesome it's so much exciting things have been happening I've dropped shine now okay and shine as you know it's one of my Kenyan songs it's inspired by Kenya and being in Kenya and now I'll be traveling with it to France to perform it as part of my showcase at medium which is the largest music industry event in the world okay so I'm very excited things have been rolling rolling rolling in terms of like the way you create your music is it always the same way because like you said that this is inspired by Kenya and yeah Kenyan influences because you travel a lot you've been everywhere yes so is it the same way with every piece of music that you create that gets inspired by the people and the culture there absolutely I just believe I'm a song catcher and I'm a very sensitive person I think most artists are probably we're a little bit hypersensitive so we just feel the vibes of every place we are and as a traveler I'm just naturally curious about learning about other people's cultures how they speak language is always a reflection of culture as well so I'm always fascinated to try to learn a little bit wherever I travel of the language and then since I'm a songwriter the way I use it as I applied in a song somehow it just happens but I work hard is there like a plan okay yes there is the culture that influences your music as a songwriter but like you know more personal influences kind of expect that from you very soon there are many personal okay a lot of my songs are about broken heart personal things I'm sort of hinting here yeah yes I have a lot of songs about a whole album called my kind of heartbreak my kind of heartbreak it's all about being broken hearted broken hearted by having people reject you as an artist broken hearted as a lover broken hearted as a friend betrayals the whole album is about that trust me a lot of my personal experience is going to my song even a song like shine okay I did not grow up in again but I have struggled as an artist there was a time when I was a music student at Berkeley College on loans and all I could afford to buy was noodles to eat every day you know I mean I I know what it's like to make it relates to you yes I always it's all look it's always coming from some authentic place okay but then you're always as a writer you always shape something around it to make it more universal right but it there's there's nothing fake about the origin of the vibe it also comes from me otherwise it wouldn't carry yeah because you can't just carry someone's story unless you relate with it yes some way they always say write what you know write what you know if you're not doing that you know it's not gonna work because people sense if it's fake singers like Bob Dylan used to say sing what you know as well because otherwise you can't give all the inflections and someone can't feel like the audience can feel whatever it's easy singing yeah and then if you have a little bit more content that's a bit more mature it might sound a bit silly to have like some upcoming sixteen-year-old popstar try to interpret that like you know what the blues you say the blues you have to live long to do the blues right speaking of teenagers and music you were in a rock band when you were young here the lead singer then and now is it easier is it harder what have we learnt what are you incorporating right now right now I'm claiming my space on the world stage as an artist after hustling and kicking ass for 23 years I'm Way overdue for my recognition so I'm enjoying that but I'm still pushing you push harder the more rewards you get the better the more people are watching you the harder you have to work and step up you see so you can get away with having a small gig in a town where people are mostly drunk and cool young you played guitar you know cute girls you know but as you get older and you're really starting to get taken more seriously by people in the industry you have to be extremely competent you have to be very ready always prepared does that mean no yeah you have to be selective with the kind of gigs you go to me I'm the kind of person I've always been selective but I'm also very open like I'll play you know a charity gig for free somebody like right after this show I've been out to perform at the Swan Festival I'm going to try to make it over there if they want they want me on stage it's a it's a support women artists network I believe and so something like that they ask manager can you show up yeah I'll go if I can I'll get there and I'll do it of course and because artists you know we need money but it's not just about money the day it's just about money you're not an artist you sold out it sold out yeah you can't sell that because then you're nothing left to share you see you have to keep it real but you also have to be smart about it so you get more selective or at least you try to make sure that you're earning enough to cover your lifestyle because it's expensive to be an artist you have to pay for the studio yeah you have to pay for your guitar strings you know you have to pay for your plugs your batteries you have to pay to copyright your songs vocal lessons I spent a ton of money on lessons yes definitely well how was your timid Buckley and do you think without it you could have been where you are now no way no way I would say an exemplar too but I'm not allowed to say it on TV I would say no there's no way I would have been where I am now because Berkeley you say I was self-taught before and I was in an era when women were still not really that prominent you know it was always guys around me always guys and I'm not saying they were bad but some of them were a lot of them were really supportive okay cool Wow you know hey let me help you here and some of them were just like hey you want to come over and well they just want to teach you some chords what do you think but that's interesting you yourself taught she got to you go to your first guitar from your grandma I did yeah I told you so far guitar yes because you see I was lonely and I was bullied a lot in school so I had nothing so that was like your outlet it was music yes when he said the songwriting absolutely it's just playing poor it's like a you know learning how to play they go [Music] you know that's what you do at 13 you think you sound great it's a bit you know then you go to places like Berkeley and it elevates you because now you're in the big game you're in the big leagues you're competing with people are gonna it's intimidating for some you were there oh my gosh it's even hard to get into boxing it was I actually came in on probation because I didn't have the musical education behind me because I was self-taught so they gave me probation for one year and they said look if you can hack it for one year and you do okay we let you stay but if you know you fall behind we're gonna have to drop you and give the place to someone else so of course I went on to push hard as I could and then I got Awards and I got scholarship and I ended up being able to graduate laude and I was the only girl in my guitar lessons that the four years I was there and you asked if it was intimidating it was terrifying because I remember the first time I walked into a guitar class you know I came in with this look at this it wasn't this acoustic it was another one that has sadly been stolen but I walked into the my first guitar class and I walk into this room and they have all these chairs set up and there's like all these guys sitting there with these two electric guitars and I was carrying it yeah I mean in it yeah and they were all singing this like you know doing all these skills like and I'm thinking what what did they do you know I'm like I can play like you know huh so I was in there and then one of the guys looked at me go yell babe I think you're in the wrong room and I was like is this guitar guitar 12b with John McCullen and like uh-huh the guys are just staring at me I was so I was like okay and then I'm getting you know they're all so cool they're just you know they're just pretending to be so cool hey I was very scared but I think that's nice because you you also like diving into different genres of music I can't start it out it was rock when you drove into blues so yeah can I define you with a specific general no you're still exploring diamonds I will always explore because a good artist is constantly leaving the comfort zone you see you may not become the biggest artists out there by leaving the comfort zone it depends on how true you are as an artist and where your priorities lie if you just want to be a star you can do a hit single there's a common formula for writing hit music a lot of people don't know this but they've done studies hit music nowadays it's it's the denomination of the common denominator of court functions and harmony atheria and melody writing you can do that easily if you know the formula you can write songs like that and push them out and then that's why we have hit factories and there's nothing wrong I'm not dissing it that's part of the dialogue it's totally cool but I just feel like sometimes we also need to broaden the perspective a little bit and make more room for artists who are maybe more interested in exploration than being a commercial commodity maybe that's not their priority like in terms of Kenyan music you've been here a while you experienced Kenyan music and by now I'm sure you notice most of it is alpha pop yes a lot of it is a most of it unfortunately I don't think it's unfortunate I think it is because this is what I'm saying you like to dive into different genres I do if you go to any other country they dive into different generals they're artists who are exploring blues jazz R&B then afro pop and pop and rock and you know every you get a sets of different tastes and everything is covered but when you come to different other countries it's like their focus is on dance music actually I'm not sure I agree with you Mike on that because in my circle of artists that I've been exposed to very few of them are like me and actually interested in doing like something with like jazz chords and then going into you know a lot of them are staying still in they find a place they belong that they find they're being successful and they stay because they're like if I do something else maybe I'll lose my my footing here you know like settling out because it's like when you lady said finding something that will bring the cash then you settle for it look if it's true to you and that's where you what you want with your music then you're not selling out you get like if you just go I just want to be a hit writer and have my hits and the money rolling in and I'm cool with that I'm happy there I don't feel I need to express myself more as an artist then you haven't sold out because that's actually who you are would you ever do that probably not for 23 years and people have tried to shape me with contracts in the past and the minute they start you know wanting to take away your creative vision a lot you start wondering who would I be why would I work so hard for something that's not even my own visions you know I was just born with this journey and I've come to accept that I may not have that huge world hit it's okay I'm cool with that but I liked that I were able to travel inspire and explore and express myself that's my truth how much money is going to make who knows if the song moves one person out there and inspires them not to commit suicide one day or to believe that love can come around again or one day they can make some money or there's God or whatever they want to believe in and they need at that moment if I reach one person I think that's worth millions as long as we feel something from your music yeah if some if you move if you stir a soul I feel that's a very important part of our idea of being an artist so dance music back to your point about the afropop thing there's so much creativity here but I feel like the only thing I miss about being in Kenya is the lack of instrument based songwriting I really feel that thing is just sitting with a guitar and doing you know or with a keyboard and composing off of that it will add to the musical dialogue and broaden the spectrum so much more so it could be just Africa but now put more analog instruments in the production if you use acoustic analog would be more the sound in digital versus analog how you record it analog is warmer they say through tube mics and blah blah blah but if you're looking more at instrument based songwriting the people who are currently writing off of loops they'll get a whole other perspective it'll just add more flavor and then the other thing that may be interesting is I believe fusion is a future we're a global society so I think eventually a more we exchange I come to Kenya Kenyans travel abroad and we work with different kinds of styles we will come up with a fusion language that will just broaden the margins of culture and then you can be doing whatever is your thing I really have no problem with people are just writing hit songs they are rich they can buy nice cars they're happy with that that's great that's what they wanted because notes are where your heart is look you can only have one car to drive at a time I have friends every five you know I used to live in LA you know there people have 2,200 cars and they love it and I'm thinking why would you have so many cars you can only drive one at a time yeah what are you gonna do with all those cars do you see I feel like the more things you own they more they more they own you you know the more houses you're on the more they own you because you have to worry about taking care of the maintenance if you want to be free and really flow you have to be low maintenance I could have a hundred guitars oh that would be okay I'm okay with one car as long as it works before a Chinese actually I really did so I wanted to ask you you know this insight and this experience not only from writing your own music but from Berkeley and called progressions and all and what it takes to create a hit song do you think you're going to dive into production I have already started I've always co-produced all my all my productions I've I'm a producer in that sense I finance my own albums I've released about five albums by now I think one in Sweden two in Berlin one in America one in Kenya so I think that was it yes and so I have always produced and I've always been a co-producer actively in the arrangements the audio how how the result ends up being but I have also started producing with urban styles and with loops which is why I say you know that gives me as an instrument based songwriter become more creative just gives me a newbie based when you're doing this because I'm sure there are lots of artists who are watching you right now in Kenya they're like I need to work with the muskoka I really want okay here's I'm scared to say because I don't know how I'm gonna make this work but I'm hoping to start something called so I have some clean music I'm hoping to start a branch so that when I'm in Kenya let's say I come to Kenya four or five months a year I led that I can you know do it in a legal way that I can help upcoming artists with coaching production songwriting and also get some pay for that to help me with my expenses here but also which will allow me then to also do free things for young people in areas where they don't have any means because I think production in terms of songwriting production arrangement lyric writing how do you know production a good producer somebody like Quincy Jones a good producer also should know music he should know he she excuse me we need to include the women nowadays and this which is great she or he what's the word you guys use nowadays is there like a one word for both yeah what you're saying right yeah for men and women okay he or she a good producer is actually someone who should be able to play an instrument who should understand the proud of the creative process because how you could inspire and take out the best of an artist in front of you if you don't know those elements yeah and you need to know how to build a song for the listeners hear how to travel with the music through the changes there's a lot of craft behind a good producer you know it's not just slapping up some beats and slicing and dicing and going yo yo yo you know it's a bit more to it if you want to be really good and then whoever's in front of you has something really unique so it's up to the artist to find what's unique about them and also to ask for help from the producer and the team behind them so the artist needs to come a little bit more prepared a little they need to be ready already radio eating artists the biggest struggle for an artist is not learning how to play guitar it's and I learned how to write it's not learning how to slice loops it's to figure out why am i unique what's special about me that's our biggest challenge something in anyway what makes me unique why do people want to listen to me what do I have that's gonna separate me from the herd because if you're not coming out with something that's original you're not gonna catch people's interest that much you might sound good and fall into like everybody says sounds the same but why are you doing it if you're not there to say something new in a fresh way you don't have to be new because you can't do create always something new you know we will always have music that's been done before but you have to figure out what is your selling point creatively and financially so an artist would come to me I'd say where do you see yourself what is unique about you and if they say oh I can play guitar millions of people can play guitar did you invent a new style do you have a specific sound I mean so you have to go and find out what is really unique about the person mmm doesn't that make sense to you it does yeah it does thank you so much for coming again to the East Side you to appreciate you always very insightful has learnt something from you actually I need to put something to the tests sure you know Russian I just been posting that and it's not Russian you are before I conclude you know a little Russian yes Okinawan RT yeah kind of a heart at least are you getting off easy this time but we had a question today are we working people back at home what would you do with a hundred million shillings if you warned right now whoa okay you know what I would do I would do a lot of workshops for you guys hardships yeah I would I would do some kind of project where we could invest it now and doing some workshops with artists here and exporting them hmm well I get that sense that I would pay my rent Bitcoin economy on was a good he then you buy their garden guitars no no no I we would actually create something because creation is more interesting than just a material possession creation that leaves a legacy mmm you don't leave a legacy owning 100 guitars mm-hmm you know what I mean mm-hmm unless maybe you create a museum with them and they I don't know you do something you're unique everybody who the true artist always wants to leave their mark on some way you know yeah yeah no I would definitely then I would go okay guys let's let's do something now let's create the workshops let's do workshops for one month and let's find some upcoming artists and let's send them over to some local producers let's get some stuff happening and let's export it mm-hmm I would love that it's actually creative you know yeah it sounds like it would be fun yeah but to play a shine about it before you start so shine is a rewrite because another part of being a serious artist is you learn you have to rewrite a lot you can't just accept the first version necessarily of what you create so shine is a rewrite from the first song I did was from one of the songs I did with Teddy B in 2013 and it's a rewrite because I just felt it wasn't it wasn't it could get better it could be improved front crossover market so I rewrote it completely and the way I rewrote it was I wanted it to be dedicated to the unseen heroes in society what I mean by that is the people who are invisible to us because we've become numb after a while there's just too much sad stuff going on in the world and you just can't deal with it anymore but you know these people who are less fortunate mmm who I brought up through hardship they have these resilient souls and they still smile they still get up in the morning and I think to myself like I friends overseas so complain about losing a shoe and I think please have you been - you know you should see some people I've seen but don't even have any shoes okay thank you dear exactly that's what I mean so this song I felt like everybody has a light and those people let's see there was a beggar outside you know on the street begging he's he's on his knees because he doesn't have proper legs I saw somebody like that and yet he was smiling and I thought I felt so ashamed I thought my god how can I ever complain about anything in my life and I thought when those things like that's happening yeah and then I thought and I'll bet you that guy had a dream and I'm wondering what that dream was he has a light if you gave him a platform like you're giving me today he'd probably have many stories to tell you you see everyone has something inside of them so this song is just to encourage people to just realize that or maybe become a bit more compassionate along the way because when you feel your light you become very generous to other people when you're still searching and you're feeling stingy like I've gotta hold on to it I've got a whole dungeon this is my mind you don't give anything out mmm you know yeah so that's what this song is about okay thank you so much for coming through you guys thank you for having me it's always a pleasure and it's an honor to come thank you for it's an honor to have you yeah this is shine burnished girl [Music] that's also very every day is a hassle don't know how much more I can carry Paco de Goya Kotaku Amit Sahni minute Imani see [Music] forget everything and shine [Music] a heaven Gaza Guzzi featuring one Gaza don't hide your light shine uh-huh hello I'm Gaza kuzey feature my girls I go everything will be alright shine [Music] the Sun will rise mean I do I dry tears from your eyes and you are will see our song chase shadows Neeta corner all-seater but Sam you could find love even in on the tattoo Hey on an ordinary day so shine hello I'm Gaza musii pitching one guy so I go don't hide your light shine uh-huh everyone Gaza Woolsey featuring one guys I'm hot everything will be alright just shining [Music] there's so much more in me colors to be thought free so much I could be so shine hippo and Gotha was a feature one guy's a wacko don't hide your light [Music] hello I'm Gaza who is he pitch him on guys how hard everything will be all right bees they're true yeah you just keep on doing what people and shine bees they're true yeah you just keep on doing what you do and shine means that true are you you just I keep on doin just shine thank you