New Waters!

Good Morning World! We are hardly ten nights into the year and if the 12 months were just the 12 hours of the day, it's true that some chaps would still be snoring as it is just dawning. Have you ever wondered what life would be like if we didn't have these figures that help us get swallowed into the pomp of seasonal changes? I tend to think some people would never achieve a thing since they are great friends (or slaves?) of procrastination. Well, I didn't wake up today to bore anyone with abstract statements of 'what if...what if not...,' Let us take a reflection
of 2019.

For the sake of schemers and very busy individuals, it was a great year! For lovers of stories and the curious ones like myself, well, may I indulge you in our nostalgic journey of the past 53 weeks at Dowe Music & Arts. Before any further unfolding of the stories, we take this opportunity to thank all students and parents of last year for being a great cohort. The reason we chose the title for this post is because it was a year we did many things that had never been there earlier on. Most importantly was the database development that will enable us keep records of our students not only in this season but for years to come. Every student now has an ID number that is unique basing on the year and the instrument being learnt.  Change is not normally easy, and seeing that in some places around here formal registration is not common for short courses like music, we can't thank our clients enough for complying and that means our records will be fine on-wards.

Who was the most outstanding student? In 2018, we started thinking about expanding to Nairobi. It wasn't clear how we'd do it and we decided not to read books or watch tutorials about new market entry strategies. Simply, one of us had to sacrifice half of the week, leaving Nakuru's serenity and hygiene for a fast paced, mind-your-business-no-body-cares Nairobi City in search of our niche. Long story short, that was a bold, crazy but a worthwhile decision. We have so far trained 12 students over the weekend and are already enrolling the new class for January-April term.

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This is the decision that helped us meet Lorna Mutegi (mage at the top), a Management Consultant by profession. She just saw a poster on social media and reached out. Unlike many cases where one calls and the usual "I'll get back when ready" comes by, Ms. Lorna called when ready. The lessons started the following day. We learnt about her love for Indie Music and the passion for Guitar. One month into the lessons, she got a transfer to Kakamega County! Normally, in the experience we've had, most students get so destabilized that lessons have to be put on hold for a year which in rare cases one resumes.

 For Lorna, it was just a matter of "give me this weekend to settle and we'll resume," If I am guessing right, your question is, "So you sent another staff to Kakamega?" The answer is an emphatic no. We have an online conferencing class that caters for students outside Nairobi and Nakuru. Well, for the longest time since 2015, this has been for our students in Uganda and Tanzania. Sometimes people can be skeptical about the online learning and so we rarely mention it especially to the Kenyan Market. Partly they are right, but if one was to engage us, perhaps the perception would change. We proceeded with real-time video lessons for the rest of the two months till a small break came in for the holidays. 

We are back on and Lorna is finishing Level 1 Guitar lessons in 4 weeks time. This means she can sight read, has mastered useful strumming patterns, has a grasp on Chord Families and by February, she can confidently perform in your event! What more can we say? Congratulations Lorna and we're happy our paths crossed! Your brand New Capo, Electric Tuner and a set of New Guitar strings await you at the center! She becomes the Second student to receive this award after Sonia in 2018. Will you be the next?

Right from the first Art4Leadership Concert in January, throughout the Touch a Soul event during the Valentines day just after Dowe Music Band gracing YEPI's event organized by Mr. Amani Katana in Mombasa, to the Mzalendo concert and lastly the HustleConcert that culminated into a video shoot of the song with the very title, we can only say that ours is an upward, in-depth progress that has been made possible through the unwavering faith, resilience and a desire to make Africa smile again.

It is also a year that the venture's CEO has received awards and gotten opportunities to represent us in Italy and Ghana respectively. Dowe Music has been called upon to perform in Nationally recognized events due to the original compositions from Mr. Ogutu that evoke a spirit of patriotism, selflessness, purpose-driven life and above all songs, poems and speeches that inspire reverence to the Almighty God. One such organization that has given us immense support and a platform is Emerging Leaders Foundation headed by Ms. Caren Wakoli. Seeing that our message of Africa's transformation through positive leadership change is being embraced by initiatives such as Good Governance Festival that took place at Central park where youths sang along "No To Poor Leadership" by Douglas is an encouragement to us.

I paused for a moment and just read through what I have written and what I can say is, if the addition of a year into our lives means a forward match, there is no shadow of doubt that 2020 is by Godspeed a year of even deeper waters. Shall you sail with us?

The author of this post is a staff member at 

Dowe Music &Arts. 

You can reach him through email: 

douglas@dowemusicarts.com

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Groove Awards: The Call for Credibility

I am curious. Just how credible are the Groove Awards? Can all the winners stand above reproach, I mean tall enough, without an iota of doubt and say, “Yes, I won, and God is in this?” dear reader, I know this topic sentence has in a way driven you to imagine that my aim is to demean the wonderful work done by the Groove crew! Far be it from me. As a matter of fact, I hope to be one of the contestants someday to come.  The platform has contributed to the appreciation of Gospel music in the country in in an incredible way. However, the question of credibility in the one-month process between nomination and the awards day is what has been bugging me ever since I started following Groove events in 2014.

Since Groove is a gospel platform, I think it’s recognition as the largest and perhaps the best awards wing has to achieve a high standard as far as Christianity is concerned. Anyone involved in the process should realize that s/he is the salt and light of Kenya and that in most cases whatever s/he does is likely to be an endorsement to the others. Kenya is a growing democracy which is still struggling on matters transparency and good governance. With great names such as Groove and the many respected artistes we watch on TV and interact with, it’s only fair that, if these names belong to true believers they must needs understand that they are a lamp set on a city hill. Then we can use groove as an example every five years when we vote for national leaders. In my opinion, I think the Groove Awards Team can look into the following areas that compromise credibility in their voting system:
This is 2018, Technology is at its best
It’s very easy to send continuous messages for the whole month without one having to create a new one every time. All you need is to download an automated sms program, create a message and the receiver’s number. Then you set the frequency of your messaging. Well, we are normally encouraged to vote as many times as possible and this maybe is the best thing one can long for. The question is, what does the voting as many times as possible mean? I tend to think it’s just enough for me to vote once, and since we are just enough a crowd in this country, most of whom love gospel music, one is enough. There’s need for a criterion that prohibits voting beyond once. This way, we are likely to get genuine winners. Since Safaricom is among the sponsors, I’m pretty sure they have a way of effecting this. I just hope I am not destroying any business.
Africa’s Battle, “the rich vs the poor”
With the open system of voting, there are ‘brethren’ who are likely to marshal their way up to the trophy table via sms system. If one wants to win the groove award by all means, just like our honorable politicians, their pocket will have their say. This is how: Get a few youths from your fans in various regions. Buy some lunch or supper on the selected days and buy different sim-cards. There you go, you have a voting ‘company.’ Wait for the big announcement on the D-day.  On the other hand, if you are just beginning your journey and you’ve released a nice, scriptural song but there’s no cash, in this system, “wait upon the LORD.”
Anyone Can vote
Groove has come a long way. It’s no longer at the stage where the team is struggling with publicity. In the Kenyan law, one cannot vote in the general elections if one has not attained eighteen years. And even after that, it’s a must for the citizen to register for voting. Since music is a worthwhile career and if we want to maintain its pride, it is high time the crew thought about changing the voting style. They can borrow a leaf from Grammy Awards. I don’t think just anyone should be allowed to vote. We end up getting votes from people who have not even heard the songs but because they are buddies with the artists, the ballots are cast.
 I hope this message reaches the organisers and if they deem it fit, may they implement it.

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