Time to pay for Gigs to support our artists

December 1, 2021 46

It is the end of the year and your socials are full of posters of events now that we’re heading to a festive season. Alot of discussions have been on and offline spearheaded by a comedian- Eric Omondi on supporting our local artists but let’s dish each other with the bitter truth:- Kenyans are the toughest group of people to impress. One day they are complaining about the quality of music, the next moment the artist is the subject of praise and admiration from fans.

This phenomenon is common in all cadres of life but for the purposes of staying true to the theme of this platform, I will focus on the music scene in Kenya. Kenyans, are always the first people to complain about our local artists lacking content in their music but do not even support them in typical Kenyan norm. How many of us have actually shown up and paid for local gigs that are meant to support our artists? How many of us have bought albums to support our artists? We have a bad “Hand me down” culture as Kenyans. We’re more likely to go for events for which we haven’t paid or have gotten free tickets yet we really want to go out and “chapa Sherehe.”

In every Ying there is a Yang, we need to create a balance between actually paying for gigs to support our artists and getting freebies to go for events. This is the only way the industry will feel appreciated and in turn churn out the quality content you so seek. So next time you see your friend put out a poster, take charge, support it and bring a friend or two.