Ssaru Opens Up on Her Music Journey, Challenges She Faced and Finding Success Overnight
5 August 2021
[Photo Credit: Ssaru Instagram]
By Lydia M Joshua
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Fast-rising Kenyan artist Ssaru has opened up on her music journey, the challenges she faced, and how she was able to find success overnight. Speaking to Mzazi Willy M Mtuva during an interview with Mseto East Africa, Ssaru narrated that she had her challenging upbringing which saw her reside in most slums around the city.
After completing her high school in Kayole, her dad sent her to their village in Maungu, with the aim of focusing on Ssaru’s brothers who finished high school before her. Being a savvy girl, Ssaru devised ways to come back to Nairobi through a fake job prospect which did not work for long because she realized that his dad would begin asking her for the salary, so she faked losing her job too.
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A month after she was sent back to the village, she devised another way to come back to the city and this time she wanted to pursue her music career, so she started writing lyrics in front of her mother.
“Ikafika point nikakuwa sikuwa na point ya kufungwa tena. But pia sikuwa nataka kukuwa msanii but I used to write music mbele ya mamangu anione, ndio hata siku nitamwambia, hiyo kukuwa msanii, ilikuwa ikue excuse yangu ingine ya kurudi Nairobi,” she narrated.
Unfortunately, she did not have any social media handles to reach different producers, so she reached out to them via text messages.
The first challenge she encountered in her music career was that as an upcoming artist without funds, she went to producers with the perspective of getting help, which meant that she was not given top priority.
“So, nikaanza kuwatext, Vicky Pon Dis, Magix Enga but mara ya kwanza nikiwatext niliwatext na ile perspective ya nataka kusaidiwa, so mara ya kwanza kwanza nikakuwa naendanga studio lakini naona tu hapa. Sa zingine unaenda studio unaketi tu unajua. So, unaona tu wasee wanaingia studio wanarecord wanatoka. So nikarecord ngoma huko, pia yeye kuna vitu alikuwa ananichanua chanua unajua. Hiyo ngoma haikutoka ju mi pia niliachanga kwenda huko,” she expounded.
Maintaining her resilience, Ssaru reached out to producer Motif, who advised her to record videos of herself rapping and upload them on different social media platforms. She was not able to do so until a friend who believed in her talent came to her rescue and lent her a quality phone with a good camera to record the video.
“But sa siku moja nikirap tu hizo mamistari, beshte yangu mwingine akakuja akaniambia, eeh manze we Ssaru nimnoma sana, unajua, mbona usirecord ka video ukirap. Mi sikuwanga nimerecord ju sikuwanga na simu poa ya kurecord. Sa siakanipea simu yake, nikajirecord..,” she stated.
Remembering that day vividly, Ssaru narrated how she posted the video on her WhatsApp status and went to sleep to avoid being ridiculed by her friends, little did she know that she would become a star overnight.
The next morning when she woke up, her phone was blowing up with different replies from new and old numbers. “Sa usiku si mi nikapost tu sikumtumianga hata Motif nakumbuka mara ya kwanza nikaipost kwa status yangu before nilale. Actually nilipost before nilale ju sikuwa nataka wasee waanze kunienjoy nikiwa macho. So, nikapost hivi na nikalala, kuamka, eeh nimetrend
“Sasa hata replies zenye nakuta kwa inbox yangu zimepita zile number nikonazo kwa simu. Watu wamekuja number yangu imetembea yaani, na video ya kwanza nikipost sikueka any detail about me. Nilikuja sa nikaipost kwenye Instagram, actually ni beshte yangu alinipea Instagram account, ilikuwa na about 100 followers.,” she recalled.
Giving her brother his flowers for supporting her career since day one, Ssaru explained that he held her hand after the trending phase and introduced her to her previous manager. In addition to getting a manager, she also got different upcoming photographers and producers who wanted to produce and take her videos and she has never looked back ever since.
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