‘Mwaki’ Music Video Clocks 500K Views Hours After Release

[Sofiya Nzau. Photot/K24]

By Kinyua Mwangi

Kenyan songstress Sofiya Nzau and her Brazilian collaborator, Zerb, have unveiled the official music video for their hit track 'Mwaki.'

The highly anticipated video was filmed amidst the striking rocky landscapes of Kenya's Hells Gate National Park.

In under 48 hours, the video has already amassed an impressive 515,000 views on YouTube. Zerb initially shared the viral song's audio in November, and it has since garnered over 9.4 million views on the platform.

The visually captivating video showcases the duo's performance in the undulating terrain of Hell's Gate, set against the dramatic backdrop of a raging wildfire and accompanied by their dancers.

Since its November 2023 release, 'Mwaki' has become a dance sensation, claiming the top spot on Spotify's global viral chart.

Fans have created over 100,000 videos on social media, and the song is currently making waves on the global Shazam chart.

What is Special About Mwaki?

The infusion of her sultry voice coupled with her Kikuyu lyrics adds to the musical thrill of the song.

The song's narrative revolves around the intricate relationship between a young woman and her stern father, who had warned her against marrying a specific man.

“Na niguo muthee akjuragwo mwaki (and the way my father is hot-tempered), na niajirite ndigakuhikie( and he had told me not to marry you), anyona mucii ni akurakara ( if he sees me back at home, he will get furious), nake arakara we dahotagaa (and when he gets furious, he is uncontrollable),” part of the lyrics go.

With Zerb, “Mwaki’ became a huge song that took many people by surprise over its ingenuity in terms of production and creativity.

Zerb, renowned for his exceptional skills, elevated the song with his EDM expertise, turning it into a TikTok hit.

Who is Sofiya Nzau?

Sofiya is a Kenyan artist born in Murang’a County in Central Kenya. She is married a Kamba man named Nzau who shares the same musical ambition like her.

Nzau, besides being her husband, serves as Sofiya’s music producer and manage. He was deeply involved in encouraging his wife to delves into the Amapiano style in her debut song ‘Mwaki’.

While a majority of her fans know her as a celebrity artist, Sofiya has had a rough patch in her life and music was her only comfort.

She started singing as a young girl and wrote a couple of songs in her teenage years and later as while working as a domestic manager and hawker in Thika town.

She hawked for five years in this industrial town until the Covid-19 pandemic hit and she took another job as a domestic manager in 2020.

However, she felt that there was so much more to do and this time around, it would be music. Her husband urged her to pursue a career in music and promised to help her through it all if only she decided to do her songs in Kikuyu dialect.

"My husband said I would sound better if I sang in Kikuyu and since he is my producer, I had to do it. He later introduced me to songwriting. He has cultivated me in this industry and has taught me how to make money with music,” she said when she appeared in a local TV interview.

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