Music Trends 23 - Kalunde Muli

Lyrics

"Get ready to groove through the beats of 2023 in Kenya as we give you insights on key trends in the Kenyan music industry. This year's music scene has majorly been a wild mix of tradition and trend-setting vibes. From cool collaborations to fresh sounds, we're diving into the fun stuff that's made waves this year. We couldn’t be prouder of our Kenyan artists for breaking out, blending genres like never before and creating a music scene that's as diverse as it gets. Join us as we unpack the cool moments and trends that turned up the volume in Kenya's musical journey this year!

Starting us off is Sampling. Through out 2023 we noticed a lot of sampling as producers and artists flexed their creativity through their sampled projects. Kagwe Mungai’s latest album Rada is a perfect example of this as you get to experience a nostalgic vibe from start to finish with samples from Kenya’s legends such as Nameless, Esir, Them Mushrooms and Harry Kimani. This trend was also witnessed in Breeder’s latest project and Kenyan singles such as Manipulate by Kaa la Moto and Okello Max which is a sample of Many Faces by Gigi Gide Maji maji.

This brings us to our next trend which is the rise of Arbantone the new sound that’s kinda old school and making waves all round. Incase you’re not familiar Arbantone is the new sound that samples Old school tracks that were a bop back in the day. This genre became popular on TikTok this year and has led to the rise of artists such as YBW smith, Kappy, Gody Tennor, Tipsy Gee and Sean MMG.
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This year our RnB artist flew our flag higher and showed off the amazing talent that is Kenyan Music. Through a spotify Africa and Colors studio collaboration, 7 Kenyan artists have been featured on the Color platform so far and boy did they deliver. Hopefully this puts Kenyan music on the map and eventually grows to be appreciated worldwide because the talent is definitely there.

Generally I’d say this year has been one for the book for the Kenyan Music scene as there were endless opportunities for our musicians and Kenyans showed up and showed out to support them. Hopefully 2024 will bring about more good music that will get to our International audience.

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