Jahawi
As the self-proclaimed Trance Child says, try as you might, you’d be hard pressed to find another Jahawi—in more ways than one. Given a name that’s not a name by his grandfather as a reminder of the life he almost never had, Jahawi is unlike anyone else in this world—and I’m not even talking about his music. This cat is true to himself and his name, and his enthusiasm for life is contagious—even through email.
I’ve never been to Kenya, but when I do finally get there, the first thing I’m going to do is find Jahawi, the Trance Child, and kick it with him at one of those massive all-night beach parties. Why wouldn’t I? He has a love for life and music not many can match, which I found out recently.
Your MySpace page says you have a big responsibility to live up to such a unique first name. What does your name mean?
Basically, Jahawi means ‘the one blessed by God’ or ‘the lucky one’ in Luo—it’s the language of the Luo people, a tribe in Kenya who live on the banks of Lake Victoria, my grandfather’s tribe. It was given to me by Grandfather because, to cut a long story short, when I was born the doctors said I was dead, but yeah, I kinda wasn’t, so I’m lucky.
How it ties into me as an artist, well, you’ll be hard pressed to find another Jahawi. That’s more because Jahawi isn’t really a name, more of a word, which, after the whole birth fiasco seemed appropriate. And I’m working towards that with my music—the uniqueness of the name, not the birth issue—if that makes any sense… I guess it’s a responsibility of staying true to myself in the big bad world.
Your MySpace page also says that, being from Kenya, you're influenced by the natural world. Does nature just influence your ambient music, or your music as a whole?
Nature is a big influence in everything I do. I think when I play out, I try recreate a certain feeling that comes from nature, like that warm feeling when you wake up to a beautiful sunrise over the sea on an empty beach… mmm…
I’m lucky to have grown up in Kenya surround by all the wildlife and stunning scenery where it’s easy to find still a place untouched by man, somewhere were you can see the world as it should be. It’s humbling and also very calming. I draw a lot of inspiration from that.
Speaking of influences, tell me a little bit about the dance scene in Kenya. Is it influenced more by Europe or America?
That’s a tricky question… The music scene in Kenya is strangely underdeveloped, compared to our neighboring countries, in the sense that local, traditional music is normally pushed to the side. Therefore, the scene is dominated by local hip hop, heavily influenced by the States. Quite frankly, I can’t listen to it, as it sounds like a cheap rip-off of already bad music. But there are the few who are fusing traditional vibes with more contemporary sounds. Reggae/Ragga is also very big. So, with the domination of hip hop/R&B/Reggae, there is a very small dance scene. There are a few of us pioneering the dance scene and trying to open up and introduce it to people, but it’s a long hard process as people generally approach it with almost fear. To them it’s all techno, and the ‘adventurous’ ones are still jamming to old Moby tracks or Daft Punk’s old stuff.
So, trying to open them up to the less commercial vibe has been difficult. But slowly and surely it’s picking up! However, saying that, there is a small bunch of pure dance heads and they are the ones who are the base of the scene. They keep it going. Now that I live in London I don’t do as much, so they are the ones pushing it at the moment. Luckily, there are the seasons where we get a lot of tourists who are into the dance scene—that’s when you can really throw something special as the country itself has so much potential for massive parties. We have so many beautiful beaches and open plain savanna, you could really create something magical, and that’s what we’re working towards. New Year’s is a crazy event—imagine 1,000 plus people dancing away all night long on a beach…
Now, talking about who is influencing who, the dance scene is predominantly Eurocentric, whereas the urban scene is more Americano-centric. It’s all a bit confusing…
Does this then mean music is universal and/or a unifier? Not to say music is a cure for all of the world’s ills and problems, but do you think music unifies people when language cannot?
I do believe music is universal and a strong unifier; it’s simple to see. Get a bunch of totally different people, put them in a room and give them some good music and see how they react… It may take time, and as I’ve seen in Kenya, people may initially approach it with doubt or skepticism, but at the end people can always relate to it. I think it’s been proven through time how music can cross boundaries and touch everyone, whether they understand it or not. Walking down the road in some countries you can hear people singing along to stuff which they have no clue what the singer is saying, but they are enjoying [the music] nonetheless and can feel the emotion and energy in the tune.
Music, being so powerful, can be a good or a bad influence. Take most commercial hip hop/R&B—I see it as a big negative influence with its promotion of violence, gangs and disrespect for women... it sends across all the wrong messages—I’m talking in mainstream general here—and you can see it in young people, the impressionable ones who then translate what they hear into reality, which isn’t good. However, you can turn that around and use it as a means to draw people out of such stuff, by portraying a positive message and using music as a positive form of expression. That’s why I like trance, it’s happy, promoting a feeling of warmth and love, no negativity… it’s a beautiful music with the power to unite. Why do you think the world’s biggest djs are trance djs?
Okay, let's get off the deep stuff for a bit. Talk a little about how you got into the dj scene in Kenya.
Hmm… I can’t remember clearly exactly how I got into it… let me give you the quick version. I think I first got interested when a dj let me have a play around on his stuff at a friend’s party. From there I took a course with these guys called the Homeboys, started djing, funnily enough, hip hop and ragga and also some house. But listening to one of my sister’s CDs I heard a trance tune—I think its called ‘Braveheart’—and I was instantly drawn in and hooked. Then in South Africa I started really getting into the dance area, and I started djing at school parties, came back to Kenya—my friends were also into it, so we started throwing parties. The dance scene at the time was focused purely on commercial stuff, and every dj was playing the same thing. My approach was to hit them with new, fresh exciting stuff! I was lucky that I had access to a wider market of music—traveling between Kenya, the UK and South Africa I was able to get a range of music. So, I could always incorporate something fresh.
I realized you could weave a story in your set, move the crowd on an emotional level, open them up, create a means for them to release all their stress and strain, paint a picture… It’s powerful music! Something I found that was/still is lacking in the urban side of things.
What's your favorite genre of dance music? When you're behind the decks, what do want to spin to make people want to dance all night?
I’m a trance child! The beautiful chord progressions, ripping bass lines and beautiful melodies just do it for me! However, I also love to spin afro-latino house, dirty electro, psytrance. I believe in being versatile as a dj, and it helps as you can really spice up a set by mixing things up—it’s great to be influenced by many styles and be able to translate them into one cohesive set. It all depends really on my mood and where I am playing. Being a dance dj in Kenya meant that I needed to be versatile, as you cannot always play trance, and I think that was a good thing because it developed and help to define my crazy style!
To define my style and set in a nutshell, it’s an intense journey. It’s emotional, it’s uplifting, it can get very deep and dirty, It’s sexy, slightly naughty with a hint of raunchiness… it’s fun… I like to be spontaneous and unpredictable… that’s what keeps it interesting!
So, what's up next for you? When and where is your next gig?
Lately, I haven’t been djing as much; London is a hard nut to crack, so been trying to get the production side of things down. Been working on some remixes for Armand Van Helden and other artists, and also trying to get my sound down before unleashing it on the world.
My next confirmed gig is the Malawi Lake of Stars Festival in October, which is a great festival—check it out at www.lakeofstars.co.uk. But I should be out and about this summer when I am back in Kenya. The future is promising; I’m planning big things! It’s all a bit secret now, but talks are underway and hopefully things should be moving soon. But ya, the second half of this year shall be more active. Maybe Germany and Dubai soon, I think I’ll be playing New Year’s again in Kenya—haven’t decided yet... who knows! As it says on my Myspace page, I’m hard to keep track of. That’s probably because half of the time I don’t even know what I’m up to next.
