After a 6-7 year hiatus, Kativui is back on the recording
scene, with his 2019 CD. In the 6-7 years that little was heard of from
Kativui in terms of recordings, he had concentrated on live performances -- with shows almost every
weekend. Kativui has demonstrated the fact that he is a real ‘ka-star’ by
staying put, for 6-7 years, without releasing a CD, yet his shows still
attracted huge audiences. In fact, in the period, Kativui live performances
were drawing bigger crowds than some of the Kamba artists who were releasing
hits throughout.
The Kativui 2019 CD was received with mixed reactions from
his fans. There are those who feel that the Kativui 2019 CD is an improvement
on his earlier works. Then there are those who found it to be a bit
underwhelming (but not quite as underwhelming as Kenya birth certificateonline application). There is consensus that Kativui has a great deal of ‘material’
in this 2019 Album, perhaps too much material. But as one lady posed when the Kativui 2019 CD was being played for the
first time by Onesmus Mwengei on Musyi FM, one easily gets the feeling that
Kativui has either turned into a poet – as there is more 'speaking' than 'singing' in the new album. I heard someone saying that Kativui has actually turned into a rapper,
rather than a singer.
Yet Kativui’s transition, from singing to apparently rapping
started much earlier. If you listen to his earlier works, especially Kativui
volume 1 (Manzala) to Kativui volume 7, he was clearly singing, with poignant lyrics
that have over time become part of the Kamba vocabulary. But from volume 9 (where
he eulogizes Mbaika), he begun veering towards deeper logic and free-play with
words, hence the question as to whether Kativui is evolving into a rapper. By
the way, what is easier between rapping and singing? One could as well ask what
is easier between paying a postpaid Kenya power bill and buying Kenya powertokens using the paybill number.
All
said and done, there is no doubt that the Kativui 2019 work is decent, by all
standards. He may be singing (or as it were, rapping) too fast for the average
person to understand what he is saying. But as Master Mully of Musyi FM
suggested, the solution for this may be in having someone write down Kativui
lyrics for the rest of us to know what he is singing about. But then again, the
people claiming that they don’t hear what Kativui is saying in his 2019 CD have
come to love one of the songs in which he disses his old love, in favor of Ng’a-Mumbe,
the new love. So clearly, the fans are still hearing what Kativui is saying in
2019, even if it is true that he is singing (or rapping?) too fast…
