RAP, RAGGA AND REGGAE IN
NAIROBI

TITI SOLOMON AND JAMI MOJA

Titi Solomon's real name is Sammy Mbugua. He is a reggae musician and leads the band Jami Moja which means "Togetherness" (literallily "one entity"). The band is really just a few musicians who play Titi's music. They have recorded and published one cassette (inlay on the picture above).

Jami Moja doesn't perform live. Titi Solomon has a strategic thinking as a foundation for that decision:
The reason is that when you play in clubs the clubs sometimes would demand some kind of sound, like Bob Marley, mostly these popular artists. It’s not very good to put your energy into what others has done. We have decided to concentrate on our own thing. When we are really established, when we have had a hit in the market, we can go to the club and perform.

Another good reason for not performing live is that Jami Moja doesn't own any instruments. They had to borrow instruments and pay for the studio time to make their recording.

Titi has the following comments to his music:
We use Kiswahili (i.e. Swahili). The way you put Kiswahili melodies is quite interesting and it’s one of the things that are really outstanding in my music. I have tried to fuse in the Kenyan twist. It was a hit in Kenya in the sixties, called twist. I have tried to come up with it. The kind of harmonies that we are using are basically Kenyan. We have not gone into the Western kind of harmonies or the Jamaican kind of harmonies. It is a blending with much more Kenyan and with a little bit from outside.
When you are talking about a melody in Kiswahili it will always sound Kenyan. Kenyan have those melodic elements that are just in us. They come out without our awarness. The Tanzanians have also their kind of Kiswahili, our and their Kiswahili is completely different.

Now Jami Moja is trying to record their second album. Meanwhile you can listen to a sample from the title song of the first album called Jami Moja just as the band.

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