great. Musically, there has been an explosion of recording studios and the numerous FM stations have helped popularise these acts,” says Wanjiru. I ask him if the sector has grown in recent times. His answer is a ready affirmative. “Yes, the sector has grown well in the last decade and especially when the media started paying more attention to local content. There are all indications of the sector becoming a key pillar in the economy but there has to be continued work, incentive, training, research, and funding. It is unfortunate the policy makers still see it from a very narrow point of view. The creative economy is huge and has immense potential especially in Africa where indigenous knowledge has not been extensively tapped.” According to the Kenya Film Commission (KFC), the Kenyan film industry has the ability to create 250,000 jobs and rake into the economy some $500 million annually. Indeed while art was frowned upon by the political establishment and saddled with pitiable investment and unbridled piracy two decades ago, the exact opposite is the case now. The liberalisation of the airwaves which has spawned over 90 private FM and community radio stations and a dozen TV stations across the country bolstered by a deliberate act by the Kenyan media to build a celebrity culture is credited to be the engine that has made art trendy and financially attractive. “In the past issues of copyright were not well understood, this led to piracy which saw many artistes seeking alternative means of income. This has now changed. We have lobbied policy makers and sensitized artistes to show them the role that the creative industry plays in the economy. The fruits are there for all to see. Art pays.” Veteran musician and radio personality Mike Maganzo who doubles up as chairman of the Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) says. Last year MCSK collected $2.3 million as royalties to musicians. From Wanjiru’s experience and analysis the creative sector has yet to be harnessed extensively. “The genres that have shown clear growth are music and film. However, let me add that whatever has happened is just like scratching the surface. There is more and the potential is beyond comprehension. This is manifested in shows and movies that have sprung up like Churchill, Papa Shirandula, Tahidi High, Mother-in-Law, Nairobi Law, Malooned, The Rogue Priest, Siri, Shuga andTabasamu.” Wanjiru says. “Of course these shows have not just happened. There
are people diligently working behind the scenes and thse include veterans and emerging talents of people like Naomi Kamau, Catherine Wamuyu, Bob Nyanja and gifted producers like Alison Ngibuini.”Says Wanjiru. The emergence of the creative sector as an economic asset is attracting the serious attention of the region’s premier business college, Strathmore Business School (SBS). Late last year, SBS organised a series of public lectures aimed at initiating dialogue between the private sector and the creative industry. In one of the lectures Linguistic scholar Prof Kimani Njogu called for a rethink of prevailing perceptions bedeviling the creative sector: “The cultural economy is viewed in terms of museums and archives but we need to move away from the concept of cultural economy to creative economy. Creative business brings in intellectual property rights, advertising, and film and ties in a certain dynamism that is not ethnographic or what has been brought from the past. Without apportioning blame there have been constraints from the understanding of the concept, the nature of the industry in terms of the practitioners as well as government’s narrow view of how wealth is created.’ That the Kenyan creative sector is now firmly entrenched in the country’s economy is no longer a subject of debate, but a question of how fast the opportunities can be harnessed to spur economic windfall.
Machachari Cast and Crew
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