EYES ON THE PRIZE
--Naomi Delap

Editor's Note: We recently learned about an exciting initiative in Kenya called Starsearch that is rallying local musicians to compete in local talent contests, leading to a televised national championship late this year. Concurrently, a charity called Action for Music has mounted a program to improve infrastructure and legal conditions for musicians and producers in Kenya. This is an important development in light of the piracy problems that have suppressed the East African music industry. Afropop Worldwide will follow the Starsearch process on afropop.org and produce a special radio program featuring the winners in early 2003. Meanwhile, Starsearch TV producer Naomi Delap reports on activities at one of the Starsearch regional competitions in Kenya.

It's ten o'clock on Saturday morning, and musicians of all descriptions are spread out across the field waiting for their turn to perform. The brightly coloured print shirts of Benga band Orchestra Haki Haki mingle with baggy-trousered rap homeboys while the women from the Kenyatta University Cultural Dancers put the finishing touches to their traditional costumes. Backstage, acapella ensemble Cheche Group are quietly practising their harmonies. Singer Kenneth Ndayala is looking forward to the five minutes his group will have to make an impact in the opening audition of Starsearch; Kenya's first national televised music talent search.

"This competition is great, because it'll give Kenyans a chance to listen to their own music" Ndayala says. "Too many people in this country listen only to Western music, and the music made by Kenyans is suffering". He's voicing just some of the problems facing musicians and the music industry today in Kenya. Starsearch is one of the ways that a new charity - Action for Music - hopes to change things.

The last decades in East Africa have seen the decline of traditional and African fusion music, and the growing domination of western influences. Song and dance were hugely important for earlier oral societies as repositories of their history, traditions and culture. Today these stories, songs and dances are being replaced amongst young people by rap, hip-hop and R and B from, and representing western cultures.

In addition, since the introduction of cassettes in the 70's, East Africa has been blighted by the spread of piracy. The music pirates, who copy tapes and CD's the moment they're released and sell them on the streets have gained such a stranglehold on the market that musicians find it impossible to make any money from music sales, and many don't bother releasing new music at home. Composer and musician Ormondi Jassor was co-author of Lunchtime, Kenya's first gold-selling single. He no longer composes for the Kenyan market, preferring to send his work to London, to a company that can protect his royalties. "Why would I release music in Kenya?" he asks, "when the day it comes out, sometimes even before, the pirates have got hold of it and copied it". While countries like Ghana have managed to get the piracy situation under control, the Kenyan government has yet to tackle their problem successfully, and it's the same situation in Uganda and Tanzania.

Action for Music, which is funded by the American organisation The Ford Foundation, was set up with the belief that without an active programme to support musicians - giving them opportunities to be creative, enhance their musical skills and understand the modern music industry - the rich musical traditions will die. It wants to see that traditional and more recent fusion music is given the chance to reach wider radio and TV audiences, and to use CD and tape distribution to build audiences and proper incomes for the musicians. Action for Music also wants to develop a professionally run, transparent industry, which is governed by country and international laws on copyright, publishing and piracy. Starting in Kenya, Action for Music plans to extend its activities to Uganda and Tanzania within 2 years. It's an ambitious project says Anita Kiragu, AfM's co-ordinator and one of the Starsearch judges, but it's worth it. "You only have to look at the range and talent of the musicians who've turned up to this audition to know that Kenyan musicians still have a huge amount to offer - they just need some help".

Starsearch is the most visible of AfM's activities. It is a music talent show sponsored by Safaricom, that'll be broadcast on KBC in November and December. Viewers across Kenya will vote for their favourites using SMS, to decide which three acts (traditional, afro-fusion and contemporary) will win 100,000 shillings and a recording contract. Starsearch will seek out exciting new and existing talent, focusing particularly on keeping traditional and fusion music alive and kicking.

Alongside Starsearch, AfM will also be educating musicians and other stakeholders in the music industry, and working with government, police and judiciary to ensure copyright laws are enforced and successful. AfM will develop a library and database where information about music will be available to all. And it will seek to keep audiences aware of the stake they have in Kenya's musical regeneration, and how they can play their part.

For Kenneth Ndayala and the Cheche Group, who have just qualified for the next round of Starsearch, there's a long way to go to reach the national finals in Nairobi in December. But, as with the journey facing AfM over the next three years, the prize at the end will make all the hard work worthwhile.

Naomi Delap
TV Producer, Starsearch