Skip to main content

A True Friend

A True Friend

A story… But first, the lyrics to my first ever self-edited video…


1. Through life's valleys low
When you are feeling low
When you are about to slow
Yes, I'll always be about
To carry you high

I say be of good courage
And remember the old adage
Cause even when you are out
Yes, I’ll always be about
To make you smile.

2. You feel like giving up
When you’ve hit a bump
That’s when you want to slump
Yes, I’ll always be about
To encourage you.

I say be of good courage
And remember the old adage
Cause even when you are out
Yes, I’ll always be about
To make you smile.

3. Sometimes you want to die
When on the couch you lay
You want to say goodbye
Yes, I’ll always be about
To make you live.

I say be of good courage
And remember the old adage
Cause even when you are out
Yes, I’ll always be about
To make you smile.

4. A time to laugh, a time to cry
A time to rest, a time to try
A time to sell, a time to buy
Yes, I’ll always be about
To help you try.

I say be of good courage
And remember the old adage
Cause even when you are out
Yes, I’ll always be about
To make you smile.

5. Family comes and goes
Friends come and go
Money too comes and goes
But I’ll always be about
To guide and guard you
On life’s torturous/treacherous journey.

I say be of good courage
And remember the old adage
Cause even when you are out
Yes, I’ll always be about
To make you smile.

6. You feel like giving up
When you’ve hit a bump
That’s when you want to slump
Yes, I’ll always be about
To encourage you.

 

The year was 2005. A teenage boy then, wondering where money for college would come from, was busy putting pen to paper. There he was in Soko Mjinga, Kawangware, selling onions and tomatoes in the open-air, roadside market that was Soko Mjinga. Through rain and shine, he lovingly tended to his groceries business and sharpened his words, envious of his peers in college… At last, he had scrounged enough to record a song, ‘A True Friend’. He also had a collection of short stories and a teenage novel; what would pass for YA (Young Adult) nowadays.

This love of the word was not strange to him, but the business world was. Growing up, he had always been surrounded by books, welcome companions for a shy, introverted boy. The boy read tomes and tomes of books, some beyond his age. He read adventure and politics and religion and philosophy. He read books about the Mafia and about magic and his imagination soared. In the words contained in these books was his freedom.

In school, the words gleaned from these books morphed into songs. And dance. For Kawangware Primary School was known as a powerhouse when it came to music and dance competitions at the primary school level. Then, there were the evergreen songs sung… religious, cultural and play songs, only to find out later that we sung some of them wrong… Mabligan,mabligan was Public van, public van, etc.

And so, when the whole school sung, the shy, introverted boy sung too… but he longed to be a soloist, to stand before the whole school and lead them in song and dance. Still, he never could get the courage. The same was replicated in high school, another powerhouse when it came to matters dance and song at the secondary school level. Dagoretti High School.

Still, the boy gained some courage and volunteered to do a song during a Christian Challenge weekend attended by a couple of girls’ secondary schools. Suffice to say, his performance was a disaster. Then again, he did not die and even managed to net himself a girl that took pity on him. Still, that gnawing doubt that his voice could never be good enough to pull a note the way Whitney Houston does in I’ll Always Love You.

The year is 2022. The boy, now a man, is just from watching CODA; a movie about a singing girl from a family that is deaf. The music teacher tells the girl that Bowie told Bob Dylan – guy won a Nobel Prize in Literature for his music – that he had a voice like sand on glue or something to that effect. That some have pretty voices but have nothing to say. I shed a tear at that, the story of my life.

And so, I begin. 17 years later. Now wiser and at peace with the world. I invite you to travel with me in this my journey of words as a recording artiste, poet, writer and entrepreneur. For all that I am, all that I have become, all that I will be, I have been, before. The seed has now flourished into a mature tree for which there is fruit and shade and firewood for many.

NB: This is a song of encouragement for hard times; more so, Post-Covid when a lot of people have lost their jobs and the cost of living has gone up. A reminder that there is a friend above all friends to see us through the worst of times. My first ever, self-taught video. One must begin somewhere, and so I have. Hence, the name of this blog: upya=anew, which equates to a fresh start. Hope you'll be inspired. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q4ChYidWnA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Seven Deaths of Mr. Steven Akumu: The Five Death

  ‘Curiosity killed the pussy.’ This is what they had forgotten to tell Mr. Steven Akumu. ‘Bang!’ The house shook, smoke filled the compound, shots rang out. Azrael was come. But how did we get here? Mr. Steven Akumu, a man of big ambition. He had thrown his hat in the ring, intent to unseat the reigning Member of Parliament for Mashimoni. That is before he shifted his residence and his political base. Now, Mashimoni is a placid place. A placid place, on ordinary days. The people – courteous, friendly, going about their bustles fashionably late, lazily, even. But come election time, the waters are stirred and trouble reigns in paradise. Then, gangs of marauding youths, with machetes – brandished and concealed – are employed to control the electoral outcome. The lingo – ‘to secure the bases’, and on election day, ‘to guard the vote’. Their leaders, they supplement these efforts with a pistol or two. Mr. Steven Akumu began his campaigns innocently enough. He had not gotten the memo
Post a Comment
Read more

Kenya Innovation Week 2023, Commonwealth Edition: Start-up Manenos

  The dates: 27 th November-1 st December 2023. The venue. The Edge Convention Centre, Nairobi, Kenya. Sweet things first. Innovators get to walk away with 500K each, in shillings. 47 of them, from all the 47 counties… on Jamhuri Day, 5 of them get to walk away with… that’s for the President H.E. William Ruto to announce. The funding is to enable them take their innovations to market and build viable businesses out of the same. PIA – The Presidential Innovation Awards, the president is that serious. The Start-up sessions are a serious affair, the titles a mouthful, the colon abused: (Session: Founder Stories: An Exclusive Interview with Leading High Growth Start-ups: Learning, Pivoting and Critical Decisions during and Unprecedented Accelerated Business Growth). Ok, some of the lessons when scaling up: Ask for help; Believe in yourself; Resilience; Change of Mind-set. What’s the share of Bill Gates in Microsoft? We are asked. We throw figures around: 30, 90, 50… the percentages…
Post a Comment
Read more

Angry Nairobians

  Nairobians are angry. Very angry. Perhaps, I should do a song, or some poetry piece, so that I can fully convey this: Nairobians, angry, hungry Nairobians, relatives to poverty Nairobians, has become their enemy – money Nairobians, no longer can access – honey. Nairobians, in their leaders – no hope Nairobians, unwashed – can’t afford soap The government, has lost – goodwill from the people No longer cute – the SG’s and the Governor’s dimples. Nairobi, despondency – hangs in the air Doing business, feels like living in the lion’s lair Taxes, more taxes – women can’t afford pretty hair Angry, hungry, for Nairobians – there is despair. It’s around 11pm. Nyayo House, recently declared a Corruption Free Zone. Hang around in a group outside, and some administration policeman will enquire of your business. I am here on some business. It is full house, majority seeking passports to get a breather outside the country… the National Youth Service have been seconded to assist s
Post a Comment
Read more