NAIROBI (Reuters) – Standing in front of a cow enclosure in a village in eastern Kenya, six-year-old Kasiva Mutua began to notice rhythms.
FILE PHOTO: Percussionist Kavisa Mutua and the founder of a group of female percussionists, Motra, attend a training session at the Kenya National Theater in Nairobi, Kenya on February 25, 2020. REUTERS / Njeri Mwangi
The wind blows, a bleating goat, a distant laugh. And where they crisscrossed – more rhythm.
Mutua, now 31, said she had a special relationship with sound and tempo – one that propelled her to become Kenya’s main percussionist in a country where drums have long been considered taboo. for women.
She started playing percussion seriously in high school, after seeing the rare sight of a thresher.
“What she was doing called me. Like when people say the lord called them – it called me that way, ”said Mutua, who has a broken-toothed smile under short black dreadlocks and a silver nose ring.
She started to give concerts in Nairobi, but found it difficult – most of the men who dominated the industry offered little support.
“One day a man asked me, ‘What do you think you look like holding that drum between your legs? You have to sit like a woman, “Mutua told Reuters after a concert in the Kenyan capital.
FOREIGN FAME
She persisted, finding international success.
In 2016, she toured Europe with The Nile Project, a collective of musicians from countries that feed or are found along the longest river in the world.
Nowadays, she plays on instruments ranging from electric drums to traditional skins stretched over wood.
“From buckets to” sufurias “(pots) to offices and car caps. Car caps! “she exclaimed in a recent interview in the Kenyan capital.
In 2017, she was invited to give a talk at the prestigious TedGlobal event in Tanzania on her mission to teach the importance of the drum to young boys and girls.
“Women can also be the guardians of culture,” she argued – and proved it by creating an all-female percussion group called Motra to combine the words modern and traditional.
For three years, the Nairobi-based collective has offered lessons and mentorship to women interested in drums.
“It has become a fraternity,” she said proudly.
Evelyn Githina, a member of the group, said that she has been looking for something like Motra for a long time.
“It’s just satisfying,” said Githina. “You’ve heard everything about the guys who do it better, but we know we can do it better.”
Report by Ayenat Mersie; Editing by Maggie Fick and Andrew Cawthorne