← Back to the episode

Moses Watatua — transcript

Harmony Kenya

This transcript is generated automatically by YouTube and has not been checked by a person. It misspells names and mishears words, particularly around Kenyan English and company names, so read it as a guide to the conversation rather than a quotable record. Each timestamp opens the video at that moment.

0:04 [Music] good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and welcome to episode 13 of the African do podcast today we go down the world of music and uh to begin ourself in this world of Music in a Kenyan context I have my good friend and a senior he was my senior in school we were never in school at the same time but he was my senior nonetheless become a good friend Moses watata of how Kenya Foundation Moses welcome to the African do podcast leard it's a pleasure to be here and thanks for having me excellent so so Moses you uh I think at heart you're a teacher you you've always taught you know even before you learned how to teach um but maybe let's start there and and and let's go back to to Nairobi school yeah um did you learn music before Nairobi school or did you learn music in Nairobi school no actually my first um music lesson is in Nairobi school okay I went to Westland primary

1:05 we were we had some musical activity yes but I had never thought of Music even as a subject okay so when I went and I go into naobi school in form one is when I realized you know we could actually study music okay so yeah Nairobi school was the first place I actually had a music class and you met Mrs amonga I met the great Mrs amonga yeah I met the great Malcolm Floyd yes uh there was this be something called the vsso volunteer service organization from the UK which used to bring a lot of young um music teachers from the UK who want an experience out of the UK okay so then we had a very good experience of Mrs amonga who was very solid in in in Kenyan music and also you know um Kenyan pop music Ken and classical music as well she was very well trained and we had Mr Floyd who had just fresh from the UK uh was just looking for an African experience

1:56 yes then my third tutor was okra my teacher yes and so those were the three main people who made me music and where was where do you find him because you don't hear many guys speak about learning the and you play the NTI really really well thank you thank you very much yeah you see OKO was brought in by Mrs amonga into naobi school okay she pushed that we needed an an expert in in Kenyan traditional instruments so the first person she got was OKO from Nyan okay and he taught us theti and the utu so he came in as a teacher he came in as a teacher but as a support staff because the school used to hire support staff of course the security so he was put on that payroll as support staff and so he was a permanent he lived in the school so we had access to him all the time okay barely he could barely speak English so there's a lot of sign

2:47 language there happening but we learned okay okay so the six years you were there of course Nairobi school still maintains a very rich uh music history and culture so maybe we walk through that from one come and you do what you get into the music class or you join the band or what happens yes I get in and at that time we did all the subjects there was no like you choose when you come in so you get in with do agriculture French technical drawing and you know for all kinds of reasons I didn't want to chop up wood or go dig so you just you just end up focusing on what you enjoy and and having a musical year in West's primary for me is is is you know I always thought everybody hears music the way I do so I just naturally gravitated to music and I was wondering why everybody's not doing music so uh I ended up being in the school band I walked into the school band and of

3:35 course my cousin Rio Durango Martin Ro Durango was head of Kagan band leader so I wanted to also be near my cousin near my cousin CU it was safer so so then we um I ended up just attending band practice a lot of the times and and that's where my my my year developed and of course then in the music class we we we had the Kenyan traditional music and we had Mr Mr Floyd doing the western music we alternated in the lessons where we had Mrs among and Mr Floyd so um and then after that we started dropping subjects gradually right from form two we dropped some subjects uh you know and then music remained and over time in the end I ended up doing music in a levels so what did you pick uh you get into the band and what did you pick what did you start playing I started with a bugle there's no way you could you could you could touch the main instruments uh like

4:23 the trumpet of the eum you start you had to start with a bugle just like for the just for the lip and so we we just started doing that just buzzing sounds with the bugle without any valves or anything mhm and then after that I went into the trumpet I really like the sound of the trumpet the trumpet Remains the trumpet remains my Rems your first love musically it does trumpet I I could not move away from the trumpet up to now but you're a multi-instrument musician so you then picked up the piano and you you do everything you play the socks you you have a whole host of things that you yeah I I do actually don't play the socks I'm a more brass guy tuba eoni the on with the same mouthpiece so uh it was and the piano a guy called Brian aitar used to play piano really well you know and we had really nice pianos in Nairobi school you know which came down you know from

5:14 colonial days so I I really liked the piano and so Malcolm Floyd taught us Basics and every he just told everybody fly so we lot a lot of we just selftaught not like we have individual lessons Okay okay so he would throw us in there and say work on this so piano that's why I picked up my piano and then of course the recorder was compulsory so we had piano recorder then the brass instruments so that's me and yati okay yeah but also another of I guess Nairobi school life and the band and I like this because it's a public school and boys come from all over the country and then they exposed to this whole and I'm really glad that it's a culture that has been maintained in the school uh but you also have a lot of learning from each other you know because you're in a boarding school and you you're not limited to the the 45 minutes or 1 hour

6:04 lesson after weekends you know the band and you're in the band and you're practicing so you learned uh from other students yes the culture of the school is students teaching students yes um like for example MRSA never played brass yes Malcolm Floyd never played brass yes so it's about the older students teaching the younger students yes there were some you know technical issues which later I've corrected over the years but that's the best mentorship where the older on teach the younger ones because there were not enough teachers to come and teach us individually we couldn't afford like individual lessons like the conservator where you you go for lessons so it's uh no you you watch your seniors yes and you pick up whatever habits they have some good some bad some good some bad but you pick them up and then um and then you learn okay yeah so you have this six years stint because many won't

6:53 remember but yeah School used to be six years you know from 1 to six and all your six years were in Nairobi School and you end up in your last year was it your last year as the as the patch band leader the band leader yes and you you you go through that yes then you decide you want to teach yes so you end up at KU yes okay so we're now in KU just I'll just go back a bit how did I become a teacher how first of all we're told if you're going to do music yes these are the career options in Kenya right now okay teaching teaching and teaching and teaching there's nothing else I said anything no is telling you you can be a b no no nothing no band no no you know no therapy no music therapy no all this music and media business we no teaching teaching so I said anything to do music and then I realized I actually enjoy teaching because in as I said the

7:47 culture of the school you start teaching the younger ones yes so I really enjoyed you had already been teaching I had already been teaching and I remember once I was given a class Mrs amonga was making the 844 books yes so she was really in school she was being called to KICD at that time to to write music books so she said Moses take my form one class MH so six for no I was in third form okay yes say mes you teach teach my form one class and I said with pleasure yeah so now I became a teacher at that point at the age of 15 16 is when I actually took my first class wow yeah at the school so then of course then I kept doing that for her as she was still preparing 844 books when 844s came in when we were in form four uh and then I went on teaching and being the band leader then I get into KU mhm to do my music uh exciting times yes uh really

8:37 really good times how was that music learning experience at University level at Kenyata University it was a mixed mixed grill cuz some areas Nairobi school is very strong at yes so when we get in we felt a bit like we're being taken back okay cuz you guys have come in and you're far ahead we're far ahead yes yeah and we like six people who've come from a levels the other the rest of the class about 20 something of them have are teachers who have already been teaching okay and they come in from being primary teachers and now want to qualify to be secondary teachers okay so they also starting from scratch they find the people who've done the a level music are way ahead so we had to wait for for for this for them to catch up yes but in some areas we learned we learned there are points where you feel challenged some point some points you

9:23 feel we feel under challenged but overall the experience was very good okay yeah and you you go you learn what was that three years it was three years then yeah yeah because was 763 yes then of course you do did you come for teaching practice in Nairobi school yes in my second year of KU we did teaching practice uh of course I because you know after I left Nairobi school I never really left because straight after high school I went that January I was back in the school teaching okay yeah I I just went on helping Mrs amonga um because at that time Mr Floyd had gone so she was a bit overloaded and I said look I can spare some time just to help you so I kept working with the band and also helping Mrs among in class so at that point um after after one and a half years then I came back officially as a teaching practice teacher because and I

10:09 know teacher the kids at that time could not see the the difference because I was teaching before then I was enrolled as a teach teacher they just know it just went on it just continued yeah so it was exciting to do my teaching practice there as well yeah so you finish you graduate yes I graduate when you graduate when you head to or where where where are you posted to to teach at that time I'm like you know you're ready to be sent to the you know to the to the know the trenches and fight you know you just said I'm going to take anything you had a very good attitude then you know I was ready to go so I got a posting at Senior Chief Kang girls okay as a as an untrained teacher yes I got a letter and at then I walked into the Kenya conservative music Where Mrs amonga sister was a secretary yes she came from a musical family okay so then I found

10:52 her there as a secretary and she said oh by the way at Nairobi Academy they need a piano teacher now now now you've already got your letter yes to get 1500s per Mon and then I'm told these are private school needs a piano teacher yeah I just said let me go see what they have so I I go there and I'm absorbed immediately to teach piano andri so Chief Kang out of the uh fell out you have entered the public private school PR school network yeah at that point government school is out of the picture and I just want to teach in the private school because they have the facilities yes it so enjoyable you know you you get all these things working yes um and of course the money was much better I keep telling people this my dad was a senior civil servant yes he worked at the Kenya School of government that that time is called the Kenya Kenya Institute

11:42 Administration yes and then I I with my first entry salary I matched his at Academy wow so at that point like my dad was asking me what are you going to teach I said music no the real subject what are you going to teach I the Dos are not connected no I said I am going to teach music yeah so that then I got into Nairobi Academy yeah and then of course now other opportunities are opening while Nairobi Academy I'm parttime M then I go then Banda School opens up as well okay so I go into Banda school so I'm n Academy and SAR school um is is owned by a friend of my mother's yes um and and then and then I also taught there she said can you come and help set up my department there so I was at SAR School Nairobi Academy and the banda uh all part time yes all part time I was and of course you're teaching some private students private students as

12:33 well yeah although that time I not done a lot of private students it's when I was called into because before that was before KU that was straight after after patch I was already in those schools oh so Nairobi Academy is before before January after I left high school and this Senior Chief letter comes before you go to KU yes CU they looking for an untrained teacher yeah so all this is before KU so in the the September when I meant to get into KU is now I have to decide what do I do do I leave these jobs and going to KU or in fact I I I managed to SLI out of Kenya what do you call the youth service it was comp NY was compulsory so I SED out of it yeah I I got an exemption yeah it is true it was not fake that I was not too well but but uh I managed to Sid out of it very quickly so I could keep teaching at nirob Academy and and those other schools but when September came I had to

13:26 make a choice am I going to KU or am I going to keep teaching okay so when I was leaving a lot of people a lot of parents I told parents goodbye and they approached me and say can you come home oh wow that is when I said you started private lessons private lessons while I was KU yes okay so you going to KU yeah and yeah you're doing I remember you guys or rather even um my classmates who are music students they always when we finish school they are the ones who are the most cash because they're teaching they're working they ridiculous you know the rest of us I just I just there man I don't know whether they remember n taxis when they came out oh we we we rode those things just like we felt like we were reading rolls-royce's money it was just excellent good days to have your own money then so three years after KU graduate yes now after your graduation

14:18 at KU uh where do you go I continue with a Banda and the Nairobi academ you of course those are relationships you haven't servant so you continue and do you go fulltime or you're still January um I right next to band there was brook house okay I said now I have more time yes let me walk into brook house yes and see whether there's something more more for me yes so I I walk in and they said man we need a full-time music teacher not part time not part time I am 23 then mhm and I say okay now I need a real job not this hovering around over the place yeah so yes so I get into brook house I get into brook house as as a a music teacher in the prep there was no music in the secondary then mhm yeah and then these others I start I start phasing myself off okay from the sar from the from band yeah so the parttime ones um I kept my evening learns by I from I just

15:10 focused on Brook house and my private lessons yeah so you had a long stint then yes because if you entered brook house at 23 and I found you working at brook house much much later so you you you basically watched brook house as a private school grow yes um we found it in in in very um Rocky uh in at a very rocky place because the school was closing they actually hired me cuz I was cheap and young yeah yeah but um they were closing okay it was a the directors were an old uh an old couple who were going back to England MH and they were just sweeping clean like like we're done with Kenya and we want to go away so then the new directors were were coming in um but then I I I just found the old couple going the new directors came in when I done a year yes um so so yeah I found it very it scratch I I keep telling people I found one piano one

16:03 bottl toop Shaker and one recorder that was my music department and it was in the hall that was the brook house music department so built it from scratch yes oh wow yeah and went on to build one of the best music departments because I mean when when brook house now came of age you know they continue to be one of the best places to study music it was enjoyable thanks it's good to hear that because uh it was enjoyable I I could not tell Monday through to Sunday I really enjoyed my job so how many years I did 18 wow 18 years at brook house wow yeah 18 and a half I think yeah and then you do that thing that you do that thing you know when I talk to you this this the thing about you that kind of just leaves me a bit gobsmacked so you you've made it all the way um one person music department three small instruments to this uh state-ofthe-art recording

16:58 equipment sound equipment you have a team under you there's music in h prep there's music in secondary and your officially I think your title was music director director of Performing Arts the director of Performing Arts brook house school brook house is now one of the top ranked Public Schools um in in the country and you leave you you you pack your bags and leave that job to go to Nairobi school yeah I call it a midlife crisis so so so every would take us through that midlife crisis because I think it's a rather interesting one so what is it you saw and what is it that bothered you that you said I have to go teach you see when you're teaching children are children are children they're different they've got different exposures and backgrounds So you you're putting you putting in a lot of energy M into brook house you know you get you've been at in a place for 18 years and and

17:59 we com to the norm that they have all these facilities and so kids probably don't see what they have you know in the school priv privilege they don't see their privilege no they don't and it's not their fault it's just that they just don't see it so instruments are being left in the buses in bus stops and you know you know and and you just find kids have everything and I'm putting in a lot of effort but I'm not seeing um much you know you're doing a lot but you hope that there's much more response from the kids but remember I never stopped P all you never sto going to Nair you continued you continued teaching I know weekends you even when I was in school though we were never in school at the same time but I would see you on Saturdays and Sundays and you'd come car service and all those things you used to come yeah so you never stopped that no I

18:47 never stopped and so for me when I come and do a little work in aobi school the kind of impact kids would fly and people do so much more that you know and and brook house are putting even much more energy but I would not see the same respons so that got me thinking my goodness what if I actually lifted my brook house music department and placed it in patch that's how all these ideas are coming what about all my teachers all the equipment and bring and put them in what kind of thing would happen there yeah that's why it all my brained like these kids need what those people have so that is what was bothering me and then then and I decided so I I I said let me get out here and decide what I want to do cuz I done I think i' done my stint in Brook house in felt put myy I enjoyed it I can't say I did not enjoy it I one of mytimes in Myer um and

19:37 and then I came out to see what else I could do you know as a young man at 23 then you're locked in a place for 18 years you find out what else you can do what else is the at that time there there's no Zoom I think Skype even not yet nothing we didn't know we were locked up into YouTube had just come so we just wondering what else is happening out there so I wanted to get out there and see what's happening so I first of all just get out like a headless chicken and wondering what I'm going to do uh and then I came out and I'm looking around and I say I sit in my place then I get called to another private school I'm called by Nairobi international school and they say come come you as a former student of mine decided to introd told me you must meet Mrs Lee who's the owner of Nairobi International School yes and she told me come and meet this

20:21 amazing lady she loves music and and come come and support us so I said wow okay a director who likes music so I walk in there and set up her music department as well um and and and so you know up to now we work together in many ways uh then suddenly I was still supporting Mr Oba remember Mr now after MSA left Mr ran the music department very well I think you found Mr so I used to work with Mr buer very closely yes he is an amazing man he gave me access to the students with all the change of administration I still had access to to the students so then Mr Ober is is um is now the deputy and then he gets promoted out now they have no music teacher in aobi school then I I get in there and become the they told me now you've been here you know this place come in come in I said wow and for me it was like I can't believe this this is an opportunity I've always looked for then

21:08 I get in and there so you become the music teacher the head of Music want us to capture that thing properly because that thing still H you are director of Performing Arts at brook house you walk away and you come now to be not even a TC teacher you're a you're a of manag B the small on yeah the the in the hierarchy of Public School teaching you see below B teachers so you come into B teaching and you you you it's a full-time job you become the music teacher at Nairobi school yes yeah yeah and you you never really left but now now you're there yes it's your Monday to Friday Monday to Friday Monday to Sunday everything trips everything I whole thing I'm on duty night Duty everything because you become their teacher and how was that experience now did you did you did you feel you achieved what you were searching for in terms of the impact I was there for 3 years mhm and honestly

22:13 now I would say that's the peak of my career okay that's the peak of my career because I got the best students I had the most experience I could do what I did in Brook house within a shorter time because of my experience I had curriculums and schemes of work and methodology of teaching and I could impact students and and you know you know they're working hard and working smart yeah so I learned how to teach content in a very short time you know with for four there's always a rush yes form one to form four is a very short time but I really managed to uh teach the kids um a lot of content within a short time and expose kids to local International opportunities yes and so many are are all over the world now studying music or doing all kinds of things related to music so I would say within that 3 years I was head music at Nairobi School H um that that was the

23:02 biggest achievement yeah yeah best students U very supportive environment two two principles who are very supportive because I think they figured that honestly I'm not there for the money yes I'm just there because I like I like doing what I like doing and so they they listened to what I was saying yeah um yeah I think it was brilliant yeah yeah I so now this whole am I right in saying you have a bit of a um internal battle with yourself about um the whole conversation about privilege and you have kind of answered some of that question and and seen the impact and it does give birth to H Harmony Kenya Foundation yes so what is harmony Kenya Foundation actually the the definition of harmony Kenya Foundation is a foundation that establishes or supports existing music department ments in government schools in public schools particularly public schools and it's I'm

24:04 very particular with that yes yes not the ones who can the ones where the need is greatest yes yes yes the the whole country or kids from all over the country are in these schools yes you can catch the entire country by just going down the road you will find kids from all over the country in one public school yes this is what the beauty is and you can once you teach music there you've impacted the country yes because they will go out whever they particularly and I know so you start you you you in your three years as head of Department yeah is that where you built the the structures of of of Harmony Kya Foundation yes yes yes I got into n school in um 2012 yeah uh and left in 2016 yeah and and um at that point I had already thought I need to have I I I figured out it can't just be Nairobi school yes we need you could already see yeah I could see this is if this is

25:08 what's happening here what about the rest of the country okay uh so that the structures of howon Kenya began then I actually start all the registration process I got my trustees together and that is when it all happened while at Nairobi school yes yes yes and um also while in Nairobi school I know you are instrumental in because I think one of the things we take for granted is how um in public schools there's competition for resources yes yeah and I know you single-handedly um with support of the alumni thean Society then started driving and we started to fill in the Gap as the alumni where we felt the resources in a government School were insufficient so instruments and so Nairobi school now Still Remains one of the best it's very strong with strong music culture and very strong public school music culture but you then go out and you go I think first was PB was it

26:06 yes it was PB we went to Precious Blood and and the were you know with Harmon Kenya we go to where we are we are we received well welcome yes yeah we don't fight it we don't impose ourselves but the music teachers say we need this in your school we've heard you you're doing this so so Hilda KAG that time she was music teacher she's now at KU she was a music teacher at PB yes she she got us in so it was patch PB um um a very good partnership we even did a lot of items together you know you know boys they love that they'll be happy they'll tell them they're going to Precious Blood Ruta and it's a good day out exactly and also they the head at that time Isa was so supportive yeah you get a really supportive head who's who can see the beauty in this of of the the peer learning so it was really really good with with PB okay so now where are we now right right now we are at uh okay

26:58 our pilot projects are Westlands primary Westlands primary yeah and Nairobi School those are the pilot because what we wanted to go down to the younger kids yeah yeah so we've started with that one and Nairobi school which is the original pilot project now we at pumani we like going boys girls boys girls so that we have a nice balance here so we have uh patch pumu yeah then we have H State House girls and mo girls okay those are the two boys and two girls and then we have Westlands mhm and then we have uh joytown th which is uh people who are able differently okay yeah so that's that's our balance right now okay yeah now let's let's park the music bus aside okay and let's talk about funding yeah uh because you funded this yeah H out of your pocket and any ER personal support that you could scrip together yeah uh despite it being a very Noble initiative yeah um

27:59 um so how has that Journey been I know you get you you mentioned Mrs Lee you once told me that Mrs Lee is a big supporter supporter and you have people so maybe just let's talk about the structures the registration of the foundation as a foundation that's doing this and um the then the funding because you you do use uh your your own resources alone yes it was rough at the beginning it was very pretty naive of me thinking that um funding will just flow in uh so I just started it you know uh my dad my dad used to say this guy a priest so he's doing he's doing CH you sell things and you you buy instrument you sell your personal things you buy things but for me it was just you know I'm just driven by that yeah so um yes I I founded a lot of it in the beginning yes but when you when when you find something then somebody else will come and join someone comes and finds you

28:57 they finds you and they support you not in a big sometimes I always tell people when you're raising fund don't look for big big big check big those little things little check here and there the small and it's in cash all kind you know I will teach for free I will give you an instrument somebody else I'll give you some money to repair that instrument so you just keep it going and then you find people like Mrs Lee coming in and said I will support you for a while and then she's been doing that you know and then you find old PE um the funding now a lot of it is coming from beneficiaries of the foundation okay people who are out um that yeah like there a couple of boys from class of 2016 yes Nairobi school yes and they were in my music class and are really pushing U like one of them works for Goldman Sachs and he's pushed for for them to donate to us um and they

29:43 they all over another one in New York has sent us you know substantial amount of money others who are studying in Alabama State University we we always send our boys to Alabama State University um for for full scholarships but they also send us some cash so you always get little monies here and there we're not balling or anything we don't have much money but then you get these little donations we hope one day to establish an endowment fund and that's that's what we're working towards you think there's a space do you think there's a space for Kenyan corporates to come on board and if if there is how would that space look like well would' love we wouldd love them to come of course uh they would come in either to support in terms of funding just BL cash or giving instruments and of course we'll do the necessary recognition if they want us to to put them out there yeah we are we we are willing to do

30:30 anything we are willing to even even if they just want to pay Tutors or build a music room or anyway really in casual kind yeah yeah so we come back to that and the foundation and what it's doing and where it's going but you brought up two topics that I want to piggy back on and we discuss a bit so you you you casually just sneaked in there that the boys who get full scholarship to Alabama University so I want to take that and just run with it a bit so what is this you you this is the Nairobi School band your students who used to teach and how does this connection come and what does it grow into okay when when we were when I was at Nairobi school yeah I I don't know how people used to end up at my doorstep being told you find people from the US from UK or Finland they hear there's a strong music department yes and in a government in a government

31:20 school so they end up with my phone number yes and I say come you know come and when they come they say oh my goodness what are these are these who what kind of students are these who are who are these and they're like my goodness they want to learn you know out there now you go to beg kids to learn a lot of developed countries you have to get these kids are asking questions they want to learn they want to do more there I remember there's one lady from Indiana University she's an American Dr carbal she said can I just carry this one in my bag and take him to UK cuz he played the piano and and now he's he's he's he's an organist and and a computer computer science engineer in the you know in the US and so those people would come and give opportunities for for our students to go out on full scholarship right now we have an uh not not even a formal

32:05 arrangement we have students of ours who've been who who who who are from Nairobi school who keep picking their fellow students and and ensuring they get full scholarships at Alabama because they there because they there yeah and they finished their degree some of them are teaching there now okay and or doing their they're doing their postgrad yes so now somebody like vital always make sure he tells me find me another French horn player F they're very good at at connecting each other he has a seat at the table exact and he sees and so he gives that okay and so the scholarships continue they just keep continuing and they like our kids because especially our nirobi school kids because we're driven yeah so they like our kids and now we we also have a girl from St girls who also joined them so it's not just Nairobi school they they they look for spreading it's spreading

32:54 yeah yeah yeah wow so you have he you know Moses I I I I know you Tire when I keep on saying this and I say it every opportunity I get I really admire what you do yeah because you're not driven by uh Financial return or reward um and I think sometimes you underestimate your impact you know uh in in this little space but Kenya is also in a very interesting space musically yeah from the days when you are being Tau your three options are teaching teaching or teaching yeah if you study music so just go to KU and learn how to teach do your beard so now to today yeah yeah what how what's your I know you listen to a lot of music you're very passionate when I was working at the carnival you used to be one of my regulars particularly on the nights with the Soul music stuff but so what is your view of that it would be very nice to hear your read of the landscape yeah

34:03 because you have been in music you have taught music for now going what 30 40 years you know so you have a very good eye yeah on what the landscape is where is it wow all I can say is Choice yes I keep telling them now do music not because you're going to be a musician yes because of the the the links between other careers okay okay yeah I tell them it's not like if you want to do Sound Engineering yes and you want to be a soundman yes if a guitarist tells you a musical ter you have to be able to adjust that yeah yeah the tone is it's a bit it's a bit sharp it's a bit this you have to have some musical you have to have if you have some musical education you'll be a better sound engineer so or or you know um film and music my goodness I have a student of mine ibraim s is a really good film um music for film wow yeah and he studed we he was at brook house okay and he's

35:03 doing so well for show marks for Netflix for he he's got endless in fact he's training other Nairobi school boys how to do it so he can have a a team that that helps him do the work yes based where in inob he's Bas here but his work is you know you can work from anywhere yeah yeah but yeah um um I hope there's a way I can put some sort of link of his yes yes yes we'll put that in the caption in the description yes yes so there there's Ibrahim days Soundcraft you know all these people who are now in the music production you know all this Aran tone you're hearing that's that's the boy I taught him in form one and he's created a new sound yes um a craft yeah Soundcraft that's what he calls himself all these guys are former thing and they have all these opportunities in because of doing music they have been able to do other things yeah and and uh

35:52 I always talk about Robert Mandela I don't know whether you know him in 2008 he's he's a maxal official surgeon and when he doing his Dentistry hisers were about how clarinet affect teeth yeah look at that link look at that link in in in in careers yeah so and he still plays clarinet in the nirobi orchest not that he stopped doing music and he's a maxil official surgeon so it's just telling people now the kids are you know that thing of parents saying are you doing music or are you going to do a serious education yeah you have those conversations a lot less now yeah now even parents are like wow tell us more you know know they they you you know their experiences like either or but now what I'm seeing in the landscape now is cross cross curricular and and cross disciplinary connection we are getting there we getting there we getting there

36:42 and where are the gaps in the education okay that's why I'm there yeah that's why Harmony Kenya Foundation exist that's why Harmony Kenya is there yeah because you have to educate people okay why this is done and you start with the kids then you go to the parents now CBC is now getting to a point that we need to do this but how on Earth do we do this yes you just find grade one to 9 they have not been able to teach because no teacher knows how to teach music so you're taking kids into the new system in grade 10 where they're supposed to select their Pathways and no teaching has happened but if if it was if it would happen you think the CBC is is a good it would be good if it's done properly yes from 1 to from 1 to 9 you'd have strong investment is required in music teaching music teaching education stages yes that whereon K comes in okay okay okay so another thing another

37:34 aspect that I admire or or rather that I like about what you've achieved is you use that that thing that you learned in form one Nairobi school of teachers of boys teaching boys yeah you've now taken it to the next level because I know you help the band members when they finish form four yes um to to teach you know and you open them to Opportunities where different organizations I know you did this with ghetto classic so maybe tell us a bit about that and what the thinking is behind that yeah you know we we will train all these kids and the parents question is like so now you did this thing is it helping you what is it for you see now you're just sitting in my house and you're not you know how how can you go go do a real thing now I a phone call last week was like one uncle was telling the mother why did you buy this boy that clarinet now look he can't

38:27 think of anything else so you're getting all that so what I do I try and rescue these kids who've done music by giv them something to do after school yes that they can ear some some coins yeah yes even if it's teaching at the harmonia Kenya Foundation yes but but also now they teach at ghetto Classics now I established a company now I am called mik Company Limited yes it is for U it's to provide music education services for private schools so what I do is that these kids who've learned under Harmony Kenya employ them in the in in the company and tell take them to Nairobi International School St Austin so that's just a providing a way after school or after studying music what do they do after to continue to grow in the career and also earn some money even if you're not going to do it full time you have a skill set and let the skill set earn you

39:14 sir exactly and these kids don't do one thing they do many things they're a music teacher they are this they are that so at least you give them something to to get to get them going yeah especially between the ages of 18 and 24 there's that point where they're in University they don't have get money they want something to do they're trying to be useful they're trying to keep away from mischief and so just keep their minds occupied okay so I'm going to put you on the spot yes and say a very interesting entrepreneurial question that I like to ask yeah if funds were not an issue yeah yeah you can access any amount of funding that you need what does harmony Kenya Foundation become goodness that one I've already dreamt that one know is already a plan uh first of all it's called Harmony Kenya I'm very patriotic so I I just work within Kenya one but I would make sure that every single state school or government

40:05 school has got a well resourced music department okay I always think that if we can have a a a company that creates containers yes with a standard a standard template of a music department 40ft container with practice rooms another one has got the classroom then the in the computer room and a recording studio and you can just plunk them into every school like this yes that's how I see it with resources so we have standard budget and you know hows were done yes Awards all over the country country something like that for music department exactly plun them everywhere like this and then have tutors well trained tutors go there and teach high quality uh music and and also another thing I would like is our traditional instruments I would like to think see how we can manufacture those yes without cutting down trees yes yeah can we melt Coca-Cola bottles and make chotes or can

41:00 can we maketi thing is using other material yes you know get proper Engineers who can make instruments but from recyclable material okay so and then because and also take all these uh traditional musicians and put them somewhere where they're accessible because right now they're in Pockets they're dying out they their sons and the grandsons don't want to learn their instruments because they don't bring money yeah so now it's getting those old artisans in a place where they can be accessed by every maybe we should whatever concert of modern and and and traditional music we should create something around that exactly yeah okay so we have this thing you have you're having this immense impact and we have this whole ecosystem evolving yeah and creative arts we were talking earlier we we you you've just mentioned traditional instruments and I was telling you earlier that I need to

41:56 introduce you to to someone who needs to come on this podcast because of singing Wells and singing Wells is something that I really admire you know I got on to singing Wells and I was like man I I enjoy mija music because of my mom that's my my mom side of my Heritage and so you get to see I was like I didn't know that someone has gone around this country done amazing work you know and then I we had in episode I think five or six we had chief chief runs a a production house animation production house called jul Tata and Productions and they have one of the animations animations and he is going and working with music and recording African pre Christianity laab and and and other FK songs and has built an animated kids show out of that brilliant and then you have um you have a um what's his name Brian aandi of a a what is it called um black rhino VR

43:01 virtual reality yes who is in the world of creative technology maybe we should do an African podast African do podcast barbecue and I bring all these people bring togetherly because I think so so many dots connect like what I didn't know and I found out from chief chief doesn't know Tabo Tabo of singing But Chief then says to me that when he was recruiting for the team because they go to record this sound yeah he had an easier job yeah because taboo and sing singing Wells had gone before him and so when he saying we're recording traditional instrument and I need the sound guy and they knew because they TR around and some of them singing Wells is not full time so they're not recording every day so it's like oh this guys exists and that ecosystem wow is really in a very interesting place it is it is so where do you do you participate in other

44:05 things other than teaching musically yeah I I try to farm emphasiz on the word try yes yes yes I'm trying some coffee and some bananas and avocados yes but music is still the main State that's the farming comes in the way I am a musician and a music educator first and do you play I play for me I don't perform very much you don't perform no hardly cuz you need to practice MH and you need to practice and to do a good job you really need to spend hours practicing and I'm just always organizing people I play for me but it's not good enough one day I would like to play to my heart desire you know we like we used to do in school and you play you play you play and you enjoy um I joined the villages for a bit just to get that bug yes yes with Chris with Chris yes that was fun after brook house I I hit the road and we went on tours that was fun I played with the Nairobi

45:00 Orchestra for many years while I was teaching but then now I'm really focused on you know making things happen especially for younger people I really want to build the younger people I will play hopefully in my retirement yeah but I don't see you re to be honest I don't see you you already work for yourself you work when you want how you want so you retire to go whereever I don't have a feeling I would like to delegate more once things move then I I take a backseat and become invisible and now play for me but now you're invisible it's us guys who try and I mean the guys who find you in your ecosystem and you you do capture the essence of the stories that I want to tell because I meet all these people who are doing such phenomenal things but many people even in the country that they in do not know that they exist yeah and so um I it would be great to see and

45:53 maybe this is a challenge it would be great to see I really like what you said about the African instruments and where they are going H and uh because it would be great to see a lot more Arrangements in our music either with a blend of local and international instruments so like you know Trump pieces do you know Mrs amonga did that when I was in form two really she wrote for me a recorder piece a recorder duti and then she sang she was that creative yeah that we I I see where you're going with this yes yeah yeah so that I think would be the next next Frontier it let's get you this money and then get us this money we see what we see what it can what it can make you do yeah so uh we're drawing to the end of of of this recording and and maybe um first of all like I say huge admirer of what you do and how you're doing it thank you very much and you you capture

46:56 for me something that I think I'd like to see emulated by other other aspects of life in Kenya particularly in the education space like my kids my kids are are swimmers all three of my kids and what I worry about swimming yeah is because of competitive swimming is becoming very elitist ah because to compete in the Gallas it costs a fair Penny yeah uh to you can't have a swimming program in your school unless you have a pool having a pool is a huge luxury because even you know but as those resources start coming in it would be great to see yeah yeah um us who are products of public school system either give back or drive policy and influence back towards making um things more accessible to all yes and not just accessible to you because you have money because I think it's a there there's a false reality there if you do not um if you're not swimming with every

48:08 Kenyan who can swim are you really the best swimmer in K that's true and that's a question worthy of exploring and answering so um where can we find Heron in Kenya first where are you either in social media or so that we interact with it and and and be able to yeah I I I think we'll put them in the handles you'll see Instagram Facebook Instagram on Facebook yeah we have our website yes um we'll share that with you and then yeah and we're all over the schools we really sit we rarely sit down in an office we're constantly either online in in schools or working or yeah we always rolling up um in the admin team yes we're about five okay we're about five and then we have these volunteers who come in you know the teachers come and go yeah the teachers they come and go they say like now we are just Rec constituting our volunteers for 2025 we like them sort of

49:00 committing for a year then we share the curriculums our way of working how many how many would you get like how many are you on boarding volun around 25 around 25 25 for the year yeah yeah for the year and then then they go around our schools these are the six did you say six or eight schools you're in about six yeah six the yeah it's two two two yeah yeah two boys two girls one primary and one uh enjy town okay yeah yeah and then you you send out your your volunteers to teach and they teach weekly daily or they teach weekly uh we try at least one session per week okay um but when funding allows sometimes you know we have to give them bus sometimes we they they don't ask for bus so it just depends usually but if we can get uh good funding we can do it weekly okay yeah okay great I think uh first Moses thank you very much for coming on to the African D podcast

49:52 and uh thank you very much for doing what you do I think uh if we you you epitomize for me not only um African Excellence which is what we want to build this podcast around but you you epitomize a passion for a skill set that you have and what I really admire about that skill set is that you're willing to give it away to build others uh like you so I hope that we will see many more um such initiatives ac across someone be aspired inspired to do what you're doing for swimming someone else to be inspired to do what you're doing in other in other thank you thank you very much so ladies and gentlemen that brings us to the end of African do episode 11 episode 13 sorry episode 13 and Moses watata Harmony Kenya foundation will post a link in the bio um for the various places where you can find them and uh special appeal from me unsolicited by by Moses any corporates out there who are

51:03 looking for a worthy course to support I highly highly recommend the harmony Kenya Foundation they are doing phenomenal phenomenal work and the fact that they doing they have chosen to do that work in uh within the public school network um shows the potential impact they have and what they will be and what they could become they have big dreams and I encourage those Big Dreams tremendously because this is Africa this is our continent this is Kenya and if we can support those that are doing this kind of phenomenal work we should because the benefit is going to be us our enjoyment our music and our Evolution so thank you very much for being part of this episode and we look forward to welcoming you in the future thank you [Music]