 This is the way to do it. This is the way to do it. This is the way to do it. This is youth in action where brain meets talent and the young people are swearing to great high. In today's program we have Martin Kenyua, a student of social work at Kibabu University but on the side a great musician. Let's hear it. This is the way to do it. Pombe, pombe ni bala, pombe, pombe, pombe ni tawaja Pombe, pombe, pombe ni bala, pombe, pombe ni bala Wow, wow! Such a great voice, but how come the song Pombe wunakunu anin? I don't drink. Okay. It's just art. I was talking about art here. Okay. So what did you intend to spread through that song? The song Pombe comes from a project of mine that I have in my draft called Social Path. Social Path speaks about my childhood experiences and I've had an experience with drunk and so people who have an issue with alcohol so I had to sing about it. Just to express what I went through. And now pursuing a degree in social work, alongside music, what is the back story? Back side of social work. When an opportunity came for me to join university, I chose social work from my past because I grew up in Kibra and in Kibera we've seen organizations, we've seen people trying to motivate us to study hard, go to university. So I knew what I wanted and I wanted to change my community, I wanted to change the society, wanted to experience what social work is in the classroom because I've experienced it in the field. So I want to change where I've come from. Okay. So and what motivated you to do music? Is it also aside with the social work you wanted also to do music? No, I started singing when I was in high school, around in Form 1, I started writing music when I was in Form 3. So music has been part of me and I just had to do music apart from studying because music is my passion. Okay. What kind of music do you do? I do meaningful music. I'm a Christian, I sing in what I believe in. That's what I say. I sing what I believe in. So what was the motivation behind being a songwriter? You write your own songs. There are people who do covers for different artists' music but you decided let me write my own thing. Why did you do that? I wanted to be a voice that could be heard in my community from my youths in church. You know. So I decided I wanted, I noticed I have a gift in writing. So I wanted to be a voice that I could tell my own stories through music. You see a song like Pombe is, I don't drink but I've explained something that people go through. They want to quit alcohol every Monday but we don't do that by Friday. So I wanted to be heard. I wanted to tell stories. I wanted people to hear me out because I wanted to put a cross. You've said you're a Christian and you use your music to spread the gospel of the things you believe in. So what elements do you project using your music to mesquite Pombe? What other music do you do and what elements do you project using that? As a Christian, God of course, I believe in God. I believe in everything God says in the Bible. Apart from that, as a social, I've said I have a project called Social Path. It speaks what goes on in the community. I have songs speaking about gender-based violence. I have songs on love. I have heartbreaks. I have all-round. I'm an all-round person. It's just that I sing in what I want people to hear or what people don't see. And as a social worker it boasts me a lot because if I sing about alcohol, alcohol is a problem in communities for most youths. People don't quit. People are addicted to drugs. If I speak about drugs in a musical form, people might hear it for entertainment, but I'm passing a lot of information to it. There are also Christians who are suffering from these addictions, but you don't know. And coming from a Christian perspective, I try to speak to them also that this thing can be avoided. And I'm curious to understand how do you find the balance between studying social work you've not completed and doing music. You're also a performing artist, so how do you do it? It's hard. Most of the time classes go on during the day. I do have my rehearsals from around 5 p.m. to around 8 p.m. We have a group of people who come around school with jam, some music. I also do practice my music at night. So for midnight, I have my guitar in my house. I just jam and write music. And also during the weekend. Midnight? Yeah, for midnight. Doesn't it bring a lot of issues around the society or the place where you live? I haven't had any issues. But midnight is a really good hour because there's that serene quietness that the atmosphere brings. And I love calmness myself. So I concentrate a lot when there's calmness. Most musicians that I have encountered have an idol they look up to or a motivation person they look up to. Who is that for you? I have so many. I look up to so many people because they build several aspects in my life. I look up to, there's a duo called Wattender Wheelie. Those guys are legendary. They're going to be region someday. I'm known in the Ritu. I look up to Manasseh Shalom, Isaac Kimani. They do impact me in a lot of ways, both playing the guitars and also singing. And they are personalized too. Music requires a lot of training and technical skills. As you have played the guitar, definitely you needed a skill to do that. Did you get some type of training or something that you just decided I'll do this and I'll teach myself? For a start, I tried picking up a guitar when I was in high school. But I failed. I failed. So when I joined Kampas, I found a gap in the Christian Union. They did not have a guitarist. So I took up an initiative. I went to YouTube, learned and I can say most of my skills. I've gotten them from YouTube and a few people who have been guiding me. There was a guy who was a fourth year by then when I was in first year. He used to guide me a lot on how to play, how to hold a guitar, something like that. But my skills, I learned from YouTube. So YouTube is really a good teacher. YouTube is our best friend. Okay. So how do you intend to propel your music further while also involved in social work? Do you intend to drop any or you going with them as they are? I can't drop any of them. Music boosts my social work profession a lot. For an instance, when I sing about gender-based violence, gender-based violence is a social phenomenon going on in the society. And I choose to tackle it through what and through now the profession or the career wise. So I plan on being a social worker and a musician at the same time. Yeah, I've done my first attachment. I did it at Tumbagati Osvito. And I sing into those children. It just loads my heart. So I think I'm going to be both. And do you find any setback while doing this? Maybe resistance from your families or friends? Do you find any difficulties or challenges that you can mention? At first they were resistance from family. My mom never wanted. I bought a guitar and everybody was saying you're going nuts because I didn't know to play. Right now I have the support I need from my family because they've come to appreciate the fact that I'm in this fully and I'm doing great work outside here. Maybe the challenge that I'm facing is money, financial, getting the resources. Sometimes I have to go to town. Maybe it performed and there's no fair. I'm supposed to be in studio to record. I do record at a certain studio called Brontor Music in Kandui. There's no fair. So financial resources is my biggest challenge. And also time, time balancing. I have, I'm a fourth year. I have a project to do. Sometimes I have an event to go to. I have to rehearse. I have to do a project. I have to do assignment. So time balancing is an issue. And how do you cope with that? Now I have to be strict with my time management now, my schedule. If I have to be up by 6 am to rehearse, I have to. If I miss that, it's gone. That day is gone. So I have strict time schedules that allow me to now balance my social life, my music life, my education life. Yeah. So that I don't miss on any of them. You sound so passionate about whatever you're doing. So can you tell us any nice or your best experiences in your journey or the worst experiences you had? Okay, let me say it's my worst. Okay. My worst experiences, my worst experience in this school was, I was supposed to seeing at a fourth year's meeting with a VC back then, I guess two years or three years back. And the VC was late to come to the meeting and people were angry and agitated. So I was called up on stage to perform to a set of angry people. So they never accepted me. Yeah. That is my worst. Okay. I have several best experiences. First in the Kenyan National Theater, I got a chance to perform and people sang along to my music. I felt like crying because they don't know my music. They're hearing for the first time and they're singing along to it. That's my best so far. That's my best. Another one in school, in career week or cultural week, I got to perform and people loved me for who I was and just me. That's my best. You mentioned something about picking up the guitar at high school level and you failed. There's someone out there who wants to try to learn a skill or they are talented, but they do not know how to do it. What can you tell such a person? Don't give up. The essence of trying is it means you might fail, but you might fail and rise up again when you choose to. So my advice to those people who are trying to do to acquire skill is just be motivated enough to rise up even after failing. That's how many times we write songs and they don't just work out. They don't make sense. That doesn't mean we don't write again. It means we, okay, I'll sleep. I'll wake up tomorrow and write another one. So you get motivated and rise up again and try and try and try and try. That's the magic of trying. That is the magic of trying. Oh nice. Where do you see yourself in PHR, maybe your career as a social worker and your music? I see myself being a professional social worker. The community deep down assisting people, assisting children, talking to people, talking to, you know, cancelling, a lot of cancelling. I see myself as a social icon when it comes to music. I want to feel theaters in Nairobi, you know, someday. And I see myself doing that actually. I want my music to impact people, not only Christians, but, you know, general people in the society. I want my music to speak to people, music of the soul, music of the heart. What is your call to the community, especially people who are young people with big dreams, such as yours, but they do not have hope? My call is to call them, just be hopeful, be hopeful, pray a lot, you know, write down your goals and work towards your goals. You know, it's one thing to have goals and it's another to work towards them. If you want to be a musician, then stand up, sing to people. If you want to be an instrumentalist, take that instrument. Do. You all have to do. Wow. You said you bought a guitar as a student and you've clearly stated financial issues, yeah? So what is the source of that money that you used to buy the guitar? I used my help. Oh, help, okay, okay. I had a passion for the guitar and nobody could support me in buying one, so I used my help. I decided to risk, it's called risking. So I risked my money, bought it and I cannot regret, I cannot regret right now. So how did you survive? Where did you get the money to refund the help you used to buy a guitar? I cannot say I refunded it 100% at the same time, but by now, I'm sure I have refunded because I bought a guitar at the time I did not know how to play very well. So I invested my time in it, learned it, then now decided to go out looking for hotels that could accept me playing for them. That's how I paid gigs right now. So I've been paid 1,500 years, 700 years. By now, by now I'm sure I've refunded it, but it was tough at first, managing my school life without any money and that's where family comes in, of course, calling them now and then to just give me something. I can say you have a business mentality, as much as you're a musician, which is commendable. Being exposed to such platforms, a lot of young people, when they go out there, they tend to get hooked on drugs, become addicted to other morally not upright things. So how did you manage to focus on your education as you're still doing that? As for me, I can say choice. Choice is an important thing that we live with every day. Before, now coming to the choice, I've grew up in Kibra, I've seen everything, like by now I've seen everything, and I've had a rough childhood. Now the childhood has shaped me now being me right now and going to those live gigs and still managing to stand by what I believe in. I make a lot of chases and sometimes I have to be strict on myself. Chases have consequences and I tend to stand in what I believe in, so that has always been what I've followed in my life. I don't have a routine or some people I do follow. I just follow me. There are things I do, there are things I don't do. There are things I don't have to do, but I do. The society expects me to do and I don't do. That's choice. You've spoken about being self-driven, but there are other people who are naturally, their natural instinct is to become a follower. You are a leader of your own, but there are others who need someone to follow. What can you tell such a person? It's time to get out of your comfort zone. If following someone makes you more comfortable, it means you're in danger. You have to get out and lead yourself sometimes, make your own decisions, try trial and error. I do say that try new things, go out, experience, talk to people, see how people are relating, give yourself a discipline to follow that you've created for yourself. That's what I do. How has that helped you in the long run? It has helped me to be unique, to be me, authentic. I like being authentic. I like having a lifestyle of my own being guided by me. It has helped me to put the blame on me, not on other people when I do this and this and this, and to know where to go right when I go wrong. Of course you must have mentors or you must have a parent somewhere who will tell you you're going in the wrong direction, but I've always liked to be authentic. That's my biggest toxic trait maybe. I want to be authentic of that. I want to be me. I want to be Marty. So here you bought a guitar, you're not really good at it and your family thinks it's easy. How did you get to win them back? It was a battle. I remember at one time after now I went back home during Christmas and decided to serenade my family with music. My mom is a huge fan of country music. My father is a huge fan of now the local dialects where I come from and so I decided to win them over by singing to them what they love. So I curated a whole playlist. We sat down and told them how to sing for you people. I sung for them and I told them this is what I do. You can check my transcript. I'm not getting those. Medication is good and this is what I do for other people. You've loved it, yes. So if you've loved it, there are other people do and it's not hard for you to allow me to continue doing what I'm doing. And of course here they kept hearing. We do see a boy performing in the city where and where and my mom is back home and by now seeing the posters of events that I go to singing to her or hearing hearing from other people that they've seen. Yeah, she supports me. And performing comes brings about fame. Yeah. And fame can be a downfall for many people. Yes, yes. How do you manage that for that? I'm not famous. No, but if your your parents are being told me may or not you're doing something. Oh, okay. I cannot say I'm famous yet, but fame, I agree with you, fame is a poison. I just don't allow it to get into my heart and head so much. Balance, balance. Savara says balance in his music, so balance. Okay. So it's all about balance. It's all about balancing life, balancing the outside view, balancing how you talk to people, kibore is in here, balancing how you relate with other people like Ushjiyo and now me and my son, you can be in here. It's balancing and humility all the time. Yeah, bringing yourself down. Yeah. Thank you so much, Martin. I have loved the session. Welcome. You have motivated me at a personal level and I would wish that you go soaring to greater happiness. You have had it. Take that pen, go do something with it. Take that guitar, learn that skill. It doesn't matter if you fail, the real item is to stand up and keep going because success is waiting you at the next door. This has been Youth in Action. I am Yanguesso Grenis. See you next time. You must have been a brave one. You must have been one.