 We welcome back many thanks to Barry Mossers for that segment that he had together with the young lady. Of course we get to move on swiftly and of course we get to talk about the art industry. Let me ask, have you ever been to the theatre, the Kenyan Nation of Theatre in Precise? So much has been happening. Well from the days from long ago and up to date we have seen tremendous growth. Right now I'm joined by a great team of young man and women and a woman that is ready to talk about the acting industry and how it's thriving in the marketplace. We are going to talk about China invading the marketplace. My name is Karancho Alex, keep channeled to be 1000 Facebook, Twitter and of course on YouTube whereby we'll get to post these later on. We'll ask one that wants an introduction. Right next to me is you of course Jaffa. Thank you. Piga, thanks very much for coming. Thank you. How does it feel being here? Very much humble to be here. It's my first time and I hope it won't be a lot. I think it's a good idea. You know kusaba you have to manufacture cafes like you know. Within a span of a minute you have changed the game. Actually I'm now in the interview mode. Everything has changed. The other side is the stage mode. So right now I'm in the interview character. Right next to her is Kamela Zena. The name itself. It has its own way of coming out. Kamela Zena. Yes. Are you from Kenya? Yes. Born and raised in Kenya actually in Akuru. Guys from Akuru are very good morning to you. Let's have our next two of course. We have Javan Baraza. Yes. Javan. Is it Javan or Javan? Javan. Like an African. Kwenengana kwenye si KCP ya ko elito. Depending on your teacher. Alright. Many thanks guys for coming along. I want to talk about the art business and how it's emerging and how it's growing. We have seen tremendous growth. We can say that. Can you attribute it to anyone? Yes you can. You see the level of the level of stage plays being done in Nairobi and Kenya. I can say that it is that time that theatre is taking over. Yes. You can just check on WhatsApp, on social media, Facebook, Instagram. You won't find, you won't miss a play that is being advertised. Yes. Can you attribute that success to anyone? Yes. Is it? To Azad. Of course. I know everyone has to be that. We have really worked it out. But we have seen, probably can come to you. We have seen quite a number of people saying that theatre is not paying enough. They are not wrong. They are right in whatever they are saying. Any job will pay you according to the impact you make in the society. Alright. Because we are always reminded if you want one shielding impact one person. If you want a million shielding impact a million people. So even in theatre we have companies which are doing well depending on their impact. But what I can say is that theatre is paying. It's really paying. That's amazing. For us, we can't regret it. It's a path that we took. How long have you been in this industry? I can say from 2011 to right now 80 years. Wow. And it is what puts food on my table. Enough food. Okay. Let me hear from Zana. Is it paying enough? Personally, well, I've not been in the industry as long as he has been. I have been the one who is on and off, on and off. But I know for most actors or most job opportunities we have to be multi no tasking. So you find maybe an actor. I personally am working. So I'm still an actor on the side but I'm doing my other job. So you'd find actors, normally you'd find a director who's still an actor, he's producing, he's going to universities to train them. So actors tend to have like multiple talents cutting across just to make sure that they sustain themselves. So you can't just be an actor and survive on that alone. You have to now gain other skills to be able to support yourself as an actor. So you are part time actors? Yes. How do you get to manage all this with your side hustles? It is tricky, I can tell you, but I'm fortunate to have a company that has flexible working hours so I can be able to go to my nine o'clock job and then leave it for, come for rehearsals, do my plays and everything else. So I'm fortunate to have that opportunity. Well, that's amazing and I want us to talk about theatre in general and of course the acting industry and rather the business itself. Is it really thriving in as much as you'd be anticipating for it? I'd say that we are still not there yet. We have so much to learn and it's a collective responsibility. I mean, we have to get the support and as ourselves, we have to boost each other and we have to support each other. Like I'd say, if I'm asked what you're supposed to do with the acting industry, I'll say we create more workshops and that rest with the Cabinet Secretary and the government entirely. That is as per me. Yes. But when you bring in the aspect of the government, do you think the government has really supported in its full measure the acting business? I can attribute it to the Kenya Cultural Centre. It is so much in the innovation of the Kenya Cultural Centre. But still, we are still not there yet. As per the support that they are giving us, we are still not there yet. Yes. So at least for now the government is doing its best? They are not doing their best. They are not doing anything. We are still appealing to them to step up. All right. Looking at some of the things that people have mentioned as I asked you along there are allegations that directors produce as they don't pay the actors and actress as much as they get. How true is this? You must understand first of all when somebody is putting up a show, it is a business. And of course we have those issues which they are not mainly in theatre. In most businesses you will find people complaining. I put this much and I am not being appreciated. But I can say there are cases that have been there to our side. This is our first show. The shows that I have done I have not encountered such. But of course it is something human being. Human being is a human being. It is something that is widespread not just in theatre. But again I think people are comparing ourselves with what we are seeing in the outside world. When you go through maybe the developed countries like in America and UK you will find that actors they earn more than even the film actors. The stage actors. That is why when you look at Tyler Perry he started with the stage act. And the stage act they do tours and they get a lot of money to now facilitate their film projects. Let me come to Zaina. Zaina seems to be so much excited about acting. Let me ask you Zaina. Have you had a time like this thing is a business and I wish to quit the rest then I can venture into acting. I think if I am established to the point where I see other actors it is a consideration but for me it's more of a passion. I don't want to this is my personal opinion I don't want to make it a work that I'm waking up I have to go do this like for me it's a passion it's something that I'm happy coming to every day and I like the way it is right now if it's part time in doing that. But you know there's somebody who this is what they wake up in the morning it's their bread and butter and it's everything and I respect the people who do that as well. But also in terms of the payment thing I also think that as producers and directors I think having a visibility and transparency among your team and production team really is key like if we sit down and say so this is what we're making this is how we're going to distribute it you know let's talk about it help us market it help us sell it we make more money you get more pay like having that visibility within the team really helps so that it's not that I feel like I'm very squeezed with the amount of money that I'm getting if I understand exactly how much has been made from the production. Wow Zuna you have mentioned so much about the marketing about the industry itself and I'm hoping to ask this question do you think the acting industry is really marketing itself as much as it's anticipated look at Nigeria we oftentimes we find ourselves you know airing until when the government came and said now we need to have that local content being aired the question is do you think we're marketing ourselves as much as it's needed? I believe those in the industry are trying but you know we also need support from people who are not within the industry we can't do it on our own so if we're the only ones who are trying to market it and we can't get the support from like our local Kenyan citizenship then it won't be a successful so you'll find like I was talking to Jeff in the morning he was like why do we keep singing international songs why can't you be singing our local songs like we preach supporting the Kenyan music but you find internally my playlist is full of international music like I'm not supporting local so you see in that kind of sense I believe we are trying internally as an industry but we also need the support from other people do you think Kenyans are really into these business of watching local content do you think so? Like she has said I was challenging her today morning we are doing a Kenyan production yet we ourselves are putting in songs that are not Kenyan and then we want to blame the audience for again watching staff from outside the country yet even you in your own production that you are doing inside the country you are having a lot of anecdotes and borrowing from outside the country so I want to say if a production is good it will not matter whether it's local or international when a production is good it is good do you think we are creative enough? the creativity is there but I will say that also the implementation is another thing but the creativity underground it is so much there yes so you think creativity is really at its best yes well we are still trying we are still trying we are still trying but we have heard people say local content is not to the level that we anticipate it's because I will support them they have a point but when you are creating something you know your target audience you have to get to that level they are understanding that they can be able to relate to you and they can be able to relate to themselves in a day to day basis yes right let me come to you and ask are really young man really ready for this because you will see most ladies into this I believe they are they are in our production team the women are very scarce because we have gone to the theater we have seen this happen often times even in the media industry you hear people say young ladies or other ladies have been so much absorbed in the industry who do you think ladies are more in the industry than the men ladies are more than the men really then I guess it depends on the situation it's like you know you are inside hustles yet he is in full time and then he is giving it to the best do you think they are men who are ready to give it full time yes I have seen so many I know so many who give it full time so they are really into this business alright let's talk about you are staging a play yes you seem too aggressive for this yes you know he is the main actor he is the main actor he is the main actor yes alright so you are staging a play the title is known as China ok China yes ok what is China because I am trying to understand that there is the training part of it and there is China who is training who the Chinese are training us alright as Kenyans yes as Kenyans so we are talking on bad governance we are talking on the loans that are being that we are taking and we are talking about how they infiltrating our marketplace yes so you think they are flooding the marketplace they are flooding the marketplace already in China yes they are overpopulated and right now they are flooding so you can just imagine we are coming together now yes you can just imagine the situation yes probably just to ask why would you stage such a kind of do you think it's according to the ethics it's right for us to do this it's like I'll say art is like a reflection of what is happening so we are as I said earlier on we are relating with the monanchi on a day to day basis we are bringing it on a humorous way in a sarcastic way but most importantly we are teaching them a lesson and we are showing them as per the situation right now that is what is happening and what should we do about it right so the art is all about sensitizing the public of how the Chinese are invading the marketplace are you bringing on both some of the things that we need to be focusing on in terms of remitting this particular situation in every problem there has to be a remedy yes but what we are doing we are imparting them we are showing them this is the situation as per now so what should we do about it we live for you to decide alright as the main art what's your role my name is Javan and I'm doing Javan okay you are Javan playing Javan yes okay what's your role there the son to the governor of that it is not in your role the son to the governor the governor who took the loans so Nyorobi is okay sir symbolic so I'm caught up in between the mess I have to listen to my father and yet I have to listen to the people of Nyorobi so I am stuck yes I mean like a juxtaposition don't give everything you know don't give everything here people have to be left in suspense so as you know they need to show up on that particular day are you part of it let's see what are you doing Zana yes I am in the play I am a Chinese engineer did I tell you that you from abroad you see okay you have to be treating the market please exactly yeah so I am Chinese engineer so I'm kind of the assistant of one of our Shilox alright yes who is bringing the Chinese into Nyorobi so you are one among the people who are bringing in the Chinese yes and making business should we limit you from big business no for you it's a never thing yeah because I'm not here to survive basically I've been stripped from my country I've come here to make a living now do you think Chinese are running away from the country because it's not working for them probably I think it depends with the situation that is there for that particular person who is coming if they're coming in from being a prisoner being overcrowded, being so many things so when they come you see this land basically called the land of opportunity we've seen the same even Kenyans living for kata they are thriving over there we can say a quite number of people are thriving over there so we'll get to see how it goes because I believe it's the same and we have seen even other people saying like by that we don't know anything about it do you think the issue of then is the reason why Chinese are infiltrating the marketplace partly yes because we are indebted to them so anything we do they keep on reminding us you see even yesterday there was a new segment in Mombasa where the locals are demonstrating of which we have seen in the past few weeks they are demonstrating and also a new feature whereby at Luzuli Avenue there was a Chinese who was sending money to any bank for free yet as a Kenyan entrepreneur your micro finance or your business will have to be taxed but then they are sending it for free and I was with one of the Chinese not the Chinese one of the local fish traders and the story she gave me that when they bring their fish to this market they come in form of fingerlings when they live in China they are in fingerlings so by the time the consignment arrives in Kenya they have much word so that's why even their fish is cheaper wow we have seen the Magufuli refused more loans from them because you find the stringent measures that they put to you if you fail to pay this loan this what we will do in order for other places to recover our money so they have been given a free will to do anything that the ones importing the Mitumba cloth then for us the local traders they block yours so they sell theirs first after they have sold it's when our leaders in action telling you that now we have resolved the issue yet basically they have already sold their stock I don't want to tell so much to China and our region let's talk about Chinha China why Chinha China why that topic well it's symbolic it is I'll say that it is let me look for a specific word it is what is happening right now it is what the country is undergoing yes it is what it is the problem and the solution yes and it is them and us so we are trying to relate yes you see some of the things that I love acting it's one of the things that really inspires people even to see there are things that we can solve by ourselves and the things we need to address within ourselves and if we look at the acting industry over the past few years as we began by saying it has it's really booming up it's really growing absorbing quite a number of people and it's not like back in the days back in the days we used to think if you failed theater, Anguka, Jifan and any we have seen people venturing into academic stuff and see their actors and actresses why do you think people are thinking of these two avenues two avenues of acting and still being academia because I don't believe acting should be the stopping point in anyone's life I don't think education still has to go on you still want to develop yourself further and further and where I'm from entrepreneur is something really really important in terms of creating employment so as much as I'm building my passion in acting and doing all these other things I still need to grow myself in other areas because if by chance some people step out of the industry at some point or you retire you'd still want to have a background in something else or even if you have kids and they're growing up you can't tell them there's two ways you can choose you can decide to do this or this or you can do both of them it's just upon you as a person and what you're willing to do Jifan, we have seen quite an increase in employment in the country and of course we have seen retrenchment happening do we people join acting because of money or it's a passion I need to comment on that Okay personally I'll refer you to one of the Chinese billionaires I don't know if it's Chinese or Japanese Jack Ma Jack Ma said in one of the interviews we need to change the way we are training our children we need to train our children in their abilities, in talents because I can tell you right now even most accountants are losing jobs because we have softwares so in an organization where we had an accountant then we had Abasa then we had somebody now that job is being done by one person behind a machine but to see talent for example singing nobody can take it away from me as we are seated here and even the cast members our director is a lawyer personally here he has also studied law I did Alright ladies and gentlemen we surrender I did my degree in journalism and even a master's in communication but art is me which still relates to what it still relates to the boss that I do so about unemployment the reason why we are experiencing that is because we are not training people on their abilities fact that I can be a news presenter but at the same time I sing in a band sure that is why even the government has noticed that and they are bringing in a new system the CBC it will happen because if it is happening now the retrenchments and everything so picture your children 20 years to come from that the father's discussion of natural character and creativity as a country have we really nurtured this we have nurtured because even the talent that we have we got it from school how far are we in terms of nature not yet there because the perception hasn't been there our parents were used to white collar jobs okay let's hear from you when I told my father if I would be interested in doing acting after my high school he was like are you going to be a famous actress when you finish high school will you go to Hollywood I was like no that won't happen immediately for him it's mentality is you need to study books but something you get a job so I did IT with the hope of getting becoming some software engineer somewhere creating my own job employment not that that does not happen but like that is the case for them such things as passion were not really a focus for them you have to be a doctor you have to be a lawyer you have to be an engineer key things for them this they didn't consider is passion a prime concern recently I was teaching some children and so I was asking them what they want to become when they grow up most of them were focusing on the talents their abilities some of the kid told me that you want to become a footballer I had the one told me they wanted to do the army I had the one told me they wanted to become a singer so right now as wherever where you're going it is all about passion when you are happy personally I cannot sit in an office from 8 to 5 I have that weakness but I can rehearse I can rehearse the whole night and the whole day because it is what I find happiness into me and do you think high schoolers are up for this because we find that most of us we get to realize what we want to do while staying high school even on primary school I really now want to venture into in terms of our passion do you think it's time that we go to high schools and tell them it's time now it is time it has always been time because when you look at the participation in drama festival music festival, the sports it has always been time it is now just a matter of emphasis and seriousness do you think schools are growing young men and women I believe some of them do have the culture I unfortunately in my high school didn't do much of the drama but I was growing other talents for me I started for me I started acting when I was in primary school so that's when I discovered I loved acting and all that so later on you see different phases of my life different environments either expose me to it or take it away from me unless somebody makes you aware of it and that's why I love Apex production because they're trying to have a conventional way of thinking the audience and making sure that they understand what is going on so they're trying to create awareness rather than you sitting in a classroom and being told so this is what the government is doing this is what is going on in Kenya no it's just making it more theatrical because there are some of us who prefer coming to watch a play and I'll pick something from that play and go back oh what was that about so they're trying to provoke thinking and also create awareness you know what you said about the government and young people but from then let's talk about the topic of discussion and what we had in the play itself where is it supposed to take place the play is taking place at Visa Oswal junior high auditorium on the 30th 30th of December of this month of November we are going to have two shows the 3pm show from 3pm to 6pm then another one from 6pm to 8pm alright how much is the ticket probably you can hear from the main man at the gate you'll be paying a thousand bob but for the early birds the advance tickets are going for 700 but then if you're still a student at high school at campus maybe at primary Master's btd student as long as you're still learning you can come with your student ID and the ticket will be going for 500 shins alright so suji kama tunapata but it's okay we can still do some good wrap up and we call it a day probably let me probably hear from you and ask as you're wrapping up do you think we are doing best as an industry we need unity for us to prosper the moment that we realize that we are all actors riding on the same boat that is when we grow for those who are out there talk of edigadegi, talk of nupitanyomo we still need them here to hold our hands yes for us to be united as one that is when you can face anything alright so we still need lupita and the rest back home back home for us to be united and also for us who are still here in keno we still need to be united so much let us not let us be zeilius in our nature let us focus on the main goal and that is to impact the society alright let's have Zena please I would like to offer you a complimentary ticket every morning at home patanemilanda nindu so anyway it's always good when you're doing these brands it pays off and bigger bigger from the CEO himself thanks very much so 700 I'm done with it and someone else is like this is only for the one who did the show and he called it a day for the moment let's see a parting shot from her then we'll come to you right away we'll come for the show it will be worth the while I'm enjoying it myself I have a very wonderful production team and you'll be seeing more great things from us I'm hoping to see you and China doing best let me have you wind up I just want to take it from her come for the show come laugh at the end of the day think about what we told you at the end of the show you are all welcomed alright that's it because it's always a pleasure as always to have you that has been well the acting business and of course the industry that is booming in the country my name is Garandja Alex very more comes up next see you thanks