 I'm great. What about you? I'm good. Keeping safe. Ina bidi. Sosa, I was saying, siu tu meka chaipi apa tukunye, as we talk? Ita tukwenye bana. Chai mingi. Chai mingi, indona tukipu kwenye. Ima bidi takumali za bana. Ima bidi takumali za bana. So I was wondering why do people refer to you as the Kenyan Lakidube? Kenyan Lakidube. I told the people refer to me as What? Ah, it's because I feel like uleja mahali manage rege kwae continentali Lakidube as in ukyangali ile ile ran kenya rege, at least in my opinion In Africa we have so few guys on our TV who are excellent, so to say me if you want to be something of this continent you have to aspire to be the best. Now Lakidube for me is a guy. Okay. So you want to follow in his footsteps? If Lakidube was around in 2020 I'd like I'd like him to be doing what I am doing now. So kindly tell us a bit about yourself other than you being the Kenyan Lakidube. Tell our fans what your name is, your full Kenyan names and what music you do and how the journey has been so far for you? So my my actual name is Murua actually that's my name that's my legal name so my name is guys my dear apa George sorry I can't say I took on a squad in Ajibam vapa so the first question so my legal name is actually Murua I'm Steven Murua so when the time came to look for a name I think it was it was a bit easy upon kuna Sivi kumusanok tiazana jiniyango ya ID Sonika jitamu Murua muziki that's that's good music so initially you are not doing music you are directing, right? right? hello I am not usually appealing in a pizza I'm saying how kwanzi akwa muziki initially you are doing film directing, right? My goodness oh, that's terrible kwanzi akwa muziki I'm saying initially you are not doing music so I just wanted to know how you ended up doing music from directing alright, no, the thing is initially I was more of an artist in terms of the stage performance so that was like when I was in college and a little after so for close to 10 years I was actually on the stage I performed for a long time with the Phoenix Players where I started out as an actor I acted with a bunch of guys who transitioned into TV now Svi kumusanok then before my acting I became a stage director again of the Phoenix Players I set up my own theater company so we ran that for like a year or two then after that that's when I got out of the arts so that is the journey for me I used to do the theater arts but at the same time I also used to do music we had an acapella group back in the day and I would say that is where I started my artistic thing so a few years back when I wanted to come back into the entertainment I was trying to look at some dignity I could do as a creative outlet I love who leta kakitu at least as if we manage within my timing so when they appear stage performance in theater is so demanding in terms of time and a lot of of these requirements are not within your control that's why I chose to do music and I have been doing that for the last three years you dropped your first song in 2017 where? home okay start with me hello yeah you dropped your first song in 2017 called home that really puts you on the map how has that journey been since that time until now what have you achieved in the last three years? okay the journey has been interesting you know first of all when you get into something that's a bit new of course you have to pay some headaches in terms of adapting goodness Joe, I will eat you zima yopitu sorry guys yeah so the typical challenges you have is you're dealing with a new environment you're dealing with new dynamics you're trying to figure out how to first of all create the music who are the good producers who are the good video directors you're trying to figure out how to market and promote your music so I think it was it was a bit of a learning curve but I think so far I'm doing well if you look at where I started, where I am now I've put out a number of good releases I would say my reach and visibility is growing last song I did in February right now has topped over a quarter million views which for me is huge so we are growing and I think my musical journey is growing quite well so I think so far I'm doing very well okay and during this time that we have the corona menace so many people have been affected and the people who are also taking it's hard at artists how has it affected you as an artist? well I think it's an interesting time for artists for the bulk of those who actually make a living 100% from doing the entertainment of course you can imagine how hard it is for you to earn that shilling when you cannot go and earn it as in itabidu toke kwako when the mahalu perform shofa nibidu kamaizo and that is where you're literally earning your living so I think in one it has become a big challenge like I've said I do this hard time not full time so what I'm seeing for the other artists where I'd say I try to be more creative about how they are earning I am seeing a lot of guys are going up there you know you're doing your shoes you're doing your your DJ sets live putting your impressa there and I'm really appeal to everyone you see your favorite artist or favorite DJ doing that support where you come but for us I think for those of us who take that more as one of the things that we do I'd say I'm actually thankful that it is something I balance with other things I am involved in other income streams so when this one is not working we are doing the other things I just keep the boat going as an artist for me what I've done I've taken this as a time of planning a time of reflection I am working on more recordings and I think that is where my focus is because it's been a bit of a challenge to either progress the vocal recordings or do the videos so for me it's a time for reflection and planning and creating new content and that's what I'm doing was there something you were planning to release in the course of the two months that people have been really affected or maybe in the next month? Actually, yeah I have been doing a bunch of recordings and you were supposed to be doing some music videos but we are having to cut back a little I would say what I'm focusing more now on is in audio recordings I'm taking time totally work on a full studio album which I think we will have out in the next six months I'm not being forced to be creative because the big headache we have is that I cannot go on a location and have actors and extras because again I'm concerned about the health aspects of these so I am looking at maybe one or two releases within the next two months but now the challenge for me is how to do it I may need to look at more original media so as to avoid just being on every video while not placing myself on my family at risk so we do have a couple of projects coming up but for me I'm taking this time to work on a full album So it's not all bad it's not all bad at least you're working on an album were you planning to work on your album right now? were you planning to work on your album right now? or is it just that you're taking advantage of the situation that is there? alright, so goodness, I don't think I'm cutting that question it's a bit of a noise bug, right? I'm asking were you planning to work on your album right now or is it that you're taking advantage of this quarantine and corona pandemic? in fact the interesting thing for this is that there was a couple of plans that I had I had already contracted a band it was starting rehearsals I think the plan was to start the beginning of April I had contracted the musicians I was going back into the studio like I said the plan for me was to have an album out within 2020 and that was my goal so it could have been better but I guess it couldn't have been worse so what I'm doing now I'm actually spending a bit more time creating the concept I have a producer that I'm working with who I've just contracted so like I've said in the next 4-5 months we will have a full album out and I guess we should have by the time we put everything together you know the music we're looking at the videos we're looking at the accompanying and marketing and all that so I would say that between now and let's say September and October we'll have a finished project but that's the way I'm looking at it because when you are forced to take a time to reflect you can do one of two things you can panic or you can take that as a time to regroup and look at what you want to do for me something that I've been wanting to do for the last couple of years how has the pandemic affected you and your family you're a family man right how has it affected the situation in your household yes ah man okay in one way like I said if we look at it from the more obvious ways I mean like like you're guessing when you see me fighting with my guys here we are as parents it's a very it's a very difficult time because you can imagine the kids have been whom I think from they've lost like a month in the first time we're not sure whether the second time is going to start as expected so that in itself is worrying for us the children sometimes get bored because again you notice that challenge in terms of managing the normal life and then I think about that when we look at more practical aspects nobody is buying anything a lot of things are not moving a lot of people are being forced to stay home so again we are dealing with another headache there is an economic aspect we're broke now because a lot of these projects and initiatives that we were trying to roll out are a bit stuck but I would say one thing I've learnt and probably this is an important lesson it always pays to have more than one hustle in your life because I was actually talking to a good friend of mine the other day you can imagine if I did not have the other things that I do and at this point I was 100% reliant on music or entertainment at a start because at this point basically all entertainment opportunities are down short of royalties I think so for me I would say it has affected me in one way but on the other way at least I'm thankful and I'm lucky I know not everybody is at that place but I think I'm a bit lucky but I've always balanced these two sides of my life so when this one is down I would say that is one thing which I would say I've learnt and probably I'll maintain for the rest of my life alright so what is that one hack as you've been at home for the last maybe one or two months what is that one hack that you have learnt right now that could ease the situation for someone else who is at home if you have something or the tracks that I'm working on what is that one hack or maybe two hacks in your house working from home just anything living with children what is that one hack that you have learnt that you didn't know before but because of situation you have learnt how to isn't that situation right now I think for me luckily because for what I do for my other household it's always been a bit you see the way we are living now when we are having to deal with everything virtually like we are doing now virtual calls, virtual meetings virtual discussions I think for me it almost feels like I've been doing this already workwise I've always been in technology I've been doing business development for the last 11 years and for the best part of that life I have not been doing a lot of that business in Kenya I've managed business you know Pan-African I mean south of Egypt north of South Africa I've done this for a long time so the way we are dealing now where we are talking about virtual calls virtual meetings virtual all these things I mean I've been living this life for the last 10 years so it hasn't really shocked me I'm used to this but I think the big change is is in the way the world is now I mean like my kids the other day so they're having these virtual classes which for them is something new for me I've been having virtual meetings for 10 years it's not something that new but I'd say that the biggest win from all this is sort of being forced to get to know ourselves a little better for those who have families forced to spend a little more time you know this is something we sometimes take for granted if you have the choice of going out and coming back you can put things on the back burner but during this time I think we're going to see a lot of families becoming closer people engaging better and I think that is the biggest win for all of us for me I'd say definitely that's the biggest win spending more time with my family and all that and I think in spite of all the bad that is there that is the one good thing that I'm actually seeing out of this thing the closeness and the engagement that I've had with my family and my kids so as we wind up I want you to tell us about your most recent song and tell us where people can find your music and subscribe and just share and listen to it where can you find me digitally I'd say most of my time you're either going to find me on Facebook or YouTube or Instagram I think that's why I'm most active just look for Muruam Ziki that's on Facebook Instagram and YouTube I keep that Instagram very busy Facebook is very busy YouTube like I've said doing well my last song out I did like a quarter million views which brings my total count just a moment which brings my total count to about 800,000 views so again like I've said the visibility is growing the visibility is growing so I mean please reach out engage, contact me and all that like I've said we're going to have another mount before the end of the year so please keep it locked for now we're in the studio so I think by the time this COVID thing cools down we will have another mount okay so if right now the government declare that we are corona free and everything goes back to normal what is that one place you'd run to immediately or the one thing to look at when the coronavirus situation ends I think the coronavirus you know the coronavirus I think in some ways has accelerated how we are doing things like for me my plans were to keep doing singles I think for 2020 into 2021 maybe to do an album next year but you know when you sit down and you actually think about it and you have time to think about it and you say why next year, why not now and I think that's how we are approaching a lot of our things we are all learning that time is of the essence you can't put off everything until tomorrow or next year so I think for me the first thing I'm doing is I am spending time in the studio but the main project really I think is when the restrictions are lifted when we are saying that it's a bit safer to do that I am going to spend a lot more time in that studio for that album I mean that's been a goal of mine and I honestly cannot not believe that I have a good reason to put it off so as soon as the restrictions are lifted I'm going to spend more time in that basically we'll keep that music flowing so thank you so much for taking time to talk to us thank you thank you have a good day all good great thank you yes and that was Muro music so please please please head over to youtube instagram so subscribe to his music listen to it give your comments and wait for the next project that he is putting up together for you if you