Czar's still missing three years on
On Friday, October 13, 2006, Mombasa’s fast-rising musician C’Zars left his Bamburi home for an afternoon walk. He has not been seen since.
His parents, Mr and Mrs Abdulkarim Makasi have been waiting for any information on the whereabouts of their son, even a simple phone call, to no avail.
The Criminal Investigations Department seems to have put the matter on hold, at least according to his father. The police are not any different. The showbiz industry, where C’Zars actively participated, is also quiet.
Radio stations are no longer playing his music and TV stations do not air his videos any more.
No musician is willing to talk about C’Zars, neither are producers and even event organisers. To top it all, The Insyder magazine, the organisers of Pure Oxygen Jam, the event that discovered C’Zars, have remained mum on the matter, says his father.
With the situation this dire, several questions are popping up day-by-day. Who was this C’Zars and why does he deserve media coverage?
Does it mean that C’Zars was a threat to the industry and that’s why fellow artistes, especially those from Mombasa, would rather he stayed missing? Was he under pressure from teachers, peers, fellow musicians or parents?
Born Abdulkarim Mohammed on February 5, 1989, C’Zars was on record as one of the youngest music superstars in Kenya. He won the second Pure Oxygen Jam music competition in August, 2003 at age 14, after El-Tezzy had won the previous year.
In 2004 April, he bagged two awards in Chaguo La Teeniez awards and bagged another one in 2005. His dramatic moves made him get more press than any other musician.
During the Kisima Music awards gala night at the Carnivore in 2005, C’Zars shed tears after he realised that his song, ‘Amka Ukatike’ did not win.
In 2006, he was locked up at a police station in Mombasa for not attending school. But all this time, thousands of fans attended his concerts and millions others listened and loved his music.
By the time he went missing, he was only one week away from sitting the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education national examinations.
There are many theories as to why C’Zars disappeared. Some say he could not handle the pressure of failing exams, while others say his father was too harsh on him.
However, for the first time, his parents have revealed to Buzz the series of events that could possibly have led to the disappearance of their son.
According to the parents, an aunt to C’Zars had promised to take him to the UK for further studies after finishing high school.
“His aunt now based in London, promised to take C’Zars, together with her two daughters,” recalls Mzee Makasi.
In fact, they both hustled to get visas for the two young girls, who joined their mother. However, once the whole process was complete, the aunt stopped communicating and C’Zars hopes of going to the UK became a pipe dream.
“She told C’Zars personally that he would join her in the UK to further his education and also perfect his music skills and he was very excited about it.
When the communication stopped, C’Zars was very disappointed, especially after realising that we had done so much to help the two girls get the visas,” says Mzee Makasi.
Another possibility for C’Zars disappearance is another trip he had been promised by a top international NGO in Kenya. There was a South Korea trip where young musicians were to represent their country in the same year that he disappeared and he was short-listed.
However, after traveling to Nairobi from Mombasa, meeting the NGO officials and filling in the forms, the game was changed as he watched.
Other than him, there were twins in the team that would represent Kenya in South Korea. His application was rejected and when the twins came back from the trip, the newspapers showed three members of the same family instead of two.
“Again, this made C’Zars more disappointed. He couldn’t understand why his application was cancelled and another member of the same family replaced him,” says Mzee Makasi.
The other issue was The Insyder, the organisers of CHAT and Pure Oxygen Jam.
The agreement was to take C’Zars to South Africa for a tour, just like the first winner El Tezzy did, and win Sh100,000. However, he only got Sh10,000, which he spent chasing bigger amount which he never got.
He was also supposed to get a three-track recording deal, but by the time he went missing, he had only done two at Calif Records.
C’Zars, if alive, is now supposed to be 21 years old. Mzee Makasi has spent over Sh1.5 million in the quest of finding his son.
He sits daily at his Makasi Fashions Creations shop on Mombasa’s Meru Road, talking to people, hoping that some information will one day lead to finding his son.
His mother, on the other hand, still works hard at home, making sure that when C’Zars walks in to their home, he will find a better room than he left.
“We have never removed anything from his room, in fact, we have made it look better,” says Mzee Makasi. They both want their son to know that he’s not a criminal, he never did anything wrong, he should just come back home or just call to say that he’s alive and okay.
“When he comes, he can decide where he wants to live. We just want to know that he’s well. All my property have been registered under his name so far, and I have bought a car for him to use when he comes back. He just needs to know that his family still loves him and is willing to support him fully,” he says.
