It’s a new beginning for ‘Taunet Nelel’ singer, Emmy Kosgei

Heads turn everywhere gospel musician Emmy Kosgei goes. Not just because she is famous, she simply stands out.

No doubt, she is one of the most famous female gospel musicians. Only two weeks ago, Emmy, whose song Taunet Nelel is one of the most popular songs on radio and TV, bagged the Best Female Gospel Musician award at the Groove Awards 2010, held at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre.

On and offstage, Emmy blends modernity with tradition in her attire that has probably contributed to her brand as a music sensation.

Dressed in a blue jeans dress top and a black trouser, she spots a mix of modern and traditional hairstyle with baby dreadlocks.

A small, white cowrie shell hangs loosely from one of her locks on the forehead, giving you a sense of tradition and rich culture that imbues her personality.

She is tall, dark and walks with a swagger of confidence that gives a huge sense of presence but retains an unexpected ability to roll into a conversation and keep it going.

Despite the sophistication about her and the stardom on the gospel platform, she describes herself as a simple girl, born and raised in the village.

“I’m a village girl from Mogotio in Rift Valley’s Koibatek district,” she says.

During her childhood, her day would start very early in the morning, where she or one of her three siblings would milk the cows, then they would all troop to the farm. Later in the evening, the family would meet to pray, especially during school holidays.

“I went to Eldama Ravine Boarding School, then joined Solian Girls, which is within the area,” she says to emphasise her rural background.

Even when she first came to Nairobi in 2003, her first job in Parklands was as a pump attendant holding on to the pump nozzle and never knowing that one day the same hands would hold a microphone and electrify a nation.

She grew up in a humble background, but with a solid Christian base. Her parents, now Bishop Jackson Kosgei and Mrs Rose Kosgei, struggled to give her and her three siblings everything they needed in life.

Had polio

“My dad is handicapped, he had polio at a very tender age, and I have known him that way,” says Emmy.

Was it then odd for them to be raised by a handicapped father?

“Not at all,” she says. “In fact, while in primary school, we actually thought that other pupils’ fathers weren’t normal because they had long legs, unlike our father’s.”

They later realised their father was handicapped.

“I didn’t spend a lot of time with my father when I was a child. He went to Standard One at the age of 21, so most of the time when we were small children, he was busy chasing his dreams in school.

"His parents thought he was cursed since he had polio, that’s why they never bothered to take him to school, but that did not kill his dream of getting educated,” she says.

Determination and love

According to Emmy, her father’s hard work, determination and love have kept her and the siblings focused in life.

“Even when he was away studying, he never left us struggling. He gave us whatever we needed in life, and proved to us that disability is not inability,” she says.

Emmy remembers attending her father’s graduation ceremony when she was a little girl. He had acquired a degree in theology. He was later to do a master’s on the same subject.

Growing up in a staunch Christian family can make growing children feel hamstrung. But the musician says this was never the case for her and her two sisters and brother.

“My parents brought us up in a Christian way of life and, at some point, they told us we were free to choose whichever way we wanted to live. We looked at it as a lifestyle instead,” she says.

She is the second born. Her elder sister is married to a pastor, with whom she has two children. The third born is a businessman in Mogotio and is also one of the members of her backup crew.

“His wife is also in my backup crew, together with my younger sister who graduated from university recently,” she adds.

Winning two Groove awards, performing overseas, including South Africa and the US a number of times, plus three albums under the belt can be quite a high for any musician. But Emmy is taking it all in her stride. She is even aiming higher.

Her father wanted her to be a lawyer and further his own dream. Speaking to Lifestyle, Bishop Kosgei said every parent has this great dream about their children.

“I started preaching when I was very young. My other ambition was to become a lawyer, so when I got my calling of becoming a preacher, I thought Emmy would fulfil my dream of becoming a lawyer.

"However, when I started noticing her dedication towards music, I decided to let her choose what she wanted to be in life.”

Like many other successful musicians, Emmy developed her music passion in church and school, where she actively participated in choirs.

“I used to sing and see people crying because I had touched them. I didn’t look at it as a big deal,” she recalls. After high school, she joined Utalii College in 1999 to study hospitality.

“I knew I wanted to do something that deals with people on one-on-one basis,” she says. She first got a job as a customer service attendant at the very first Engen Petrol Station mini-market in 2003.

At the same time, she was attending Maximum Miracle Centre, where she was actively involved in the choir. It was in that church that she met the celebrated gospel musician Esther Wahome of the Kuna Dawa fame, whose songs were a hit at the time.

Esther recalls her first encounter with the musician.

“When I first saw and heard Emmy singing, I thought she was not meant to perform with choirs in church, but was ready to launch a solo career,” Esther says. But Emmy says she was not confident to go solo.

“Esther said I had a very good voice and advised me to do an album. I told her I wasn’t ready, I preferred being a backup singer.” But Esther urged her on.

“She was very shy then, so I decided to give her a chance as my backup singer on stage.”

That exposed Emmy to many shows countrywide and the beginning of a career that is now on a roll.

“If Esther had not given me a chance to sing with her, I don’t think I would be the Emmy Kosgei you know now,” she says.

With consistent appearances on stage, she gained confidence and started working on her first album, Katau Banda, which came out in 2005.

“I advised her to do music in her native Kalenjin language and she listened to me. She has never looked back ever since,” says Esther.

In 2006, she staged her first performance outside the country in South Africa, where she had been invited by the Kenyan high commission. The US tours followed and she had to quit her job at Engen.

“It was too much pressure for me, so I decided to let the job go and concentrate on music,” she says.

She involved herself in more church activities and the second album came along, which included Kaswech and the most recent one Taunet Nelel. Even as the country battles with tribalism, her music has been a unifying factor rather than a divisive one.

“It’s by God’s grace. It’s amazing how people respond to my music, even when they don’t understand what I’m talking about. I feel God is using me to make people look at cultures and tribes in a positive way. That’s why I use traditional clothes and sceneries to make people appreciate who we are,” she explains.

With all the success in her career, Emmy has been dogged by controversies, something that has caught up with almost every fast-rising musician worldwide. A while ago, rumour had it that she was romantically involved with a senior Rift Valley politician.

“I’ve heard the rumours. It was very disturbing at first. I cried, called my dad and he told me not to worry because I knew it was not true,” she says with a smile after a long pause.

She is in a relationship but won’t reveal the name of the lucky man yet.

“I will not say who I’m in a relationship with but you’ll know very soon,” she says.

Emmy is very busy now. If she’s not recording music, she is performing somewhere. If she’s not doing that, she is designing clothes in her shop, Emmy Kay Houz of Designs, based on Biashara Street, where she has an office.

At the Groove awards she dressed Esther Wahome, Betty Bayo and other celebrity singers. She also runs a school, Hope Academy, for the less fortunate children in Mogotio.

“I’m also a goodwill ambassador for a children’s centre in Korogocho, which takes care of handicapped children,” she says.

Emmy says her happiest days in childhood were during the Christmas season.

“My father would come home and take us for shopping and we all enjoyed getting new clothes and shoes,” she recalls.

She also recalls her saddest moment when she was denied permission to accompany the church choir travelling on a mission when she was a teenager. She says she cried until her mother granted her permission.

African statesman

If she had a chance to have dinner with four influential people, it would be South African gospel artiste Rebecca Malope, TV talkshow queen Oprah Winfrey, African statesman Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama.

She reads inspirational books and the Bible “to get strength to move on in life”. Though she is at home with the sea of humanity that shows up for her shows, Emmy is very afraid of large masses of water. She attributes the phobia to her witnessing people being swept away by ranging rivers.

Emmy says she loves leading a simple life, nature and her design work. She also loves everything about herself, but dislikes those people who pass judgement on others by just looking at them, without taking time to study them first.

If she were not a musician today, she thinks she would be doing things that would change other people’s lives.

She would love to be remembered as one of the gospel musicians who looked at tribalism in a positive way, by taking her music across Kenya’s borders.

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