How Gengetone beat is spreading beyond Kenya borders

Sometime in 2018, a new musical style, Gengetone, captured the attention of Kenya’s entertainment industry, holding its own against the tide of Afrobeats, Bongo and Amapiano sweeping through the country.

Up until 2021, the sound was a talking point, both critics and fanatics had a field day analysing it, now, however, there is a pervasive view that Gengetone is dead, or not, depending on who you speak to.

Some quarters have argued that a lack of proper business structures around the musicians fronting this genre led to its downfall while others like rapper Muthoni The Drummer (MDQ) Queen are of the view that the notion is only but a fallacy.

“We are the ones who invented this sound and so I don’t understand how people who didn’t play a part in its inception claim it's dead. Is it because we have been quiet? We could stay quiet (not releasing music) for three to four years and still make a comeback,” stated Rekkles of the Ethic Entertainment band.

Ethic are credited the pioneers of Gengetone having been the first to release a record of the sound Lamba Lolo, that went viral, inviting other artistes to jump on the wagon. MDQ once berated Music channel Trace TV over a Twitter panel discussion that argued that Amapiano had taken over from the slacking Gengetone.

A promo from the outlet ahead of that discussion suggested that while Amapiano was soaring beyond South African borders, Kenya’s Gengetone rested on its deathbed.

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“What can we learn from the rise of Amapiano and other waves so we can apply it to our own sounds” Trace TV questioned.

Joining the fray, MDQ reprimanded the outlet, calling it out for what she termed as malicious and insidious comments that were not based on any known metrics.

“This is fallacious, malicious and insidious. Your part as Trace is to do platform work. What metric have you used to position a genre that’s evolving as dying?” Muthoni questioned.

According to recent data obtained by Saturday Nation from Swedish streaming platform Spotify, Gengetone music continues to grow rapidly despite the hype of the sound taking a dip, in recent years.

“Our data over the last 90 days indicates that this homegrown has rapidly grown and has become a cultural phenomenon that resonates with Kenyan youth specifically those aged 18-24,” Maxwell Nyota, Spotify East Africa Editor, stated.

The platform has created a one stop destination for Kenya’s hottest Gengetone music dubbed Gengetone Fire. Since its launch in 2021, the curated Gengetone Fire playlist has amassed over 15 million streams. “For Gengetone Fire, the spark is its audience, it's music for the streets by the streets.

The music has been buoyed by its audience, particularly the Gen Z. Kenya has the biggest listenership, with more than 15 million streams of the genre. USA comes second, followed by the United Kingdom then Tanzania,” Nyota adds.

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The data shows that besides the three countries, other African countries streaming Gengetone include South Africa, Nigeria and Uganda, showing its cross border appeal. Currently, top artists enjoying a massive rotation of the sound are Matata and Mejja.

Since last year, Gengetone Fire playlist which was conventionalised by inputting exactly what the audience likes but also backed with data, has witnessed a steady streams increase by 88 percent.

Majority of the playlist streams are from Kenya, followed by the US, Tanzania, Uganda and the UK to round off the top five.

The data also shows that the virality of the sound has also been boosted by soundtrack for social media challenges and viral trends platforms which are largely dominated by Gen Zs.

Nyota also notes that another interesting factor that has contributed to the rapid growth of the sound is the entry of female musicians in the genre, which has long been considered a man’s game.

“There's a lot of female artists in the genre, with artists such Mandy and Ssaru who are commanding a large audience, and Gengetone has definitely been a catalyst. Ladies coming up in the genre are a real breath of fresh air.”

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