{"id":42205,"date":"2018-10-22T15:58:15","date_gmt":"2018-10-22T14:58:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/blinky-bill-trailblazer-of-the-kenyan-urban-scene\/"},"modified":"2020-05-04T23:14:09","modified_gmt":"2020-05-04T22:14:09","slug":"blinky-bill-trailblazer-of-the-kenyan-urban-scene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/blinky-bill-trailblazer-of-the-kenyan-urban-scene\/","title":{"rendered":"Blinky Bill, trailblazer of the Kenyan urban scene"},"content":{"rendered":"

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With his first solo album, Everyone\u2019s Just Winging It And Other Fly Tales<\/em> (Lusafrica\/The Garden), DJ, rapper and producer Blinky Bill puts Kenyan modern music on the global map. PAM met him after his concert @ MaMA, in Paris.<\/span><\/h4>\n

It is largely in his studio of Nairobi that leading figure of underground Kenyan and backbone of the collective <\/span><\/span>Just A Band<\/span><\/a>, recorded his first album: 12 groovy tracks between rap, funk, nu soul and electro which favour the vibrant Kenyan urban scene (<\/span>Muthoni Drummer Queen<\/span>, Sage<\/span>..)<\/span> and more widely African (Petite Noir,\u00a0<\/span>Sampa the Great<\/span><\/a>, Nneka). A feel good album that owes its coherence to the haunting flow of this prolific experimenter and to its impeccable production.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Listen to Blinky Bill in our Afrobeats playlist on\u00a0Spotify<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Deezer<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n


\nYou just finished a tour in France but you played also in the UK, how was it to play your new album in Europe?<\/b><\/span><\/h6>\n

I played in Europe as a dj but this is the first time I\u2019m playing with my band. It\u2019s been amazing. The response has been really great. It\u2019s a learning experience for us as well because we were playing to an audience that is just discovering my material. It\u2019s just exciting.<\/p>\n


\nYour real name is Bill Sellanga. Why did you choose Blinky Bill for the scene?<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/h6>\n

Because one day I saw my name while reading a newspaper. I thought that name was boring, Bill Sellanga, It sounds like an accountant\u00a0! In high school there was this cartoon called <\/span>Blinky Bill<\/span><\/i> and everyone used to call me that\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n


\nIn the Australian cartoon, “Blinky Bill”, is a small courageous and eco-friendly koala. Are you as brave and green?<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/h6>\n

I\u2019m brave and green as much as possible, as much as I can\u2026 (laughs)<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nMusic has always been part of your life?\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/h6>\n

Yes, I\u2019ve been growing up in a musical environment. My mum used to play guitar and my dad used to sing in a choir for national events. He did play music all the time.<\/span><\/p>\n


\nWhat kind of music your parents were listening to?<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/h6>\n

My dad used to listen congolese music like Franco, Awilo Longomba\u2026 a lot of those artists. My mum used to listen to gospel music. So I was surrounded by those kind influences a lot at home. But also we\u2019d sneak in TV shows that had Michael Jackson… So we were very exposed to pop music. As a result, some of my music is very heavily rooted in African music but with a global outlook. I listen to hip-hop mostly, african and american hip-hop. And I love jazz too, old school jazz singers as well. So my musical influences are very wide.<\/p>\n


\n“<\/span>California love<\/span><\/a>“<\/span><\/i><\/b> (2pac feat Dr. Dre) was a revelation for you. Why?<\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n

Because of the Talkbox! I love the Talkbox. I play with it on my new album. I just never heard it in African music. It\u2019s something i practiced a lot so i could figure out where to put it in my music.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nTo TED Fellows<\/a> you said : \u201csometimes i feel like navigating a path that not many people have passed trough\u201d: can you explain?<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/h6>\n

With kenyan music we don\u2019t have a strong legacy of musicians who we can build up on. When I was talking about congolese musicians\u2026 They had Franco, then they had Werrason and then Fally Ipupa\u00a0: those different generations build up on what older musicians left. But with kenyan music, there\u2019s not someone you can be like\u00a0: \u00aboh that\u2019s our Hugh Masekela\u00a0\u00bb in that sense.<\/span><\/p>\n


\nWe don\u2019t really know the Kenyan music scene here, how would you describe it?<\/span><\/h6>\n

They are so much new fresh kenyan music right now. They are so many different artists who are coming up. Some of them act on my new album. My album was mostly made in Nairobi. I also featured a lot of kenyan musicians in the scene who i really admire. I hope that people will want to discover more because there is so much talent waiting for a chance to show to the world what we do it.
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