BROKUOD EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

BROKUOD EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

By Wanjiku Thuku

Who is Brokuod and how did the name come into play?

Actually, brokuod does not have a big big history, we also do not have a specific place where the name came from. We just decided to call it brokuod at first because we were four guys in school that had to do something but later on the fourth guy parted ways with us. That is why we are a trio right now.So brokuod does not have a big big history behind it......it is something tu munachochananga tu na munacome up nayo.

I was told you guys were in the same high school or something?

The person I was in the same high school with was Mbithi...then Cotran or Crooner was in the same primary school with Mbithi. But after high school that is when we all met to form the group Brokuod.

You have a unique Afro-acoustic sound to all your songs. How did that start and who produces your music?

The sound has grown back since back when we released our first single...the first single ‘Nieleze’ so we have actually been growing our sound gradually.That’s the main reason it has grown to a point where

people are calling it a ‘new sound’ as you say is because I feel that is what this generation has with danceable tunes some of the genge music that was played back then.Actually with music you don’t really have to understand what they are saying but the way music works its speaks to you through your soul.With music you don’t really have to understand it per say..im not saying lyrics are beside the point but it speaks more to your soul .Thats why big acts are making it internationally because there’s some uniqueness in the way culture more about serving into the culture that you are growing with and trying to show people.We draw inspiration from a lot of kenyan music.

Who is your fashion stylist, and do you create your own trends, or do you follow world fashion trends?

For now, our fashion stylists whom we are working with are ‘metamorphosize’,be denzel,but we are trying to experiment with who it will be because so far fashion is a wide area,you cannot rely on only one specific stylist, it is more of a collaboration.

What kind of shows are you mostly called to perform at – be it corporate or public events, which have been your best five shows and why?

Shows that we perform at,our first release we did a corporate event for ‘nieleze’ which was one of our biggest events because that’s the first time when we were introducing ourselves to the industry.So that’s one of the biggest events that has a mark in our careers.Also the type of live performances that

we do half live,we combine the studio aspect and also the performing aspect to merge and give our fans a beautiful experience.So we do acoustic performances.

How long have you guys been together as a singing group?

As a trio group we’ve survived for nine years now since we started releasing our music,and hopefully we’ll still be together 40 years down the line maybe.We still have a lot to do,we still have a lot to learn about each other but part of what is keeping us together is our love for music and we are trying to represent a whole generation,and represent a whole culture that apparently not most of the people understand because they mostly misunderstand this generation.So having big dreams like that you just realize that we have personal issues within ourselves things like that ground us together because we still have something great to achieve which we keep in mind as we spend more time together which is one of the main things....afadahali tuendelee na muziki moja wetu akuwe sawa.

Kwetu EP seems to be receiving a whole lot of complimentary reviews. What is the inspiration behind this album and why the name 'Kwetu'?

We decided to call the album ‘Kwetu’ whose inspiration came from our ‘Sherehe EP’ which we did back in 2020.’Kwetu’ the song was the inspiration for the whole ‘Kwetu EP’ for us to write because we didn’t sit down and think of it too much.So from there we decided to work on an EP like why not....we decided to call it ‘Kwetu’ because kwetu speaks a lot about the whole EP.Its a fun EP because we just wanted to

groove and gravitate with people also to introduce fun and danceable songs like ‘Soko'. For us we love the whole EP because creative music is like ‘having a baby’.... hauwezi bagua because you love all that you are doing...all the songs are ‘our baby.’

Considering the enormous success of your first album 'Sherehe EP',What three things drive you as a group to keep making huge hit songs?

Well we write most of the music from our own personal experiences ..the experiences make a lot of our music relatable to a lot of people and I think when something is relatable to people definitely that’s a hit you know..i won’t call it a hit but it speaks to many people compared to writing something out of imagination and not connecting it with you first as an individual you get...so that’s one …..we also write about other people’s experiences you know when you just go out to talk to people and you hear this happened and this happened so we try to include that as well..OfCourse Sio hizi story zote sisi pekee tunaona then collaborating also gives us a hint of a good song and always gets to the table then si watatu as brokuod we are already collaborating so it's what this person brings at the table and what this other person brings so collaborating also helps us a lot in writing our songs because as a person there is this voice in your head working on different sounds but you have like a second ear which can tell you what to do ...i mean it works better that way.

What is the secret to maintaining your roots as a singing group and staying grounded or humble as artists?

It is just protecting the process. manze...protecting how we create our music ...part of protecting our music is making sure that all of us are in that mental space of creating and also making sure that we don’t compromise when it comes to our music ..about our releases we try to do them as best as we can...our videos to the best that we can....making sure we go for our rehearsals …..mostly it's about the experience you know as an artist he journey itself matters you get so staying humble works very best for us....we pay keen attention to the nitty gritties which most people don’t do and including studio sessions so we go overtime to all these places .So the work might seem small but it’s a huge load of work from behind the scenes. So, doing all these things here and there, they go a long way to create the bigger picture.

You have a genuinely nice baritone voice plus you enjoy 'music. When did you discover you had these hidden gifts and are you self-taught or did you have to go to music school to nurture these talents?

Well It just comes naturally...you see the way you’re doing your craft OfCourse it's a craft you get ..you see I was in the same high school with Petero so just the vibes which were from there that was the growing genesis of all this so ata hatukuwa tunajua tunafanya nini but overtime it made sense you see ..so overtime you just polish the craft polish it polish it for the writing part you know and for the vocals pia we had made history back. We were in the school singing choir ..I've gone to a music school ...sometime after high school to sauti academy for like a few months then I went off it then we used to go for practice each and every day at Kenya National Theatre as a trio so that made like a huge impact on our careers as per now because there was this chemistry which was developing like each and every day and each time we meet we learn something new from the other person and using it as a unique craft ..so I would say its self-taught and being guided na some of the people who were there because actually now the people who are in the industry we have worked with some of them and they have helped us so much in our journey you get...so it's just a matter of collecting energy from here and there ..picking thus and that and making it your own and believing in yourself.

What is a typical day like for you guys as a group or for you as an individual?

Generally we just live normal lives tu....So I'll explain to you on a normal day we have like studio sessions, practice or maybe writing sessions, other times we have interviews then rehearsals which basically occupies the whole day and in-between someone may say they have some things to do you get but that’s on a group perspective because we spend like most of our time together you get since we have brokuod projects and also have to go to school but that explains basically our whole life. Other

times we make time to meet with our families-see our parents just to know how they are doing which is also a part of our schedules...wasee husahau kugotea wazae yet we feel it is important.

Is your family supportive of your music career considering school and other factors?

They are incredibly supportive of our music careers,infact they were the first people to ever subscribe to our channel when we were starting these things so up to date, they still check on our songs and they always make sure that they have listened to our songs, and they let us know so they are very supportive. Some of our siblings are too young to come to our live shows since they have not reached that point of coming to our live shows, but my big sister comes for my live performances, as for our parents it may be tricky because of their schedules but they also support in different ways. My brother ako shule but when he comes at home, I am usually with him during these live shows almost everywhere and mostly he may want to venture into that path I do not know but he is very supportive.

Who does the artwork for your album covers?

We work with different people ..we don’t like have a specific person but as long as you know you want to collaborate and you have something to bring to the table, we're all creating art you know since you can't discriminate art .As long as you are doing your thing sincerely, you are honest to yourself and then ,we love the work ,we don’t have like a favorite preferred person who can do this and this for us.

We also have a constant company whom we work with called Kompany Sisi which provides most of the things related to brokuod especially the visual aspects.

If it were not for music, what other career paths would you have taken and why?

Petero: When it comes to that, we have been doing music for a long time maybe because I like speaking to people and I tend to experience a different world as I talk to them. So, I think I would make a particularly good therapist I think because I am a good listener.

Mbithi:Therapist my friend(hahahahahahahaha).....it's true that he knows how to listen to people because most people don’t really listen they just talk ...For me personally like Wah..not anything related to music at all …..I would love to be a fitness instructor since I'm already in that space and help people with their health as a dietician and fitness workouts plus it's like therapy for me and another thing is I'm good at numbers probably I would want to run a business of some kind or something that is money based ..I feel like I can do that one very quickly. So, if you want to do business with me send me your monies. I will multiply them for you...I will be your accountant(chuckles)

Do you have any special surprises for your superfans like a Christmas album or something in the oven?

There are a lot of projects which are in the kitchen, Saa hii ndio tunapika ka wasanii with a lot of collaborations with different artists from the industry so there will be something, but I cannot spill all the beans we do have to wait but definitely for sure there is something. We are looking forward to releasing a couple of singles, waseee wametujua na ma EP,so we have singles and collaborations so stay tuned and guess who it will be.... let us leave it there for now.

What motto/slogan do you live by and why?

As Brokuod we say ‘Its progress over perfection’ because most of the time we just feel like this isnt perfect enough to put it out there..so when you take the progress part everyone wants to take the perfect something...a perfect photo.....perfect video....just something perfect but you know it’s the journey that counts so its progress over perfection..so that’s what we live by every day...we subscribe to the same mentality of progress over perfection because with art you literally grow into different aspects of perfection so what you expressed five years ago was perfect and relevant for that point and what you are expressing now is perfect and relevant to this point as long as you're growing and making progress ,perfection becomes a mirage that is always adjusting itself based on where you are.........So progress over perfection is pretty much it!

Who creates the concepts for your music videos?

We are working with Kompany Sisi in the aspect of visuals.....not only visuals but they also provide other services like managerial services but Kompany Sisi is our main productions company as a team of creatives that are available to several creative entities.Depending on the project we engage whoever is required ,if we need to get a director from Nigeria,we’ll get a director from Nigeria so we do outsource because creativity is usually something that what we can't allow monotony to prevail so we usually do outsource.So to structure the pipeline is what we are in charge of.In regards to music concept videos

there’s a team usually inspired so if someone is inspired by a certain track and they have a certain concept they pitch it ,so we usually have ten concepts for a video from different directors then we narrow down to one. The artists are also involved in the concepts for the video, it is not just a product that they are ignorant of. As you know we’re going to be doing this, this is going to be the vibe. this is going to be the energy …...it is a very collaborative effort but within a certain structure.

How do you guys remain relevant on and off social media with the kind of content you create?

We feel like the experience itself is just trying to be as creative as possible because people think that as an artist you cannot do certain things because you are artists and we as brokuod believe in breaking boundaries you see. These normally set boundaries are like knowing how we should do our stuff. we try to swipe them and create new boundaries you see.

Any advice to youths who want to venture into the music and fashion world? Any last words (parting shot for your superfans)?

People out here are more focused on achieving greatness at a short period of time but people also forget that there's a process hapo katikati ..so people end up becoming more frustrated and life becomes hard but what I can tell people is that as you continue with life, try to take life as it comes like day by day because like we said ukiendelea kuprogress pole ndio utafika to greatness ..don't get worried about reaching there. Get worried about what you can do right now so that you can reach your greatness...i do not know if it makes sense but that is what I can advise people. Do not stress too much about reaching where you are going. Stress about what you can do right now ndio ufike uko.It can be something simple like someone let's say who has mental issues try get your mental state right vitu ka hizo unaona......yeah.....we would tell people to dream and dream big ..dreams are always valid and possible and don’t ever take in mind that you want to be in the destination but it’s the process that counts...it's the journey that counts because when you’re at the destination you just know that it was a mirage and you were just chasing something when you’re there ..its more about the process to anyone in any activity in any field so just let people take their time and enjoy the process rather than complaining and all these things...for us its enjoy the process. We would like to encourage young people to have a relationship with art. for any upcoming creative out there. I guess have validation in the process not validation in these other things that have been made to seem important because the process is the only thing that will never let you down. Yes, so that puts it all in a nutshell.