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We are excited to introduce Daraja Band! Daraja Band gave a wonderful performance at our recent Ten Year Anniversary event. We are grateful to the entire band for sharing their talents and skills with us as we work to transform opportinuties for the next generation through education.
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When did the band begin and how many people are in the band currently?
Our band began at the end of the year 2016.
There are eight of us; Senor Cjeys who raps in English, Kiswahili and Spanish, Fezi Mauncho vocalist, Dan Osanya, vocalist and marimba player, Rapasa Otieno on nyatiti and adung’, Steve Kimani, guitarist, Kirit Pattni, on the Indian flute, Kamaich Gaitho on percussion and Prasad Velankar on tablas.
How did the band start?
Our band came together as music therapy volunteers under an artist collectivelly known as “Moving Cultures” which was founded by our friend and mentor Wanny Angerer. We come from different walks of life but were brought together by our love of music and culture. We all come from different musical backgrounds but as we participated in music therapy, we found that despite our different backgrounds and musical genres, we loved playing together and so we became more intentional about working together musically.
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Do you all work on music full time?
We started playing at cultural and community events and eventually started being invited to perform at corporate events as well. We still love to volunteer. We have worked with Faraja Cancer Center, the Cerebral Palsy Unit at Dr. Ribeiro Parklands School and the Children’s cancer unit at Kenyatta Hospital. Besides that, Dan, Kamaich, Steve, Rapasa, and Fezi work at Kitovu Learning Space to train and mentor children in the different arts (creative writing, music, visual arts, traditional instruments and dance). Cjeys is a music and movement therapists for children with special needs. Kirit is a retired business man and philanthropist, whilst Prasad holds down a 9-5 job and does music full time.
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What are some of the performances that you have enjoyed the most?
We really enjoy all our performances and have lots of fun, but our favorite places to play have been at the Cerebral Palsy Unit at Dr. Ribeiro Parklands School, the Children’s cancer unit at Kenyatta Hospital, Alliance Française Nairobi, our friend Kirit’s daughter’s wedding and at the village market during an event for the Asian Foundation.
What is one major achievement that you are celebrating as a band?
What we are really proud of as a band is our commitment to volunteerism through music. Daraja is a band with a quintessential heart and global sound. We see our music as a bridge to cultural, tribal, racial, communal and even generational boundaries and we feel that our love for music therapy is what makes our music special.
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From your work, it is evident that you value children and education, tell us more about that interest
The reason our band works with children is because we value education so much so that we all are involved in the education system through our work with children and the arts. Even though our primary focus is the arts, we are using the arts to contribute to the education of children in our nation in ways that perhaps the formal education system is not able to at the moment, but we hope it will in the future. We appreciate the value of teachers, professional artists and students working in participatory arts and cross disciplinary activities that are important for creating authentic learning spaces. We believe the different learning contexts will provide new insights about the students to the teachers and mentors that could be useful to enhance learning.
We see it as a creative partnership where creative risk taking is driven by consensus and harmony. We that our contribution to the education of children will help support marginalized children in different ways. We would like to encourage them to explore ways of demanding more from themselves in the face of challenges and bring out innovative ways of dealing with barriers and perceived roadblocks to achieving their goals and to experiment and learn from mistakes.
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As we approach #GivingTuesday, we celebrate Daraja Band for using your talents to support our mission! What are some of the ways you encourgae others to give?
We greatly value giving because there is no community where individuals are islands to themselves. We started our musical journey as a band because we wanted to serve our city. We do that through giving our time and musical talent. We probably would all agree that we have gained way more than we gave. We are invested in our community because we are connected to the people. We encourage everyone to give in whatever ways they can, whether it be, time, skills or even money. Every little bit goes a long way and our nation is better for it. We are proud of what Dignitas does and consider it a privilege to have worked with the organization. We look forward to many more opportunities to be involved in helping Dignitas in serving the children of our nation.
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