Kenyan music lyrics

Meet Mwasi, a smooth talking and focused R&B artist who very recently released a 10-track gospel album titled Nisamehe in September 2006: its corresponding launch slated for December 2006. Nisamehe, which is bound to cause significant ripples, was largely produced by Clemo of Calif Records.

The album is christened after the hit song Nisamehe, featured on the album. The song speaks of a burning desire to turn to God for forgiveness upon discovering and acknowledging shortfalls. Mwasi admits his love for this song, as it
reminds him of how God revived him, giving him grace to move from his former evil ways.

Esau Mwasi Mwanyumba or simply Mwasi, is the first born in a family of three siblings, and was born June 26 1978 in Changamwe, Mombasa. His family lived in their rural home before moving back to Mombasa in 1992, to rejoin their father who had been left there working. He later joined Mombasa Baptist High School, before proceeding to Mombasa Polytechnic, where he pursued a Diploma in Instrumentation & Control Engineering and later a Higher Diploma in Computer Networking Engineering.

He attended ACK’s St. John’s Buxton church in Mombasa, where even though he was not born again, he was an active member. During visits to their church by preachers from Word of Life International, the artist and fellow youth members were greatly challenged and convicted by the messages of God’s word. Mwasi decided to ditch his lukewarm double-standard life, giving his life to Christ in 2001.

Together with the transformed young people in their church, they formed a vibrant youth group; one he would later be selected to serve as Chairman. Soon after he teamed up with a number of friends to form the group 121 Tazama, with whom he recoded four songs at Mombasa’s Ufuoni Records - Immanuel, Fairy Tale, Nitamlilia Nani and Mwenye Dhambi.

Working with 121 Tazama became extremely hard when Mwasi, an engineer by profession, got a job in Naivasha. The distance was too challenging, forcing him to consider a solo career.

The road to achieving his musical dreams has not been easy for Mwasi. He is the first to admit that it has been hard for him to balance his music with his professional life and career. For one, production costs of his album were very high. He had initially sought for sponsors to assist him, but his search was unsuccessful. Eventually he had to part with his savings from his earnings as an instruments technician at Olkaria 3 to ensure the album got off the ground.

Another significant challenge was finding time in his busy schedule to leave Naivasha and head for Nairobi. Adding to these constraints was the fact that he was recording at Calif Records, a fairly vibrant and busy production house in the heart of California estate. Their large stable of artists, coupled with the fact that Gospel is not their bread and butter, ensured Mwasi had to be extremely patient before securing studio time, sometimes waiting days on end to secure a single recording slot.  

Yet even after overcoming these challenges, Mwasi confesses that
contemporary Gospel music is still to gain root in his home area, making his task that much more difficult. He has to convince a lot of skeptical people that his really is Gospel music, and not some perverted form of urban music some of his folk passionately despise.

Currently, is working hard on promoting his debut and he is hoping for a mega launch possibly in December, after which he plans to tour the country, ministering through music. In the not too distant future he looks forward to setting up a recording studio in Mombasa, and later establishing a children’s home.

Besides being a talented singer Mwasi is also a skilled soccer player, being a former member of the Mombasa united side, Black Panther. He dreams of settling in Mombasa as soon as possible and marrying the lady he refers to as the apple of his eye.

His debut album, Nisamehe, is currently in stores.