Nairobi News

Kenyan-based South African singer and producer Samuel Sichangi is gaining recognition after he recently produced Pilani Bubu’s latest project.

Bubu is a singer-songwriter and TV presenter based in South Africa and has gifted fans with her latest project dubbed Lockdown love story.

She tells authentic stories of inspiration, identity, and influence. And this project is no exception.

She is never without a lived experience etched into her heart and mind in a highly expressive musical journey.

Lockdown Lovestory was written, and recorded at the height of the pandemic, in real-time as this story unfolded for her during her time in quarantine, in the unprecedented hard lockdown of March – August 2020, in South Africa.

Lockdown Lovestory is inspired by the journey she takes in a long-distance and virtual relationship, exploring the nuances of the loneliness and yearning presented by this circumstance.

Bubu explores the feelings of fantasy and nostalgia packaged in Nu-RnB, she makes references to 90’s teen nostalgia in the music production as well as the visual storytelling.

Some songs are also inspired by the traditional heritage of South Africa. “Folklore is stories, tales wrongly considered as already acquired, but which are not. My goal is to pass this heritage on to future generations,” explains the singer.

The release in France of his album will be followed by a Folklore: Chapter 2 – volumes 3, 4 and 5 will be released over the next three years -, concerts in Paris and at summer festivals.

This year, in addition to her intention to conquer the French public, she would also like to share everything she has prepared during the last two years, since the start of the pandemic.

“A very difficult and sad period, but one that I took advantage of to create. The first few months, when everything stopped, I felt a strange euphoria, I was excited to have more time.

From January, alongside a tour of Ghana and Kenya, she released the first single from her next album, conceived and recorded during the first confinement in South Africa.

She collaborated with Afronautiq; Sean Peevers on the springboard track As We Lay that began the production journey of the project.

Then worked with beatmakers and producers, Samuel ’Sichangi’ Namasaka (Kenya), Ludwe Danxa (South Africa), Andras Weil (Budapest) and guitarist Bradley Prince (South Africa), who all came together serendipitously and were inspired to help tell this story.

The singer has three music projects released under her own independent label and publishing company Bupila Publishing (PTY) LTD.