The cover of the new album by renowned Kenyan musician, composer and producer Aaron Rimbui shows an image of his scarred fingers playing the keys of a piano. The image is a deliberate reflection of how injuries from a fire accident during his teenage years lit the flames of his passion for the piano.
“I have shared this story a few times, but I have never shared it as a project,” says Rimbui who turned 45 on October 15, 2024, ten days before the release of the album.
“I am now a middle-aged man, so what better time to reflect on music and life.”
During an interview with the BDLife from his home in New York, where he has lived since 2017, he reveals that the album Imani is the first time he is musically expressing how the accident changed the trajectory of his life.
“The accident happened just as I joined Nairobi School, which has a long history of producing instrumentalists. I initially played drums, then switched to the piano. Even my doctors encouraged me, saying playing the piano would help with my therapy due to the surgeries after the injuries,” he says.
“The songs on this album therefore capture my growth as a musician and that journey from the time I decided to be a full-time musician, from my first gig with (the late producer) Bruce Odhiambo in February 2000.”
Imani, so titled to reflect the faith that has carried him thus far, was recorded in 2022, but unlike other projects that Rimbui has released as an independent artiste, the scale of this album required a collaborative effort.
He contacted Will Kennedy, the American producer of the album, whom he met in 2015 through Eric Wainaina, and who had been the mastering engineer on his last two albums, Deeper (2016) Kwetu (2017), about doing a solo piano album.
“A few hours later, Will was back on the phone, saying, “I also wanted to do a record with you and a band, like a trio. Do you think you can make it work?” The challenge was for Rimbui to fly from New York to California with his regular musicians just for this album.
Thankfully, Kennedy introduced him to two of the most versatile musicians in Los Angeles: drummer Christian Euman and bassist Aidan Carroll.
Rimbui recognised this as too big an opportunity to let up, even though the costs of the project were huge. He turned for support to an old friend from Nairobi, the Burundian-born producer Robert “R-Kay” Kamanzi who now lives in Los Angeles. “R-Kay didn’t even flinch,” says Rimbui. “He jumped on board and even filmed some of the recording sessions that you have been seeing on social media.”
US-based Kenyan pianist, composer and producer Aaron Rimbui, whose latest album Imani was released on October 25, 2024.
Photo credit: Pool
The title track is a reimagined version of a song Rimbui first released in 2009 on the album Alfrajiri. “I put the song there so that immediately it plays you are like ‘this is different! It is distinctly African, but from where?’ I am championing myself not just as an African, but a Kenyan pianist,” he says.
The second song on the album is a piano rendition of the classic Kothbiro made into a global hit by the legendary musician Ayub Ogada. “I have always loved that melody (he hums it gently) …I have played it with a trio in very many forms. Starting from this album, I will pay homage to the great Kenyan musicians of the past. We just don’t make enough noise about the artistes who have gone before us.”
Stamina was the first song that Rimbui wrote along with Bien-Aime Alusa and Bensoul in 2020 for the Bald Men Love Better EP. For this project, he took the vocals of Lisa Oduor Noah and Xenia Manasseh from the original recording session and put them on a new instrumentation.
The contemplative Nakutamani was written specifically for this album and Ndungu LL is dedicated to Lionel Loueke, a world-renowned guitarist originally from Benin. “He was a turning point for me as a composer and he’s just a great forward-thinking musician,” says Rimbui.
Destiny is a song he co-wrote in 2005 with Kanji Mbugua, initially for Mercy Myra (she never recorded the song) and was later modified for Atemi’s debut album Hatimaye. “So, for this album, while going through everything that I had done, I was like “oh! I can tear this apart and turn it into an instrumental song.””
“The songs were recorded in one take because I wanted them to retain the authenticity and so I made it clear to the musicians that even if there are little glitches, we will leave them there because that is what life is all about,” says Rimbui.
AfricArise, a label that focuses on promoting music of African heritage and Rope a Dope Records, are partners in the promotion of the album.
Rimbui is now setting up plans for a huge tour in 2025 to perform the music to audiences North America, Europe and Africa.
“I am very excited about the new album, and I feel like this is the album that will open the doors for this kind of improvised music by Kenyans,” he says.
