How Blankets and Wine took root

But in this life, she is a flow-poet-songwriter by night and creative social entrepreneur by day. And her baby - Blankets and Wine (current turnover Sh15million) - has not only become a lumbering statement of music and arts but her own creative impetus.

We meet in her office in Westlands and her restless mind wanders in loops of creative consciousness, which could easily be boring if they weren’t so intelligent, revealing and stirring.

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You are called the “Drummer Queen”; do you have a dramatic bone in your body?

(Laughs) I’m the opposite, a Virgo, the least dramatic person you will meet. I’m theatrical though and highly expressive.

How did Blankets and Wine start?

I used to have this monthly gig at a club in Westlands. It happened every Friday night because most places in Nairobi can’t give you a gig on Saturdays because that’s their big club night.

That frustrated me because Fridays weren’t just ideal. Plus the club had little space. My pals asked me why I couldn’t do a day thing, on a day like Sunday, which never has any gigs.

We also realised that nobody went for picnics. So I decided, why not bring the picnic on a Sunday and I bring the music? Blankets and Wine was born. That was in 2008.

Why don’t we have a distinctly Kenyan sound, because everything around sounds like a derivative of something borrowed or stolen?

I’m as curious as everybody else. We don’t have a distinct sound; even this benga thing we flaunt is borrowed from Congo but still lacks in richness, in musicality. (Long pause).

I think we don’t have a homogenous story narrative as a people to make a distinct sound, like Kwaito, for instance.

Which artists would you sell all your belongings to go watch perform?

(Excitedly) Mrs Carter, Beyoncé! It’s her showmanship. Her production. Her talent!

So is she your greatest inspiration?

That would be a combination of Sir Richard Branson and Russell Simmons (music producer). Branson has built an empire around the things he loved and Simmons was among the first people to understand music as a science. Plus he’s spiritually involved.

Let’s talk about your hair. Do you get a lot of people asking about your hair?

(Laughs) About 10 times a day! Two reasons I put this on. The first one is sublime – I really love the Samburu women in hairstyle like this and black shukas and beads. I think it’s dope. Secondly, it’s practical; I spend about 4 hours a month on my hair.

But funny thing is that people think it’s a statement and girls always tell me “you must be brave to cut your hair!” Which makes me really sad. I mean, how small can your world be to define bravery by shaving of hair?

And what do men tell you about your hair?

They say it’s cool. Two days ago, I spent time with a watchman discussing my hair, he asked me who would marry me with this kind of a hairstyle! (Giggles).

Talking of which, dating someone?

No, I’m not dating. Why are people interested in knowing such things?

Because people are curious. I think you will end up dating a musician.

(Chortles) Never. Musicians are crazy.

What’s your greatest insecurity?

(Pause) Maybe it’s the artist thing, or the fact that I’m a middle child but I nurse this, “not enoughness” thought. (Laughs). Do I know enough? Am I good enough? Is what I’d doing good enough? Am I smart enough? Is the record I’m launching in October going to be good enough?

What animal do you think you are, and I hope you don’t say a peacock given that hairdo!

(Laughs) A puma! They are stealthy and graceful and blends in the night. It’s hard to see a puma coming until it’s on you. Just how I like my life, under the radar.

When you want to hang out, where do you go?

I love to dance. I can dance endlessly. So, once a month I go for ElectrAfrique at Tree House, with DJ Cortega and the electric deejays. It’s ancestral music, I tell you. It’s music from Africa, it’s tribal, and it’s good stuff.

You will listen to music from Togo and go, “what, music from where again?” (Laughs).

Most relentless dancers don’t drink.

True, they don’t. But I used to like wine. I miss it.

Why did you stop?

I don’t need it; I’m buzzed on life already.

I want you to close your eyes and play the first song that comes to your head then tell me what song that is.

(Closes eyes) It’s “Lion Paw” by Taurus Riley It’s like reggae gospel and he declares many things in this track. He is a lion and you will die many times before you can even think of touching a lion’s paw. It’s a song about the universe and how you fit on its shelf.

What’s the soundtrack of your life?

Eh, Biko! The sound track of my life! (Laughs) I don’t think I have one. (Pause).

I find a song I like I will obsess about it massively then move on when I get into a new mind space. But I think it could be a song by either Kendrick Lamar or Kanye West.

How do you blow your money?

I buy art. I love buying paintings, from street vendors to art galleries. I have some piece I bought in China and a charcoal piece I bought in Europe.

What are you reading now?

The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin. He writes in short sentences but which have deep teachings.

You have a two-way ticket to anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Tokyo! My goodness, are you kidding me? Tokyo is the future. Tokyo is living what we shall experience in the future and it’s so layered. Their combination of technology and art is just crazy!

As this interview ends, I have this sinking feeling that I haven’t unearthed enough and I’m leaving so much behind, true?

(Laughs) Maybe so. I have things I can’t explain about myself.

Earlier in life I had an on-going curiosity about life. Catechism, at 9 years wasn’t deep enough because they didn’t explore the questions “why?” The first one third of my life I permanently pondered over the nature of my being, endless questions of who we are, and our spirituality. This, this, thing! (Pause)

But for real, a third of my life’s energy is spent bridging the internal distance between self and the big picture.

And the result, thus far?

Creation. It comes out in me being a creative. When people say I’m an entrepreneur I laugh internally because it’s the creative process that creates businesses.

I wish we had fewer managers and more creatives. People need to separate all these.