WITH Kenya leading the charge in the resurgence of R&B, Spotify summoned artists, songwriters, and producers from across Africa and beyond to Nairobi for a multi-day R&B writing camp.
The streaming giant partnered with COLORSXSTUDIOS to leverage the growing popularity of the genre.
Monica Kemoli Savanne, Spotify’s Artist & Label Partnerships Manager, East Africa, told The Star about the essence of the camp and their hopes going forward.
“We have seen that R&B is a genre that has been growing across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Obviously, Afro-beats are having their time and so is Amapiano. But we are always on the look to see what else can we support especially in representing the diverse range of music that is coming up in the continent. And R&B is beginning to stand out essentially, with Kenya specifically it is one of its top genres.
“The writing camp specifically was sparked by the desire to continue to foster collaborations across SSA, that is the thing that our team is big on. We work closely with our internal songwriting and producing team and we have seen some great case studies of writing camps being done across the Spotify eco- system. And Colors themselves have also done the same,” she said
Asked about the major highlight of the camp, Savanne said the energy that everyone brought was incredible.
“All the artists that we invited were so open and so keen to engage. Egos were left at the door regardless of the calibre of the artists that came. It was just great walking into the rooms and seeing how everyone was connecting, collaborating, and excited about each other. The music we were hearing coming out of the room was incredible so we had like a listening session on the last day, and were just like ‘Wow’.”
She said the camp had succeeded beyond imagination: “It was incredible because of how open all of the artists were. And how patient they were with us as well. They all brought their a-game.”
The participating artists and producers included Karun (KE), Xenia Manasse (KE), Zowie Kengocha (KE), Maya Amolo (KE), Bien (KE), Lisa Oduor-Noah (KE), Berhana (ETH VIA USA), NNAVY (Burundi via Switzerland) and Titose (Botswana), Manana (ZA), Tay Iwar (NG), MAUIMOØN/La Soulchyld (UG), Msaki (ZA), Mbryo (NG), Ukweli (KE), Hendrick Sam (KE), Lukorito (KE) and M3 (KE).
Kenya seems to be leading the charge in this resurgence, according to Spotify data over the last 90 days - the Tantalizers playlist gets most of its streams from the country, and R&B ranks in the top five genres in Kenya.
Across SSA, The Weeknd, Chris Brown, SZA, Rihanna, and Beyoncé are the artists that Spotify R&B listeners cannot get enough of. Locally, artists like Kenya’s Xeniah Manasseh, Ghana’s Baaba J, South Africa’s Lloyiso, and Nigeria’s Bloody Civillian have the people in their feels.
Kenya’s DJ Blinky Bill was among the DJs who headlined the Spotify Wrap—Up party in Nairobi after the success of Spotify and COLORSXSTUDIOS for a multi-day R&B writing camp.