Karun interview: ‘The music that’s coming out now is a result of Kenyan music being given a chance and us going back to loving ourselves and it’s just really beautiful to watch’

Frontline’s Blessing Borode speaks to Nairobi-based R&B singer Karun about limitations, becoming an artist with global appeal, and the multi-faceted talent emerging in Kenya.

While it appears African music is getting the recognition it deserves, from the many representations of Nigerian music dominating the global charts to the exhilarating Asakaa drill scene in Ghana, there’s still a lot of work to be done. There are many more African genres waiting to transcend international borders – one of them being the Kenyan R&B scene. Nairobi-based singer/songwriter Karun is among the many artists leading the way in introducing the rest of the world to this sound. 

Since emerging in the late 2000s as one fifth of the BET Award-nominated hip hop group Camp Mulla, Karun has risen to be an important figure in Kenyan R&B. Believing music was her calling since the age of six means her impressive track record comes at no surprise – she went from experiencing her first recording session at age eight to graduating Berklee College Of Music and being named on the Forbes Africa 30 under 30 list.

2013 was the year Karun first affirmed her identity as a solo artist with her debut project, Sun & Moon. With her silk-like vocals, the 14-track record saw the singer navigate a rollercoaster of emotions on the road to uncovering her true self, away from the shadows of Camp Mulla, speaking directly from her heart, weaving in lessons gathered from her lived experiences. 

Despite the well-deserved accolades she accumulated during her Camp Mulla days and at the start of her solo career, Karun still invested a huge amount of time and energy in her artistic development. Whether it was through her advanced studies or throwing herself into the works of renowned jazz vocalist Bobby McFerrin and French-Nigerian artist Asa, the Nairobi-based singer worked to move away from any previous restraints she felt impeded her musical identity.

Karun’s most recent EP, Catch A Vibe, is the work of a fully-realised musician. Following the waves of anxiety and the whirlwind of emotions felt through last year’s lockdown, she slowly settled into creating the project, as the season allowed her to be more present with her creative process. However, after years of experience in the industry, Catch A Vibe was inspired by her intention to appeal to the diaspora beyond Africa. ‘There’s no point in putting out music if only three people hear it,’ she says. ‘The way that the Kenyan music industry is set up, if you have a really small audience, there is no way you’re going to continue’.

Through experimenting with different sounds and textures, Karun soon discovered her own intoxicating hybrid of alternative R&B and Afrobeats, and her decision to refrain from singing in her native tongue contributed to her popularity. ‘Compared to other Kenyan artists, I have a more global sound because I speak in English – it’s just a lot more global, which is different from a lot of what’s being played and released from Kenya. 

Choosing to go against the grain with industry expectations isn’t always met with open arms, and in Karun’s case she was faced with opinions that didn’t necessarily support her approach to global appeal. She admits, ‘self doubt is so prevalent in the life of an artist, so sometimes those comments would actually get to me’. However, despite the background chatter in the Kenyan music industry, Karun remained fixed on her vision in the hope that everyone else would catch up eventually.

Prior to releasing Catch A Vibe, Karun enticed her listeners with singles Glow Up – released under Mr Eazi’s EmPawa Africa initiative – and I Know, which makes an appearance on the EP. The potent strain of drill-infused R&B, produced by Kenyan producer Le Mav, caught the attention of plenty of music fans, as she adorned bouncy trap-hats with her mellifluous vocals, releasing the things that no longer serve her and uplifting the fans that continue to stick around with a sonic love letter. In one of the opening lines, Karun shares one of many personal moments that appear throughout the project, echoing ‘I was born to sing for you‘. She prides herself on the level of transparency in her songwriting, claiming ‘it’s always extremely honest… to the point where my mum is like “you’re just telling everyone everything“‘.

Catch A Vibe leans completely into this vulnerable space, even though she reports it to be one of the fastest projects she’s recorded and released. ‘Basically everything that I was going through in 2020 is what I’ve put in those songs,’ she explains. ‘Love, complicated relationships, learning difficult life lessons’. 

Dedicated fans may notice the production credit she snags in the delicately arranged opening track Let Me Know (Intro), but Karun reassures me this is not her first time owning the role as producer. Her reasoning behind not yet promoting herself as a producer comes down to her lack of confidence, so placing Let Me Know (Intro) as the EP’s opener gave her a brief flash of what it looks like to release self-produced music. ‘I hope my next project can be mostly self-produced,’ she adds. ‘It’s kind of a lot of pressure but I’ve been producing since the beginning of my career… I think it’s about time’.

There’s a certain level of control artists try to maintain over their identity and music – for Karun, this meant relying on her intuition to guide her into the right spaces. Transitioning from a five-way collaboration to calling the shots on her creative output, Karun has made the decision to only make the kind of music that truly represents who she is. ‘At that point of my life I was leaning a lot more on my friends and people for help,’ she reflects. ‘But I just know when I let other people take the lead, I end up in places that don’t suit me and that affects everything. I think it’s about time for me to tell my story from my perspective’. 

Nonetheless, collaboration is one of the key factors that ensures art from overlooked communities around the globe eventually reaches the mainstream spotlight. Platforms like Nairobi R&B are being praised for constantly championing R&B acts through live events, and artists like Xenia Manasseh, Turunesh, Blinky Bill, Shekinah and so many more are all working to place African R&B music on the map in their own uncompromising way.

Despite skeptics historically questioning the quality of Kenyan music, or being reluctant to give it a chance to begin with, Karun attests to there being a huge shift in the general reception, saying ‘the music that’s coming out now is a result of Kenyan music being given a chance and us going back to loving ourselves and it’s just really beautiful to watch’.

As our conversation circles back around, Karun shares her hopes to perform live now that coronavirus restrictions are being eased. Having lost the opportunity to perform in Japan, she now sets her sights to major stages like Afro Nation and Afropunk, and in the meantime is eagerly cooking up new music for us to sink into. ‘I’m trying to make the entire project mainly my production and maybe collaborate with other artists. Just trying to figure that out, even as a mum, finding space and rhythm… Wish me luck!‘.

Words: Blessing Borode

Photography: Michael Brian Omwono