The Downtempo Side of Nairobi

MusicMap, Record-Play's global music discovery service, has been exploring new music scenes across the planet for two years now. During that time, one of the many trends that has become apparent is the sheer amount of quality music emerging from East Africa. From Kenyan artists such as Just A Band's Blinky Bill and rapper-cum-entrepreneur Muthoni Drummer Queen to pioneering Ugandan festival/label Nyege Nyege, a combination of musical ability, creative ambition and a go-getting DIY attitude has created an expanding range of platforms and possibilities for promising local artists. 

At the vanguard of this new wave of East African talent is the appropriately named Nairobi collective EA WAVE. Made up of multidisciplinary artists with a shared goal of expanding popular perceptions of East African music and art, the young members of the group have spent the last three years working on individual and collective projects. Their reputation has grown quickly, not only earning them attention from overseas but inspiring other African artists such as Ghana's Jojo Abot, who surmised their influence in an interview with Bandcamp last year: “For many years, I would have conversations with other more established African artists around building community and the design of a more minimalistic approach to production and creativity on the continent... How could we achieve excellence with limited access or resources? How could we work within perceived ‘limitations’? Meeting the EA Wave boys inspired me to finally put my money where my mouth is.”

It's no surprise that this young collective have quickly become known as authorities on new music from East Africa, so when MusicMap was looking for someone to put together a mix of fresh Kenyan sounds it was obvious who to ask. EA WAVE's Jinku, aka artist and graphic designer Jacob Solomon, was happy to oblige, concocting this exclusive 3am mix showcasing what he calls 'the downtempo sound of Nairobi', featuring several unreleased tracks by EA WAVE members and associates (full tracklist here). 

Listen below and keep your eye on MusicMap for more insight into music trends across the world: MusicMap.Global.