“BRILLIANT KENYAN PIANIST” LIGHTENS UP KIGALI

Kim Thuita connecting with his audience

“If you are in Kigali, ask me about Kim Thuita.”

-         Recent Facebook post by Anjichi David, an excitable thirtyish Kenya-Rwandan

Meanwhile, at Chez Robert Restaurant in the Kyovu suburb of Kigali, a tall,, dark teetotaller Kenyan pianist adjusts his trade mark little black leather hat that precariously balances on his almost-clean-shaven head, smiles at the crowd, hits a few bars on his electronic key board and croaks the words of a very old tune, like say, Fadhili Williams, or Frank Sinatra... The crowd roars in spontaneous applause and starts waving its collective drink-laden arms in the air; like worshippers getting carried away by the spirit during Holy Communion.

Mutsari Mrefu winging it gleefully

A few heartbeats behind the pianist, Mtsari Mrefu (long queue/long arrow?), a well known Rwandan entertainer joins in with his bass guitar. He winks at the crowd and garrulously wings some of the words as the song is picked up by the audience. The audience, consisting of relaxed middle-level and senior executives, cheers some more and soon, almost everyone – including those who normally sit in pubs and vegetate – is itching to dance; even those who, like me, don’t know much about jazz, rhythm and blues.

“It’s all about communication” says Kim Thuita, the tall dark pianist, with an entertainer’s easy smile, “Music is all about communication. You can sit there and play the best compositions and combinations in the world,” he adds, “but if you are not communicating and really connecting with the audience, you are wasting your time… and theirs. They can hear you, but they can’t feel you.”

 “People need to lighten up…,” continues Kim with passion (it’s not easy to stop him talking about music once he starts),“and the only way I can give that is through music.”

And from the way not only David and his young girlfriend, but also Beatrice of the Peace Rose fame and all the patrons at Chez Robert in general are getting down tonight, the people of Kigali not only feel this world class entertainer (from Kenya); they also lighten up quite a notch. All sorts of people who are normally stiff and officious during the day let down their guards and boogie to the rhythm of Kim’s piano.

Let’s face it though: my insistence on Kim’s Kenyan roots is and Anjichi’s sense of  ownership are, I realise, nothing to do with his having played in Kenya for almost 15 years before venturing out; more like a vain attempt to reclaim a brother who has done well for himself… At the Calle El Arsenal in Managua (across from the San Francisco Convent) where “reservations are appreciated”, he was billed as “En Concierto Kim Thuita (Hollanda), Jazz, Fusion and Blues – Fusion deSabores”. Never mind all the Latin – they think he is Dutch! This is probably because the Nicaraguans did not care to understand that a Kenyan pianist married to a Dutch diplomat doesn’t automatically stop being Kenyan.

Not that it bothers Kim.

“I just have to strike a good balance,” he explains, guiltily checking his watch as he’s getting late to go pick up his children from school, “between my family and my music.”

Wherever his wife’s duties as a diplomat with the Dutch embassy take the family, Kim just finds classy venues with bars in them and plays his music at them.

“Music is universal language,” he explains. And whether it is Maputo with occasional crossings to Cape Town and Johannesburg, or in Iran where the no-alcohol no-clubbing Islamic rules limit one strictly to the house party circuit of the diplomatic community; or in Nicaragua, where he carried on Nica Soul to reservations-only crowds; Kim has jammed with the locals and thrilled the patrons of many a classy joint. And in all those places, he went with an open mind and let the local tastes influence him.

“In the next four years,” he claims, I believe I will have found ways to tap into the Intore Dance Troupes. Oh, they are so graceful!” he adds with respect.

That, and to open a nice club of his own…

“Mozambique is the haven of Afro jazz while Cape Town is known for it’s jazz and Kwaito,” Kim is talking about the places he has been and how they have influenced him; you are where you have played! “Nicaragua with its Latin Groove, Mambo and Salsa, you know the craziness of Central America with all its influences… I have been blessed,” he confesses, echoing some of the origins of his musical career.

Although he made himself a name playing the piano and crooning to residents and guests at the InterCont and the Serena in Nairobi, his first public performances were at Valley Road Church (Jesus Is the Answer). As for the true genesis of his musical career however, Kim has only two words:.

“At home,” he says meekly and chuckles mischievously in afterthought. “It’s a family thing. It is in the blood. We all used to sing – my bothers, my sister, and even my mother who couldn’t hold a tune…” he breaks off laughing at his mother’s musical disability. Dad was the main influence,” he elaborates.

Dad, Charles Thuita, was a “musician, arranger, choir conductor and singer” of quite some note, it turns out.

So they all took up musical careers?

“Not really,” explains Kim. “But we ended up having something to do with music. My brother Andrew is the one who actually took up a musical career. He is a professor of classical Music in the US; Seth is an architect in the UK but he is an accomplished guitarist and singer. And my sister G Net Perez is a singer in Madrid – yes she married DJ Paco Perez of Club Boomerang”;

And Kim was the one that chose to be a bank clerk who plays piano at the church on occasion; then a bank clerk who plays piano at classy joints, and finally, a pianist who plays at classy joints, period.

“When I started to play piano at the Valley Road Church on Sundays, I never considered doing it full time for a living. It was only after I got a gig at the Serena, playing at the poolside Mandhari Restaurant that the thought of quitting my clerical job started occurring to me. But still, I didn’t quit until I got the contract with Intercontinental. My parents were mad at me for a bit until they saw how fast my lifestyle was improving as a musician as opposed to a bank clerk who only plays occasionally...”

Many years later, although Kim has played in all those countries, has three scheduled gigs a week in Kigali and invitations to play at almost every major social and business event in the hilly city, he still remembers with nostalgia, his days at the Intercontinental where it really all began.

““Originally, I was only playing during the high tea in the afternoon,” he reminisces, a slight whine in his voice suggesting boredom. “Then I approached the management and offered to liven up the evenings with a little jazz…”  To cut a long story short, Kim, and his buddies – Lucas on bass and JB on drums -  calling themselves Jazz Q, started the Jazz Nite at the Intercont Bar, and evenings at the hotel changed for good.             “When the hotel realised it helped them retain more business as airline crews and other guests (who used to take their trade elsewhere) now spent their evenings at the hotel, they supported the idea fully…They sent me out to buy better equipment and we were on a roll!”

Not much later, the Salsa classes began at the Intercont, setting the pace for Nairobi, as soon, everywhere you looked, Salsa classes were swinging into existence!

But that is all history now that only lives with Kim as pleasant memories.

Now when I tell him that people are describing him as “that brilliant Kenyan pianist,” Kim Thuita just chuckles self-dismissively and says, “I’m just blessed, I guess.”

1326

 ©Lloyd Igane 2011

kreative@earthling.net