Kamau Karongo

Bio

He learned to play the drum-set by banging on his mother’s cooking pans and plastic water barrels. His mother was also learning to play the guitar, and Kamau would snatch the chance to learn a few chords every time she put it down. His chance on stage came at a crusade at Kinoo Shopping Centre near Nairobi. In a lull in the performance a cheeky lad got on stage and went on to play non-stop for one hour.
The church embraced him and he went on to perfect his skill, adding the keyboard and piano to the instruments he could play.

From doing gigs in colleges and schools around Kinoo he graduated to Nairobi, the big city, where he landed a job at a Christian-themed restaurant as entertainment manager. It gave him the opportunity to play live once a week, backed by The Waiters Band comprising of Joseph Wahome on drums, Mark Ngige on keyboards, David Mwangi on bass and Fred Mudasia on guitar. David Kasika Munga and Shiro Karanja backed him on vocals.

Karongo’s big break came at the 2004 Kipawa Talent Search held at the Nairobi Pentecostal Church, where he beat big names in gospel music to emerge second. He was quickly booked to appear on Hope FM, KBC and other FM stations, leap-frogging his career.

In 2005 he recorded his first album ‘Ngoro Yakwa’ at Steve Ominde’s Soul Child Records. His first big paying gig was organized by Citizen TV’s Kubamba Krew at Nairobi Baptist Church. Soon after he curtain-raised for Kirk Franklin at Nyayo Stadium during his 2008 tour. In 2009 he was nominated for the Atlanta, US- based Talanta Award, where he was voted the best non-US-based male musician of the year. The video ‘Mungu yu Mwema’ off his ‘Ngoro Yakwa’ album won the Short Film award in Joplin, Missouri. The victories saw him perform in seven states.

He recorded his second album, ‘Umetenda’ at Fred Obare’s home studio in the US. ‘Umetenda’, which has a crisp acoustic feel, was launched in 2012.

Photos

KENairobi, Kenya

Contact

+254736228670
Kamau Karongo
Profile added by Stanley Gazemba on 29 May 2014
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