The #PlayKeMusic conversation is only heating up and while some people are dismissing the content in Kenyan music, American actor Morocco Omari is here for it.
Award-winning Kenyan boy band Sauti Sol has just gotten a new loyal fan in American actor, producer, screenwriter and director, Morocco Omari who was in the country last week for an actors and directors workshop.
According to Nairobi News, the Empire actor admitted that he has been blown away by Sauti Sol’s songs. “When I heard Sauti Sol I felt like my head was going to explode. When I heard “Live and Die in Afrika” I was like ‘Oh my God, what is this?’ ” said Omari.
The American actor who plays ‘Tariq Cousins’, a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent, in the popular TV drama Empire has enjoyed quite an illustrious career getting his first big break in the show “Girlfriends’ in 200o. The Chicago native added that he had to download all the songs by Sauti Sol because of their authenticity and originality. Speaking about Sauti Sol’s sound he said, “It is their own music and they are not trying to do what Americans do.”
The actor who was impressed by Kenyans at the workshop according to his posts on social media incorporated the lyrics to “Dundaing” by King Kaka in a light moment during the workshop. Morocco prompted the crowd with “Don’t go…” and the crowd replies “I’m Kujaing.”
His comments come in the midst of a big debate over what local artistes has termed as insufficient airtime allocated to their songs by Kenyan media houses.
The actor, who has also been featured in various shows including Homeland, Chicago Fire and NCIS, is in the country to conduct a free actor Director Training for budding young actors and film directors. He hopes to share his knowledge of how to make a career in the industry. He also visited Uganda in 2017 to explore the Pearl of Africa and interact with its creatives.