By Daisy Okoti
Published May 26, 2023
Natasha Sanaipei Tande is one of those people you can easily put in the wrong group if you don’t get to know them beyond the periphery. But when all that is dealt with, the 1985-born musician is down-to-earth with seemingly nothing to hide.
What immediately strikes me about Sanaipei Tande when I meet her at the Sarit Centre’s Hidden Agenda Club is her patience. Being a few minutes behind the scheduled time, I expected her to rush through the interview and perhaps rightfully so. But no. She answered all the questions comprehensively and to the best of her ability.
Her first break into the music industry came with Kenya’s Coca Cola Pop Stars talent search in 2004 when she was 19. This was a talent search which like many others that continue to spring up today, had the intention of discovering talent that would then develop to bring good returns to the continent. For Coke Pop Stars, the talent that was being unearthed was singing. Sanaipei did not expect much from the talent search especially because she was a student of Pharmacy at Kenya Medical Training College (K.M.T.C) and therefore had her concentrations elsewhere; she had total love for medicine which did not allow her to see herself through any other lens.
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Her being announced one of the most talented participants in the talent search came as a surprise and she was almost reluctant to accept the fact. But her parents encouraged her to go forth; they seemed to have more confidence in her ability to sing than she did. That is a shocker because really, what parent encourages their offspring to abandon a medical career for music?
Together with Pamela Waithaka and Kevin Waweru, both from Coke’s Pop Stars, they formed Sema, a group which was intended to build them musically. But the group did not stay around for more than a short time. It broke up in 2005 with one album titled Mwewe that contained 17 songs to their name. One of the main reasons for their breakup, according to Sanaipei, was that the three were simply incompatible.
“We were like three strangers put together,” remarked Sanaipei. They did not know much of one another and these differences catalysed the collapse of the group. She also cited intrusive management and the fact that they were still young as factors that pulled them apart.
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But does Sanaipei weho is popularly known as Sana regret the break up?
No she doesn’t.
“I am who I am today because the group broke up,” she says without batting an eyelid. Today, she has recorded several songs and although she is not on the Kenyan musical charts as one of the most promising contemporary musicians, she has plans to concentrate on her music, work even harder and get somewhere.
After the break up, every one of the three went their separate ways with Sanaipei embarking on recording both singles and collaborations. The first song she recorded after the breakup of sema was Kwaheri which is a collaborative effort with Jua Cali, a contemporary musician. Kwaheri , a word that translates to “bye bye” in English, is a song about a relationship that has turned sour and one party is withdrawing.
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Tande has released other singles like Najuta, a word that loosely translates to ‘I regret’. Like Kwaheri , Najuta is about relationships. The song talks about a lover who messed up her relationship on account of what people on the streets said. Najuta remained afloat for a long time if compared to her other songs.
When asked to comment about why najuta remained afloat in Kenya for quite a while, Sanaipei said that lyrics hold a song together and if the lyrics are nice and relevant, then people will love the song and the demand for the song will remain high.
And what is N Sanaipei Tande’s reason for having recorded very few songs after such a long time span?
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According to Tande, not everything can be turned into a song and that is why her lyrics have to be carefully thought out. She believes that music, once produced, is expected to be around for long and therefore, unless such music is done carefully, the composer risks being remembered unfavorably.
Another explanation of her releasing unexpectedly fewer songs is her radio job which she is now thankfully out of. As a presenter at Kiss 100’s mid-morning show, most of her time and vocals went into radio. Her being out of radio could be the beginning of a new era for her; an era of recording as many songs as possible and as she adds, a time to put all her energies into her music.
As for the target audience for her music, she says it is any one.
“I am not in a box,” she says.
The lyrics she comes up with can be listened to by all categories of people and she sings exactly the kind of music she wants to listen to.
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So, does Sana listen to her critics?
“No” the answer comes almost immediately which means that she does not have to think much about it.
She believes what her parents tell her because they have been with her all through. They are her best critics and they wouldn’t tell her a lie. She also listens to a few people she can trust.
As for random critics, she doesn’t pay attention to them because apart from some not being well versed with what she is getting at with her music, some are just downright discouraging for no verifiable reason.
So far, she has no album to her name but she is seriously working on one.
“2012 is a major year for me,” she answers when I ask what her fans should expect from her.
She says she has achieved next to nothing musically and that is why 2012 is a major year for her. Well, perhaps we can hang onto her word because for her to have taken a step as bold as leaving her day-job at kiss 100 for music, then she has real plans.
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And is she ever going back to her medical career?
Most definitely she will because she was doing pharmacy in the fast place because she loved the medical career. She says there is a void in her persona that only the study of medicine can fill. So yes, she intends to go back to school and study pharmacy some day.
To the up and coming musicians, Sana says they should be willing to take risks, work hard and invest in something different because the audience craves something new and unique.
Her main influences musically are Eminem whom she began listening to at 13 and she gives him credit for his good lyrics and uncommon ability to do rap. Beyonce is also a major influence in her music and she simply describes her as a hard working musician.
For anyone with a talent, Sana’s words are short. Pursue it. She says you never can tell whose life you are going to change or where the talent will lead you eventually.
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Any regrets in Sanaipei Tande’s life?
Yes she has some regrets.
“I got into too much clubbing at some point in my life and that almost wrecked everything,” Sanaipei says and quickly adds that her parents never stopped advising her even when she seemed to have hit the very bottom.
“Even when I switched off my phone and went clubbing for a whole night, my father would still knock at my door the following morning to talk to me.”
Her advice to parents at this point is to always be there for their children and speak to them even when nothing seems to be working.
Her main value is morality which she says brings self respect and self esteem in the long term. She advices female artistes to stick to their words where the question of morality is involved. When it is a no, it should remain a no.
“I cannot kiss you if you are not my boyfriend,” she says.
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Oh, so what about the controversies that abound in the entertainment industry about artists, especially females one, having to do some really risky things including sleeping with some members of the crew in order to get through a production?
She agrees that some women accept to be compromised. But there is more she can add.
“You don’t have to sleep with a producer to have your song recorded or produced if you have the talent,” she says in a way to show her belief in the fact that, the most you need in order to succeed in the music industry is talent.
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Another value for her is being real. Pretense, except in a movie, eventually brings a downfall.
“I am not the kind of person who will pick up my phone and call you if we are not friends,” Sanaipei says with a light tone but it is easy to know that she means it.
I have to mention that Sanaipei Tande is a storyteller; the kind of person who will hold your attention all the way. The impression I have of her as we come to the end of the interview is that of someone who intends to start a new and hopefully the remaining part of 2012 will bring more tidings for her if her determination right now is anything to go by.
This article was originally written for ArtMatters.Info in 2012
