Grandpa records founder Refighah calls out 'greedy' local musician

Refighah says most of them have been meeting government officials

• Refigah has penned an open letter to all artistes. 

• He says the deteriorating state of affairs in the music industry will make the upcoming artists a demotivated and vulnerable lot.

Grandpa records founder Noah Yusuf, alias Refigah
Grandpa records founder Noah Yusuf, alias Refigah
Image: COURTESY

Grandpa records founder Noah Yusuf, alias Refigah has penned an open letter to all artistes.

According to Refigah, the deteriorating state of affairs in the music industry will make the upcoming artists a demotivated and vulnerable lot.

Refigah through a statement says that the industry is not doing well and every effort being made by relevant stakeholders to clean the mess is being sabotaged by the same artists. 

He accused the artistes of living a fake life on their social media.

"The reality is a majority of celebrities, are broke. The flashy lifestyle you all see on social media is just a façade, the complete opposite of their true self," he stated in a statement.

"It makes me wonder, do we need our industry back on its feet?If we are to stop the culture of producing poor celebrities and put an end to the all-time script of celebrities having bad endings despite glorious careers, we should change our attitude and approach towards issues," he said.

Refigah added that most artistes have been looking for avenues in the government to have them support them as individual artistes which he says is killing the industry.

"Many artists have therefore become regular visitors to government offices endlessly knocking on doors and seeking audiences to have their events/concerts supported. They aren’t willing, however, to collectively seek an audience to air out their issues as one affected team. Everyone is looking at their gain rather than collective assistance," he said.

According to the music mogul, when CS Ababu Namwamba granted mainstream artists an opportunity for a dialogue, none honoured the invitation while some asked for 5,000 shillings masqueraded as ‘fuel money. 

"What do you need to be paid for? This is not showbiz where you get an appearance fee but rather real issues that the CS is willing to address," he said.

"Since the new Government assumed office, there have been Different Groupings claiming to fight for everyone’s rights in the creative space. Everyone wants to be a hero or grab the headlines, but they all draw the line when the CS wants to meet all of you.

He claims that most artistes are doing it for likes and not to benefit the industry.

"If you are genuine about supporting the music industry then you’re obliged to support the Hon CS Ababu Namwamba who means well for this industry. “tuache jokes, no one is proud to be maskini maarufu.”

He then encouraged CS Ababu Namwamba not to give up on our agenda of reviving the music industry.

"Let’s walk the talk and save our music industry. It’s in dire need of all stakeholders to work in unison to push our Kenyan brand."

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