So Sad: "Dunia Mbaya" Benga Singer Now Broke And Working As A Casual Labourer

Piece by: Harun Momanyi
Entertainment

You probably remember the song "Dunia Mbaya" which got people dancing in their houses, at festivals, in bus stations and on national tv. The song was done by Lilian Auma - now 45 - AKA Princess Jully.

She was largely successful in the 90's; she had even rented a house in Nairobi, which cost her 30,000 shillings a month. After her husband Prince Jully died in 1997, the former Benga queen moved to Nairobi to produce music.

She's now back to living in a mud house at his rural home.

Well, Auma has now gone back to Suna West sub-county, and started going to mines for a 300 shillings a day odd job. She's now being forced to walk for over 50 km to make ends meet in the county. Her life is an utter disaster. Incidentally, he song "Dunia Mbaya" was an awareness about HIV/AIDS as a national disaster campaign.

Here's her "Dunia Mbaya" music video;

“From my shop is distributed my music across the country and to Tanzania. Business was booming before I was hit by rampant piracy,” she has revealed. Initially, she had even opened her own music distribution store along Mfangano Street.

Click next to know what she plans to do to regain balance

“I chose to live like my local rural women to help make ends meet for me easily,” she said. Switzerland, Netherlands and South Africa are some of the countries she traveled to and built fandom. However, this is not the case anymore. She's back to leading a poor life.

Her star has not waned to oblivion just yet. She plans a comeback by releasing a national hit that will profile Al Shabaab as a menace that needs to be gotten rid of.

“Currently I plan to record a song on terrorism attack in the country and send a message to Al Shabaab to end radicalization,” she said. Will it be long before she catapults herself back to fame? People at the mines get shocked when they meet her there. Meanwhile, her mining job and low profile village events are her main source of income.

Her colleague Suzanna Owiyo has however maintained her traction and is still performing all over the world. She and Eric Wainaina performed during the recently concluded GES summit. She and Auma were in the group "The Nile" alongside Achieng Abura and Mercy Myra.