Amileena and Calvo Mistari on love and music

Amileena and Calvo Mistari on love and music

How did you two meet?

C: We met through my friend DJ Flash of Mseto East Africa. I wanted to work with Amileena and he hooked it up.

Calvo, how does it feel to work with one of the hottest ladies in the industry?

It’s cool. She’s a really humble person so most of the time I look past her beauty. She’s 100 per cent.

What was the reason behind dropping your individual albums on the same day?

C: We were doing “Musicology” together and we thought it would be a great opportunity for both of us to play to our fans and offer them a chance to take our music home with them. It was a win-win situation.

A: There was no particular thought about it, it was just that we both had our albums ready and it made more sense collectively and resource wise. But it would also be a fun concept because no one has done a dual release in two different worlds because he is in the Hip hop world and I’m a singing performing artiste. It was an interesting mix.

Are there exciting collaborations in your albums?

C: Most definitely, I’ve collaborated with Wyre, Hussein Machozi, Amileena, Patricia Kihoro, Nessa, my Nigerian brother HB, J’Mani, Dj Nruff, Opips, Jay A, Petra & G-Kon.

A: Yeah, my record has two collaborations that I featured with Dan Aceda in let Them Say and Hali Maututi with Collo. All the other collaborations weren’t mine though. I have the Kidis one in Kamua Leo featuring Wyre and DNA. But other than that it’s just me.

Did ‘Team Mistari’ solely work on the album or are there any other producers that helped?

C: This album has been touched by Dillie, Kanyeria, Provoke, Visita, HB, J Synth and my good friend Musyoka. It was mastered by Decimal Media.

Dropping your albums on the same day, were you not worried that one may overshadow the other?

C: Not at all, we do different genres, there’s enough good music to go around. Kenyans need more local content to rival the influx of Nigerian music; our albums are a step in that direction.

A: No, we are each strong in our rights in our relevant spheres of music, so, no. At least from my perspective and I doubt in his because he wouldn’t be doing it if that was the case. There was never a thought of one being stronger than the other. We are confident in our own strengths individually so combined we are even stronger.

You guys are pretty confident.

For sure, “si ni wale wale” man, act like you know.

Between you who is the perfectionist?

C: Amileena is the perfectionist for sure. We rehearsed for Musicology for 10 weeks, nothing passes her. She’s great to work with, I’ve had fun.

What about Calvo?

A: He’s very sweet and patient, he has a wonderful team as well- ‘Team Mistari’ are a great team and open to listening and allowing your input to be heard. They are very professional. Most of the producers I have worked with before would just give you the brief, arrive at the scene and start shooting. But with Team Mistari we sat down and mapped out what we were going to do, he is a really good director too.

What do the albums sound like and what should people expect?

A: Mine is fun and inspirational, it talks about love quite a bit. It’s a feel good record; both the records are really great.

Mwanaume ni Effort has good times and party on it, it also has lots of inspirational stuff about being true to yourself. Because we draw on many similarities it just made sense to do our records together and release them together.

Who would Calvo’s dream collaboration be with?

A:  It happened, it was me. I’m just joking; I’m just pulling your leg. I know he definitely wants to work with many more people locally because both of us are about loving and promoting Kenyan music.

C: Jay-Z

‘Mwanaume ni effort’ was a big hit that topped the local charts, do you get concerned that it will be hard for you to top it?

Not really. That was a great song as it opened more doors for me. But I think I’ll only get better, you should listen to my album, which will convince you.

Amileena, do you think you have achieved significant growth since TPF?

I’m a big girl now; I’ve grown up since then considerably. I’m a lot more sure of myself, what I want to put out there and whom I want to be portrayed as. I’m unafraid, I dare to dare.

Kenyans are not big on buying albums; are you guys worried about the sales or do you have a strategy to convince them otherwise?

C: We hope to go on tour and sell the albums. Distribution is our biggest problem; we are hoping to partner with a couple of guys to make it happen.

A: No, I’m not worried because I’m not a Kenyan musician only just like Beyonce is not an American musician only. I like to cross reference myself between me and her because I don’t think there’s anything she can do that I can’t do given the resources. Our levels of opportunities are different but if you put her and other people in the music culture purely based on their God-given ability to sing I don’t think they would be unable to deliver. If people consume the record and buy into the idea that the album is great then… an album is a very personal thing, whether it’s consumed or not at least we would have tried.

What are the names of your albums?

A: Mine is self titled, it’s just Amileena. I didn’t go crazy on the names with titles like Dawn of the rising sun…(laughs)  Maybe on the second one I’ll sit down and  come up with names that’ll make people ask how did you come up with that one?

I’ve been working on it consistently for three or four years since I left the academy, so it’s a combination of my musical journey thus far.

His is “Mwanaume ni Effort”, he’s more creative. He’s that guy.

Amileena, are you comfortable recording and working with him in the studio? In a past interview you said you were shy to record while he was in the studio.

Oh no I was just being silly, like I said I’ve grown up now and I can record in front of anyone unless it’s a private session. I’m happy to record with anyone I’m collaborating with in any space. Our producer on the track, Dillie, was like ‘you want him to leave so you can be in your zone?’

And I jokingly said oh yeah, for my peace of mind and my Zen. I was just pulling his leg.

Should we expect a joint album in the future?

Anything is possible.