Quick Questions with Tela Wangeci
-Oibiee
Still speaking with Superheros, this week we met Lady Immortalius! Read on to find out a lot about her!
Morning Rabbit or Night owl? What are the top 3 spaces you enjoy working from?
Ironically I am both. I get super creative between 10 pm – 2 am and 5 am – 8 am. I guess it depends on what my daytime schedule looks like.
We are creating a comic book about the superheroes of the African music industry, describe your superpower as a music journalist?
Immortality, I definitely want to experience the evolution of music in 100 years and still be have the ability to tell the stories vividly.
Tell us the journey to becoming a Music Journalist?
I really can’t pinpoint when exactly my journey with music started. As a kid, I always sang along to radio songs word by word and also wrote a lot of poems and spoken word pieces, so I often thought I would be a rapper. Eventually, I gave up the dream and decided to be a journalist when I was in High School. I streamlined my passion for writing into being a culture and music journalist when I was 17 years. I initially worked as an intern for Ruby V who is a Hip Hop journalist and learned the foundations of Hip Hop. I also began writing Tangaza Magazine which focuses on East African music around 2018. Around this time my interest in Music Business especially PR carved out and I began working with my mentor Camille Storm at her PR boutique Camille&Co. Despite all this I would say my big break came in 2021 after I did an international piece for Pan African Music Magazine on the Rise of Drill in Kenya. Currently, I am a writer at NATIVE Magazine. My favourite part of being a music journalist is getting to collect music pieces from different timelines and seeing the deeper evolution of music not only as a genre but as a lifestyle. To anyone who considering a similar journey:
It’s not all glitz and glamour talking to artists but it’s more of documenting music so people can always go back to the archives and find more information on the craft. It’s never about your name because the story you tell needs to be bigger than you.
What is your favorite African meal?
Can I say potatoes? These were the best things ever created. From mashed potatoes to bhajia to masala fries I literally think if there is Potato Juice I’ll be the first to drink it up.
What passion projects are you managing at the moment? What inspired you to start or join them?
I am working on getting my music podcast back on track. It’s called the Newz Podcast and I started it with my best friend Fadhili mainly because there is too much music coming out of Kenya and the mainstream media only supports mainstream artists. We mainly wanted to plug the people into new underground music. Apart from that, I am also working on another music podcast with a good colleague of mine called Antoine. It’s called Underground 10 and this is more of a comical and music podcast where we discuss the latest happenings in Kenya’s music scene.
Team Apple Music/ Spotify/ Boomplay/ Soundcloud? Tell us the Top 5 songs on your music player
TEAM APPLE TILL THE DEATH OF ME.
1. God’s Incense – Shooterkhumz
2. I Get Around – 2Pac ft Digital Underground
3. Love Me or Leave Me – UKWELI ft Xenia Manasseh
4. Bag – Kxffy ft Gaccu OukoSeason & Muthoka
5. Tingisha Kidole – XPRSO ft Rvmp, Mars Maasai &MR.LU*
Where is the most unlikely place you have found an artist or a songwriter and how did it happen?
TikTok. There is an artist called Unco Jingjong and his chorus from “Dancehall” was trending for a hot minute on Kenyan Tiktok but I couldn’t really identify the song or the writer because there were no credits to the song and his voice is pretty deep so you can’t hear some of the chorus words.
Who are some of your favourite African writers and editors in the music industry?
First off, the whole NATIVE newsroom. I honestly feel blessed to be surrounded by such a competent team that I continuously get to learn from on an everyday basis. Itty Okim also, pens his stories so passionately and meticulously. Also, Charles Myambo who writes for the Hype Magazine
Your name is going in the hall of fame for people who impacted the music industry, what would your quote be?
Those who are blinded by grief can’t differentiate between prey and bait.
– Tela wangeci