As the sun sets on the shores of Lake Victoria, a cool breeze wafted through the Hippo Point compound where the local residents had converged for the Fish Fiesta festival.
Several activities were lined up geared at protecting, conserving, and aggressively marketing Lake Victoria tourism, marine transport, water sports, climate moderation as well as the water reservoir for agriculture, industry, and domestic use.
A young budding artist is thrilling her adorable fans including the Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Heritage, Ms Peninah Malonza, and Kisumu County Governor Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o among other dignitaries with a memorable scintillating performance.
The frenzied crowd hummed and danced along to her fast-paced, energetic beats and lyrics as they requested an encore.
A new talented Queen has been born in the lakeside city of Kisumu.
She serenades her Rap Music kingdom and rapping is her forte. In the next 5-10 years, she sees herself becoming a global superstar.
Passionate, determined, committed and focused are the words that aptly describe and welcome you into the world of 12-year-old Quinter Akinyi, with the stage moniker of Queen Rose. The name was coined from her name (Quinter) and her mother’s (Rose).
“My songs are always messages highlighting issues affecting young children. So, I am their ambassador representing the voices of the voiceless. I also infuse in my songs old children’s games which people tend to forget about,’’ she said during an exclusive interview with KNA at their Kanyamedha home in Kisumu East Sub-County.
Steadily scaling the heights, Queen Rose says that she desires her songs to evoke emotions in her listeners, tell stories, and paint vivid pictures.
The budding artist born in 2010 began singing aged 8 after closely monitoring her brother Hannington Otieno, aka Valiant VivenBoy who is her acting manager-cum-musician.
Queen Rose remembers that one day when her brother came back from school, he found her singing his songs and he immediately took her to the studio for recording.
“I rap but I can sing any type of song to satisfy my loving fans. I have also done gospel, reggae, acoustic bongo, kapuka and tech beat genge tones,’’ explained the Grade 7 pupil at Kanyamedha Junior Secondary School.
She adds that she attends school from Monday to Friday, but after completing her homework, she goes to the studio or practices freestyle during the weekends.
She continues; “My first song was Nani. It was an introductory song and I wanted people to know who I am.’’
Boasting 12 songs, over 20 audios churned out and counting, her brother is the one who mostly writes the songs and she also writes some freestyles.
Some of her hit songs are November 17th, Safcom, Stingo, Chumbu, Dancehall, Brikicho, and Tobina, among others.
“My favorite song is Chumbu because I mentioned the names of all the celebrities and genge music artists in it,’’ she said.
Applauding the continued support from her mother, Queen Rose aspires to become an Aeronautical Engineer and she enjoys learning subjects like Mathematics and Business studies.
Could it be because every day she watches as planes fly past their house as they land at the nearby Kisumu International Airport?
“Planes are beautiful and I love them. In school, I do enjoy learning subjects like Mathematics and Business studies,’’ smiled the lyrical queen reassuringly.
As a hobby, the mic mistress loves to play football for her school and estate team as a central midfielder.
“Our team is called Kodongo Green Stars. We normally play inter-estate games and participated in some tournaments,’’ she happily remarked.
Ms Rose Achieng, her mother says that her daughter’s music career started like a joke.
“I am her number one fan and with their brother, I have been very supportive of their music careers. I used to love playing netball but lacked the necessary support,’’ Achieng reveals.
She stressed that paying Queen Rose’s school fees has been a challenge and the constant mocking she experienced due to her “Big Title” while in her previous school.
Achieng advices fellow parents to be supportive of their children for them to fully tap into their potential.
“Surprisingly no one in her family lineage was a musician. I used to see my father play, listen and dance to songs from his many tape cassette collections. That’s how I developed an interest in music and started singing at a tender age,’’ Valiant recalls adding that his father died in 2010 a few months before Queen Rose was born.
Interestingly, his elder brother Jared Odhiambo aka Jaro the Dancer is another promising Tiktok dance artist.
Valiant further informs that he temporarily sacrificed his music ambition to help in guiding and managing her sister’s music career.
Rap as a music genre, was first recorded in the 1970s and is deeply rooted in African-American culture. Different rappers come up with their own style, flow, and story to tell. Globally, it continues to evolve and is heard by people from all walks of life.
Some of the renowned Kenya female rappers are Stella Mwangi (STL), Nazizi Hirji, Petra, Muthoni the Drummer Queen, and Rosa Ree amongst others.
Her achievements, she points out include performing at different events to share her thoughts with themed messages to her target audience.
“My memorable performance was during my first show at Ojola Centre (Kisumu East), Onagi Shows, Kisumu Cultural Festival 2023 which was graced by Cabinet Secretary Sports, Youth Affairs and Arts Ababu Namwamba, among others,’’ Queen Rose confirmed.
She has collaborated with comedian-cum-musician, Eric Omondi in releasing the song titled “November 17th’’ featuring Lafrik Band, Kushman, and recently Triman.
“I wish to collaborate with rappers like Khaligraph Jones, Chameleone (Uganda), Darasa (Tanzania), and Sheba (Uganda) to release songs. I like their music styles and composition because they resonate with mine,’’ she emphasized.
Queen Rose mentions the lack of adequate money to pay music and video producers for them to release her song in the studios as a major setback experienced so far in her music career.
Some of her songs were produced by Amocare Music and Mabonge Beats.
“Getting a reliable sponsor has been a thorn in our flesh. Most people have been taking advantage of us and leaving us in our time of need,” Valiant lamented.
In many instances, Valiant reveals that they have walked long distances with her sister after failing to be paid by some event organisers. He can’t forget having a few run-ins with some music producers.
“When an artiste has performed, they need to be paid for them to be motivated and work extra hard,” he stressed.
But now, he reveals that they have a good professional manager, King George who has shown a true spirit and good interest in helping Queen Rose.
I am calling upon any well-wishers to help us nurture this raw talent for her to reach the music pinnacle of stardom,’’ he vouched for his younger sister.
Currently, Queen Rose has released a new fans-game song named ‘Tapo Tapo’. To stay focused on her school work, she has suspended her performances until the end term in December. Her next big project is to perform at the forthcoming Kaya Festival bringing together various reggae artists to be hosted in Kisumu on December 7.
According to her brother, the festival will also feature Mbogi Gengetone, Itals, Blue Fire, and many more.
Her parting shot to young, talented, and upcoming artists is that they should not give up, but tirelessly continue to pursue their dreams.
By Rolex Omondi
