Ali Kiba: It was like I never left the scene

I had waited in the hotel lobby for close to some 30 minutes and while there I listened to a couple of Ali Kiba’s old songs from Cinderella to Single Boy, they still sounded freshly ground.

This was the first time that Ali Kiba was to speak to The Beat exclusively in four years ever since his days on the One8 project where he worked with R-Kelly.

The next hour or so was to take us into a journey that Ali Kiba declared as his return to music and from the moment he walked the he beamed with an air of confidence.

A confidence that could only compare to the Hercules, and as he rested his phone on the table and settled into a chair next to me, he said it.

“Ali Kiba is back,” he declared with some self assurance.

On his return he brings with him two hot singles ‘Mwana’ and ‘Kimasomaso’ both recorded in local studios in Dar es Salaam.

“Mwana is a song that I wrote and was produce by ManWalter. It talks about a young person who goes astray after he or she attains some freedom,” says Ali Kiba.

He adds: The second single Kimasomaso was originally written and performed by taarab singer Issa Matona. It was sampled, produced and arranged by Marco Chali at MJ Records.

According to the crooner, the only reason that he had to redo Issa Matona’s song was to keep the good old music alive by giving it a typical Bongo Flava beat.

On a quick listen, Mwana has that infectious Afro-pop beat that is synonymous with a story line that is reminiscent of some of his earlier works such as Mac Muga and others that followed.

“The music we make have to be about things that our fans can relate to and not issues that are farfetched which don’t have any meaning in their daily lives,” he says.

To him it was like he never left the scene for the three years that he was away as he kept himself relevant during all this time.

“I kept myself busy with other projects, I became more of a fan and during that period I realised that there can only be one Ali Kiba and that I was still relevant in the industry,” he says.

Though there have been several versions of why he had chosen to stay away from the game, Kiba maintains that his self imposed sabbatical was to allow himself a rest.

“But even though this is what it might look or sound like, I kept myself active as used the window to support my little brother Abdu Kiba to jumpstart his career and to work on musically unrelated businesses,” he says.

His association with Abdu which produced club banger Kidela was a source of criticism as some pundits argued that it had left the young lad in his shadows.

“The thing is that despite the fact that we are brothers we have distinctive qualities that set each one of us apart and that is why I do not see why anyone can mistake one for the other,” said the soft spoken artiste.

In an industry that has been in recent years characterized with controversy and turmoil on the business end of things he says that maybe his leave came at the right time.

He is one among the few artistes who out of intuition refused to sign any agreement with mobile phone companies over the ringtone/caller tunes deal.

“When I looked at it, there was no business sense because if it is a business then everyone has to benefit at a scale that makes sense. Whatever was being put on the table was like money for taxi home!” he says as he shudders.

And from the look of this the tide of fortune is blowing toward his direction as he promises that that more is on the way including a special launch sometime September.

“The thing is that I am now under new management, a team of serious people, though all the threads are yet to be put together I am positive with how things are punning out. I shall let you know,” she says with a smile.

And unlike the current trend where artistes don’t release albums Ali Kiba says an album will be on the way soon.

“It is a great idea to have an album, first it is like a souvenir to your fans and secondly it builds on the artiste’s profile,” he says.

There are times when he feared that the game was going in the wrong direction and he calls on artistes to be a bit more creative to make a lasting impression on their fans.

“When I was coming up, there were songs which were national anthems then and that is what we are missing now, that goes down to one thing; creativity or the lack of it,” he says.

To make sure he lasts in the game Ali Kiba has started compiling a music catalogue which he says is now close to two albums in his library

Ali Kiba first came to the big stage in 2007 with his debut single Ciderella, a song that set the ball rolling for him as was to become one of the hottest music properties in the country and East Africa.

His association in 2010 with the One8 group which featured other seven prominent artistes from Africa including 2Face and Congolese musician Fally Ipupa that cemented his international status.

The group went on to release a sensation hit single Hands across the World which was recorded in R. Kelly’s studios in Chicago US with Ali Kiba featuring prominently.

The compilation CD which featured his song Mapenzi Yana Run Dunia was distributed across Africa attracting several admirers.