Kenyan Artists Need To Stop Making Music In English

As of March 2025, the biggest Kenyan song is Mwaki by Sofiya Nzau and Zerb. The song currently has 261,279,399 streams, and that is on Spotify alone. There is no telling how many streams the song has worldwide if you include its streams from Apple Music, YouTube, and other streaming platforms, but the number must be well over 300 million streams.

Mwaki is special because, throughout the entire song, no word of English is sung. Despite that, the song is a global hit, which has made Sofiya Nzau a global superstar. Across the world, people who do not even know what the song says have fallen in love with it and added it to their playlists and DJ sets.

Here in Kenya, we had no choice but to fall in love with Mwaki and claim it as our own after the world had already accepted and appreciated it. As Kenyan music continues to evolve, Mwaki is a great example of why we need to stop making music in English and start to embrace the languages and sounds that are Kenyan and ours.

For a very long time, Kenyan artists were lied to that in order for the music to go international or global, they needed to make music in English, but that is not the case. Not back then and not now. If you think back to history when you listen to music from legendary groups like African Heritage and Them Mushrooms, the music they made was not in English and was still very much appreciated in Europe and America.

Kenyans are very good English speakers because we were colonized by the British, which is why it is the official language of Kenya despite us having 42 different tribes. As Kenya grew and gained her independence, we, as Kenyans, continued learning and communicating in English instead of our local languages. For many Kenyans growing up, we were heavily influenced by the West through radio and TV, and that is why many of our artists make music that sounds Western-influenced. More recently, however, we have begun to see more artists embrace and make music in the local languages and still be embraced by the masses. Some notable examples are Ayrosh, Coster Ojwang, Kwame Riigi, Okello Max, Wanjine, and Winyo. The truth is that with music, nobody cares what you say. What people care about and remember is how a song made them feel. When someone understands what the music is saying, it makes the music sweeter, but it is still very much possible to enjoy a song without knowing what is being said, as is the case with Mwaki. There are millions of Kenyan songs out there and none of them is bigger than Mwaki. Of course, there are several factors as to why the song Mwaki is successful outside of the language used in the song but the fact that even many Kenyans don’t know what the song says, or means is a testament that language barrier is not a barrier to entry in the global music industry.

As Radio 254, our mission is to showcase and promote Kenyan music and content to the world via the Internet. As we continue on this mission, we think that it is important to tell Kenyan artists out there that we need to stop making music in English to try to get the attention of an international or global audience. If anything, the thing that people outside of Kenya appreciate most is the fact that Kenyan music is in a different language. That is not to say that Kenyans should not make music in English but rather to emphasize that Kenyans don’t need to make music in English to go global.

Think about all of the Kenyan songs that have gone viral, none of them is in English. Whether you are talking about Lamba Lolo, Sauti Sol, or Mapangale, what the world loves is our diversity as a people. As Kenyan artists, it is time we embrace why we are different. We are constantly singing Nigerian songs we have no idea what is being said but draw the line when it comes to listening to music in Sheng. Our local languages are beautiful, whether it is Kamba, Luo, Maasai, Kisii, or even Meru. We should show and teach the world our languages, not theirs. Trust me, they will listen and appreciate probably even more than they do now. It’s Kenya to the world; we need to show the world Kenya! Sing or Rap in Sheng or Kikuyu if you have to. You can always use English to communicate and in interviews. The music doesn’t have to be in English to be understood or loved. It should just be good music.