Kenyan saxophonist, recording artiste, and lawyer Analo Kanga is on a mission to reimagine Afro jazz in a format that is palatable to a fanbase comprising millennials and Gen Zs.
“Afrobeats, amapiano, it all comes from Fela Kuti, it comes from Hugh Masekela, it comes from Miriam Makeba,” says Analo.
“The only reason I play saxophone is because Hugh played trumpet and Fela played sax. My passion is to present afro jazz in a manner that is commercially consumable today,” she says.
Analo first played the saxophone as a student at Precious Blood School, Riruta, for her Music practical examination.
“I was like, ‘if I sing for KCSE, that’s too easy. I need to challenge myself and thankfully the school had a few instruments and had partnered with Nairobi School to teach us how to play the instruments. It was also a good excuse to force my parents to buy for me the instrument,” she recalls.
After high school, she joined the Kenya National Youth Orchestra and then became an independent artist while studying law at the University of Nairobi. She also spent hours watching saxophone tutorials on YouTube.
Her debut EP Analogies, a play on her first name, was released in October 2023 containing six songs that span various influences, from soulful R&B grooves to infectious guitar-driven rumba dance tracks.
“For the longest time, I had been an instrumentalist and played for many artists, I wanted to rebrand myself as a recording artist,” she says.
“So, I took all of my inspirations and decided to make a project that shows all my musical influences and the different aspects of who I am as a person, hence different analogies of me,” she explains. “Just being a Gen-Z, we are exposed to so much music. With streaming, you listen to artists from all over the world.”
According to her, the project is “chaotic by design” showcasing the range of her skills as an artist. Intuition is a smooth ballad while there are traces of amapiano on Pepeta Roho featuring Earlwin, an artist she first met when they were both performing at the Kenya Music Festivals.
Rumba ya Warembo is a catchy dance track featuring the band Hornsphere while the downtempo spoken word in Laana Ya Shauku evokes reflections on the ironies of life and love.
“The intention is always to work with people who are way better than me, producers, songwriters, singers, everyone is just phenomenal,” she says about the collaborations.
“Even though she played the clarinet at one point, Analo is totally focused on her principal instrument, the alto-saxophone: “It is important for me to be an incredible saxophonist as opposed to being a multi-instrumentalist. I already sing, which makes my voice one instrument already,” she adds.
“Remember, I started as a singer and only took a break of about five years to work on my saxophone playing technique. There is a lot of power in words.
“I do feel like an instrumental track is complete but sometimes you need to have lyrics. I also think my singing is decent, so why not.”
Analo Kanga, jazz saxophonist, vocalist and performing artiste plays at an event on August 24, 2021
Photo credit: Pool
“If I didn’t start music for a passion, I don’t think I would still be doing music because music has saved my life so many times. It has given me structure, discipline, character and emotional development, opportunities.
You can be an influence beyond even your own life because these songs that we make we are going to leave them here and they will forever exist.”
Her biggest career opportunity so far was being among recipients of the 2022/23 We are Moving the Needle, a one-year scholarship offering training to women music professionals founded by the Grammy Award-winning US engineer Emily Lazar.
Analo studied music production, songwriting, artist development under the mentorship of Stargate, the duo renowned for their work with Rihanna and Beyonce.
“It was a great honour learning how to write pop music in the American context. Their favourite songs were the ones in Kiswahili. They would be like “we don’t know what you are saying but it sounds provocative. The melody is fire”.
The first song of her EP, Stay That Way (Intro), a partnership with Australian producer Jared Azoor, was the product of the mentorship programme.
Analo is signed to Sol Generation Records and Publishing, which is responsible for digital distribution of her music, collecting royalties, and syncing her music for film and TV.
“There is only one music publishing company in the region and so our music is not being prioritised when music supervisors are looking for music for Netflix or Apple TV. People will use what they know.”
Analo, who graduated with a law degree in 2022, now lectures college students on copyright, music business, trademarks and patents.
“Intellectual Property is the foundation of the creative industry, music, film, TV and design. Artistes need to understand the legal aspects of the business.
“You could be struggling to get streams on Spotify when you could just sync your songs to a TV station and you have a license for three years and get paid for it,” she explains.
Her next project due, before the end of the year, is a single with an “exciting but undisclosed featured artist” followed early next year by an EP of three instrumental songs that are a hybrid of afro jazz, reggae and pop.”
