June of all trades

June Gachui, 33, is a woman of many talents. She is not only an accomplished intellectual property lawyer, but also a musician and actress. To cap it, she is the general manager of Kenya Association of Music Producers, writes NJOKI CHEGE

It all began when as a little girl; she would literally bring down the entire house with her singing until her parents couldn’t take it anymore. So they sent her to a music school — Real Music School. And for a few hours every Saturday morning, she sang her heart out and learnt all about music from the tender age of 12.

June Gachui

She credits her parents for nurturing and supporting her even when it didn’t make sense to them.

From then on, it was only a matter of when, not if, she would fully indulge in music. She would go on to sing at various musicals at St Mary’s School Nairobi and concerts at the Real Music School and The Kenya Conservatoire of Music.

After her IB (International Baccalaureate) at St Mary’s, June pursued an undergraduate degree in Law and French from the London School of Economics. Four years later, in 2002, she came back to Kenya and joined the Kenya School of Law.

During and after her university education, June continued to sing even more, this time in weddings, lounges, clubs, restaurants and parties. Even when guests came to their home, her dad would ask June and her sister (Angie), to entertain them.

Passion for acting

All the while, she developed a passion for acting and tried her hand at stage and screen.

"After my afternoon classes at the Kenya School of Law, I would rush for rehearsals at the Phoenix Theatre. I also worked with Sterling Quality Entertainment. I enjoyed playing the role of Nyaber in the Kenyan musical Lwanda Magere —Man of Stone," she offers.

Not long after, in 2004, two Kenyan film producers — Judy Kibinge and Njeri Karago — approached her for a role in a new movie Project Daddy, where she clinched the supporting actress role, besides the main character, Wangeci Murage.

It was not difficult to juggle these two passions with school. As she explains, all she had to do was carve out time for things she loved.

"I wanted to be involved in activities that intellectually stimulated my brain— law offered that stimulation, whereas music and theatre was for spiritual fulfilment," explains June.

The bubbly June worked with Total Kenya as a legal assistant for three and a half years, and it was during this time that she was admitted to the Roll of Advocates.

While at Total, her fluency in French landed her a deal to host a French quiz show— Franco Fun— which was sponsored by the oil company and the Alliance Francaise.

Grabs every opportunity

Together with that, she was also singing all over town. She was either hosting karaoke or open mic sessions at The Cork, which used to be at the Village Market, or singing with Lawrence Mwai and Chris Bitok at K1-Pitcher & Butch on a night dubbed ‘Jazzy Tuesdays’.

She was also a common figure at the Safari Bar Intercontinental Hotel on Mondays, or hosting Unplugged Nights at the Blanco’s Lounge.

More recently, she has chosen to perform at select venues. At least once a month, you can find her at Tamambo Tapas —Village Market and the Pitcher & Butch hosting a Live Band Karaoke with Lawrence Mwai.

So where does she get all this energy?

"For me, life has always been a matter of ‘why not?’. Whenever an opportunity presents itself, I grab it and make the best out of it," she says.

In 2004, she was part of the team that recorded the album A Kenyan Christmas produced by Victor Seii and Safaricom.

"I love feeding off the energy of the audience and talking to them as though they were in my living room having coffee and listening to me sing... you don’t get that during a studio recording session," she quips.

It was during her interaction with fellow artistes that she realised an uncharted ground — that of intellectual property protection.

Says she: "Given my law background, many artistes would ask me to scrutinise for them their contracts. I realised that many artistes were being short-changed."

Bogus contracts

As she went through the contracts — some made sense and others were downright bogus — she was moved to action.

"I wanted to focus on an area of law linked to the arts, so that I could make a difference in the lives of many creatives," she says.

She researched on universities locally and overseas that offered courses on intellectual property, which broadly covers copyright, trademarks, patents, industrial design and trade secrets.

She was lucky enough to be accepted into the Law Programme at The George Washington University, where she pursued master’s degree in Intellectual Property.

HOW TO MAKE IT

Says she: "I wanted to combine my passion with my profession. It gave me joy to know that I could help.

However, I realised that artistes need to take more responsibility for their art, and learn how to negotiate contracts and understand the business side of music to profit from it."

Last year, The Kenya Association of Music Producers (Kamp) was looking for a general manager and June applied for the position.

She wanted an opportunity to link her knowledge of law and music. June got the job and joined Kamp in August 2010.

Kamp is a Collective Management Organisation (CMO) formed under the Copyright Act of Kenya 2001 to collect and distribute royalties on behalf of music producers in Kenya.

The Government, through the office of the Kenya Copyright Board issued a license to Kamp for this purpose. Kamp is the only CMO in Kenya mandated to collect royalties on behalf of producers in Kenya.

Of this great opportunity June says: "For me, this is clearly more of a passion than a regular eight to five job."

In her capacity, June and her team collect a license fee to users of recorded music such as radio and TV stations, business owners such as bars, restaurants, shops, malls for the music they play in their premises.

June also ensures musicians learn how to invest in their careers by training them how to package themselves for success.

She also teaches music producers how to set up legitimate and registered companies.

As expected, it has not been a walk in the park for June and her colleagues to get the music users to pay for the music they play, as she explains, "We have met a lot of resistance; people are fighting back due to lack of awareness.

People are not sure if the producers are getting their royalties, and that is a real concern. But we throw the challenge back to the users and tell them to pay the fees first and then hold us accountable if the money does not reach the producers."

In her free time the energetic June who is still single says she likes to sing and act.