New glory: Marion's big plans for gospel music

Multiple award-winning Mombasa songstress Marion Shako talks about her challenges and successes in gospel field, writes Kiundu Waweru.

Blue Room Restaurant in Mombasa town is popular especially for its ice cream that soothes the heat out of its middle class revellers.

As the patrons sample the delicacies, in saunters Marion Shako. She looks around, and people, in recognition, smile at her. She smiles back gaily. One lanky fellow actually stands up, greets her enthusiastically and they chat briefly.

"He was my old school mate who has since relocated to the US," Marion Shako tells me after exchanging pleasantries.

Many Awards

It’s a Friday, just after five. Marion holds an eight to five day job as an administration assistant, though she travels a lot, especially upcountry for music performances.

A household name, Marion describes herself as a worshipper, songwriter, and award-winning musician. Marion has won four Groove awards in successive years and now says that in the coming edition, she won’t enter.

Taking a bite from her chocolate flavoured ice- cream, she says: "Let’s give room (to win awards) to the upcoming artistes."

Marion Shako is well known for her song, Ahadi Nzake (His Promises) from her first album, Msaada Wangu (My Helper) released in 2007. The following year, the album won the Groove Worship album of the year and Ahadi Zake earned Marion Song Writer of the year trophy.

Her music career had been set uphill. She has since recorded two other albums, Inuka Bwana, 2008 and Shukrani 2010.

The song Jina la Yesu from the album Inuka Bwana bagged the worship song of the year, 2009, at the Groove followed by the Yahweh ni Mungu, for Pwani song of the year, last year. This year, the song Adonai from Shukrani album also took home the Pwani trophy.

Worship master

Her genre is worship, delivered with beautiful vocals and emotional connection with the audience that has so endeared her to them.

Ironically, she is more popular upcountry than at the Coast, a thing she is set to change with a ministry she has just launched. Marion is influenced by CeCe Winans, a renowned American gospel artiste known also for ‘worship’ songs.

The songbird remembers a happy childhood as the last born of five children of Aggrey and the late Sylvia Shako where she was kinda pampered.

"My mother, Sylvia, strived to bring us up as staunch Christians. At the age of ten, I featured prominently in the church Sunday School Choir."

In the evenings, Sylvia would sit her daughters with hymn songs which they would religiously sing along.

A germ was planted in a young soul, which Marion continued to water even as she grew up, "a bit sheltered".

"I had a strong desire to serve God," says Marion. "In music, I found the right path."

Leader

At the Jesus Celebration Centre Church, Mombasa, which is led by Bishop Wilfred Lai, Marion joined the church choir and rose to be the worship leader. It is then that she started writing her own songs.

Now the fourth album is in the works and after 11 years in the ministry, Marion feels that it’s time to take the show an extra mile to reach more lives in Mombasa. Though Mombasa County passes as a Muslim stronghold, Marion thinks Christians are actually the majority.

"But the gospel music scene is yet to pick up as in Nairobi," says Marion.

In April this year, she launched a worship ministry, Heart of Worship.

"This is a non profit ministry that hosts bi-monthly night vigil praise and worship sessions," she explains. Initially she wanted to do it monthly, but she says she is hindered by lack of funds.

The ministry has already hosted two events where Marion invites a gospel artist, besides herself entertaining with her 21- member band with whom they meet once every week for practice to the wee hours of the morning.

"In the long-run, the ministry plans to take praise and worship to prisons and orphanages before spreading to other provinces," says Marion.

The third edition of the Heart of Worship will be held in Mombasa today (Friday) at the Jesus Celebration Centre, Buxton, from 10pm to 5am. Quoting the Bible, Marion says she hopes the Heart of Worship Ministry will revive the spirit of the humble, and the heart of the contrite ones.

The lanky man, whom Marion went to school with returns saying he would like to have a photo with the girl who became famous. She obliges.