Diva unknown at home, makes career in the US

Miriam Chemmoss with singer Awilo Longomba in the US. [PHOTOS: COURTESY/STANDARD]

By DANIEL PSIRMOI

The saying ‘A prophet is not honoured at home’ seems to have been coined with Miriam Chemmoss in mind, as it sums up the showbiz career of the talented New York- based Kenyan diva. 

Although her music is more popular with East Africans in the USA and international audiences, she largely remains unknown to music fans in Kenya. 

“I may not be playing on mainstream Kenyan radio due to lack of adequate exposure and my being based here in the US, but I do get some love from Kenyan audiences mainly through the internet,” says Miriam, also an accomplished actress, songwriter and model, who reckons that she knew from an early age that she belonged to the entertainment world. She remembers with nostalgia participating in the Kenyan drama and music festivals in primary and secondary schools she attended in the country.  In 1998 Miriam moved to the US after being awarded a full scholarship by Waldorf College, in Iowa to study Theater/Music and Media Studies.

 According to the songbird, the college she attended, a Liberal Arts school was a great foundation as she got an opportunity to sit for music lessons and private vocal coaching. After graduation in 2001, she moved to Washington DC where she continued getting training and experience singing at workshops, events and with various local bands.

“I moved to New York City in 2004 which remains my most memorable year, the year I took my musical ambitions to the next level. It is in New York where I began to develop my performance skills as a member of ‘The Marvalletes Revue’ under the direction of original Marvallete - Pam Darden, in a revival of the famous Motown girl group,” she explains, and quickly adds that while at the group, she brushed shoulders on stage with legendary groups such as   ‘Kool and The Gang’, ‘The Escorts’ and  ‘Soul Generations’ among others.  A year later, Miriam joined the legendary ‘Soukous Star’ band; experts at Congolese Rhumba, under direction of the famous Lokassa Ya Mbongo, Ngouma Lokito, Shiko Mawatu and winners of the 2004 International Reggae and World Music Awards. 

Male veterans

She carved out a role among the male veterans as the sole female voice on both harmony and lead vocals. By 2005, she had worked with several great musicians from Africa, the Caribbean and the US.  In the same year, Baby Black Ndombe son of the veteran Congolese musician Pepe Ndombe Opetum, invited her to feature on his number one single and video called, Let’s Dance from his US solo debut, Teur de Babel.

 She went solo in 2006, recorded and released Rudi, her first Swahili single that catapulted her to international fame after it topped charts in several radio stations across the globe.  The success of the single made her get featured in the Vibe Magazine of September 2007, where she was called ‘The Queen of African Urban Music’.  She has since then recorded several singles including, Let’s Dance (2008), Love in Reverse (2009), Africa (2010).

Last year, she completed and released her first album titled Lovebird. Half of the songs in the volume - in which she effortlessly blends global urban and folk influences from Reggae to Soukous and Taarab, on a bedrock of Rhythm & Blues and Hip-Hop-are done in a mixture of Swahili and English. It also contains one full dance song called Malaika that is all in Swahili.

“One of my goals for the use of both languages in the album is to reach a wider audience. I love Swahili having grown up in Tanzania and Kenya speaking good Swahili,” she jokes, and adds that she is humbled that her new album is getting a lot of love from people around the world. 

“Ode to Daddy, Unconditional Love, and Now Is the Time, Malaika and Stronger are some of the popular songs in the album,” says the artiste. She has also worked with the famed Lion King Composer, Lebo M, Bouro Mpela from Koffi Olomide’s group as well as many other Diaspora artistes based in the US.