BONIFACE MILIMO is a gospel musician, and the Chief Executive Officer of Tukuza Awards. He chats about what Tukuza is all about, what makes gospel singers switch to secular music, why they exclude new generation artistes from their programmes and why many gospel artistes court controversy.

What is Tukuza Awards all about?

Tukuza Awards is a registered interdenominational Christian initiative geared towards appreciating, uplifting and awarding various talents in the gospel industry. We also celebrate media people, TV and radio presenters, gospel singers, dancers, bishops, and pastors doing exemplary jobs in their ministries.

The focus of Tukuza Award is to uplift the talents of unknown artistes to grow them musically and spiritually. We also train budding artistes by catering for their studio charges and giving them an opportunity to showcase their talents, both at the regional and national levels. We host events to popularise gospel artistes’ work and reward the best performing.

What was the motivation for initiating Tukuza? 

Our greatest motivation to form the organisation was to address the challenges faced by new artistes who lacked a platform to showcase their talent.

Up-and-coming artistes with quality music in areas like Mathare, Huruma, Kayole, Dandora and Kibera find it difficult to market their music.

Our goal is to make it easier for them, through our platform and events.

How does Tukuza operate and how many artistes does your organisation work with?

We have more than 100 artistes registered with us, plus more than 30 live bands.

So far, how has this platform helped artistes in the gospel industry? 

Apart from facilitating the exposure of talent and supporting gospel musicians to market their music or channels, we liaise with studios to help talented artistes record their music. We have done this across the country.

We have also helped others organise live music shows as well as shoot videos and in launching their careers.

Furthermore, we plan events in different regions to make them known and market their music.

How are your events sponsored?

So far, we have no sponsorship. We support ourselves through contributions from our officials and friends.

New generation artistes have accused you of excluding them in the events, why is this so?

The problem with the new generation of artistes is that they take gospel music as a business where one expects to earn immediately after they release a song. If the song does not become a hit, they resort to clout-chasing behaviour to popularise their music. As Tukuza, we provide a platform for the unknown artiste rather than a known artiste who wants to do gospel music for business and not spread the word of God.

The other thing is that some of these artistes start with gospel music then after becoming popular they turn to secular music. So many of the new generation artistes cannot be trusted to spread the word.

What are your future plans for the expansion of this programme? 

We plan to open a music academy and recording studios as well as equipment centred around uplifting up-and-coming artistes.

Since this is a one-time/yearly event, how do you sustain the staff? 

Our employees are self-employed and so they are able to multi-task. They can deal with Tukuza and also manage their finances. Besides, passion and motivation keep us moving.

For the last two years, we haven’t heard much about Tukuza Awards, what are you up to? 

Due to the pandemic restrictions, we were unable to host awards. However, this year we will have an award ceremony in August. Nonetheless, we will be keen on selecting the categories of artistes to be awarded to avoid scandals.

Which event do you consider the most memorable for your organisation?

The Donholm event. The performances were impressive and we had numerous giveaways.

What can you say about gospel artistes switching to secular music?

I think they are in the industry for business, not to spread the word of God. However, we pray for them to find their way back to the gospel. When they come back, we will be welcome them back to the fold.

What do you think the gospel music industry will be like in the next five years? Will it be full of new-generation artistes?

Currently, we are doing our best to be at the top. Musically we are training hard to produce the best. We are showing them the right and righteous path. I don’t think new-generation artistes will take over.

Up-and-coming artistes in the gospel industry find it hard to manoeuvre and opt to seek controversy to remain relevant. What are your views on this? 

It depends on an individual and who they want to become. Good things take time. You will find that most of these artistes desired fame, that is why they decided to be controversial to chase clout and popularity.

Your parting shot? 

We should know that God is real and his timing is the best. We should also strive to lead our followers to the right path.

Published by Tukuza Magazine