YA KUMBUYO WAS NOT ABOUT ME, DANNY KAYA TALKS EDUCATION, CAREER, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN AND POLITICS
PLEASE NOTE: This article is an adaptation from Danny Kaya’s interview with Kenny Tonga on Kenny T 1 ON 1 podcast, episode thirteen(13). It is a long read.
The interview started with a bit of background as Kenny Tonga tried to figure out when Danny Kaya started making music, recounting that the two once lived in the same area.
Danny Kaya responded stating that watching Daddy Zemus coming up made him think that he could also do it as well therefore with access to a friend’s piano, he learned how to play it – later learning how to also play a guitar. In grade 8 he set himself to make one song and that’s where everything started but he made sure to do it cautiously as he was raised in a Christian home thus doing secular music was going to put him in conflict with his family.
WHERE WAS DANNY KAYA BORN?
Answering Kenny T’s question on where he was born, Danny Kaya decided to set the record straight, clearing misconceptions as he said he was born on 18th February 1979 in Lusaka, Zambia.
WHERE DID DANNY KAYA GO TO SCHOOL?
Danny Kaya told Kenny T that he went to Jacaranda basic school(now primary school) from grade 1 to grade 7 then later followed his father who moved to Kasama enrolling in grade 8 at Mumgwi secondary technical school. Danny Kaya then moved to Mpika Boys, where he did his grade 10 to grade 12.
GROWING UP
“For me, my upbringing was very comfortable, I wouldn’t lie,” recounted Danny kaya as he narrated how his father who is 82 years old now was one of the first accountants in Zambia hence offering him a fair upbringing.
Danny Kaya mentioned how his father, who hard a Christian and traditional rooting, exposed them to both village and urban experiences, an experience he now appreciates. “They made sure that every holiday kukutuma olo kumushi, so that you understand both sides of the world. Trust me, I’d close school, balantuma ku Chongwe,” said the superstar.
Danny Kaya further stated that he has also taken over the tradition as he also exposes his children to rural experience, something he says his children really enjoys as they get excited when there’s family reunion in the village.
He realized how valuable the experience was after taking his 6 years old son to the village and upon return he made a comment, “You know what dad, these people in the village are more intelligent than us.” When Danny Kaya asked, wondering why, his son answered, “They’ve made houses out of sticks, grass, and mud.”
● Danny Kaya was raised by both parents who are still together. His mother is 80 years old, whilst his father, as mentioned earlier, is 82 years old.
DANNY KAYA’S MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN
Danny Kaya responded to a question about his marriage and children, “I’ve been married for 18 years, I’d say. I’ve 3 kids, I know the most popular is Niza, who is apparently 20 years this year.” Kenny T shows a shocked expression that Niza is 20 years old this year, “Nafilubana, nafikota(laughs)” – responded Danny Kaya.
Danny Kaya then continued, “The second born who I was saying we went to the village, who was talking about people in the village being intelligent. He just turned 16 years on the 31st of March, and the last born is turning 12 years on the 28th of October.”
Danny Kaya expressed gratitude for being able to raise his kids to those ages and to his wife Tika, whose name he has inked on his albums, even up to date.
DANNY KAYA’S MUSICAL INSPIRATION
“That’s why I always say music is a calling – God will just put it on you, you may not even realize, ” responded Danny Kaya when asked who his inspiration was. He further said to the best of his knowledge, there was no artist in his family before him but his family sang in church hence the musical spirit had always been in the family but he was the first to embrace and nurture it.
DANNY KAYA- RECORDING FIRST SONG
Danny Kaya responding to Kenny T on recording his first song said in 1999 while he was living with his sister Virginia who is in the UK now and married to a doctor, one day while at Manda Hill with his doctor brother in-law he was surprised when instead of talking typical careers, the brother in-law who had noticed his interest in making and writing music told him, “you know, you are young – I’ve seen your interest in these tuma lwimbo ule lemba lemba. I’ll give you a chance, go and record, tell me how much it is, try it out and see, from there then you can decide.”
The young Danny Kaya was then set to record his first song. While he was looking for a someone to sing a chorus for him, he bumped into JK who was also findeco house where danny was recording his song at Feedback studios owned by Thomas a white man – it was the best studio at the time.
Danny Kaya recounted how he heard JK humming while he was moving from Choice FM to Feedback studios which was on the same floor at Findeco house and thought to himself he had found the right person to fit on his first single. He was later introduced by Thomas, who was producing his song, and then later, JK recorded his part on the song in one take.
Danny Kaya then went back to his doctor, brother-in-law, with his first song, Masiku Wonse – he liked the song and offered to pay for Danny Kaya to record a full album Something he says he was surprised as he did not consult, not even his wife in making the decision as his instant response was, “This is good.”
Young Danny Kaya now with backup went ahead to record his first album ‘Mvelani’ which had three hit songs that the people loved which included Masiku Wonse, Big Up and Ngoma Zikalila which defined and introduced him to the music world in Zambia.
Responding to Kenny T on how easy it was to have his music heard, Danny Kaya said it was difficult as the DJ at the radio station had to like the song(s) before they played them. He further revealed that, there were only four radio stations at the time – radio 4,2,1 and Phoenix FM hence an artist needed to know all the DJs and when they made CDs, they hard to make for all the four radio station DJs with their names on it – if one didn’t, they’d create a feud which was not good for the artist.
THE SONG THAT PROPELLED DANNY KAYA IN PROMINENT FAME
Kenny T went ahead now and asked the singer what song was the kicker in his career. Danny Kaya responded, saying Masiku Wonse and Big Up partly introduced him, raising some eyebrows. Then he released his second album ‘Ama Lovingi’ in 2002, which had Chikondi Chako Julie, where people started noticing him more.
It was ‘Ya Kumbuyo’ off his third album in 2003 that he could sense that people had said, “Okay, uyu ni musician watu.” Danny Kaya further added that he has written 98% of his songs.
WHAT INSPIRED THE SONG ‘YA KUMBUYO’
“I saw some crazy stuff,” recounted Danny kaya as he visited his brother, who lived in South Africa at the time.
“I saw something weird, to me it was something weird coming from Zambia, Christian background then you go into a different country, you are expose, you find people living differently – it was normal there and I was like wow, ” said Danny Kaya.
Danny Kaya said it was his South African experience coupled with the Sakala brothers’ song Sandra and another Kalindula song, which was saying
‘Ba mulamu ba popi’ that he questioned whether it was only the ‘women flock’ that was doing very crazy things or men too. That’s why he decided to make a song talking about what weird things men did, a process he termed ‘creative’.
DANNY KAYA’S GAY RUMOURS
“Three quarters of my music if not 90% has nothing to do with my experience but it’s just what I see around that I try to reflect back to the society because as I always say, we are just mirrors. Whatever comes into us, we reflect it back to people to see what is really happening around the community,” explained Danny Kaya as he extinguished rumours that he was singing about his friend on Ya Kumbuyo song.
Danny Kaya explained that, because the song was sang in first person and talked about how his friend was getting rich not knowing what he was doing in the background, people automatically assume he was singing about himself yet it was just a song based on the things he saw around.
DANNY KAYA’S COLLABORATION
The singer said he doesn’t pick an artist and goes to the studio to make the song but rather make a complete song then listen to it and digests it from which he will know which artist will best fit the song.
He gave an example on how he worked with late Joe Chibangu, he had a song which required a high pitch, after listening to it, he saw Joe as a befitting artist hence he contacted him, recorded the song within five minutes and the two had a masterpiece. He further added that the same was true for his collaboration with Brian Kombweke on ‘Balume’ a song off his last album.
DANNY KAYA AT STARDOM
Kenny T asked Danny Kaya, “I remember, every weekend there’s a Danny concert somewhere, even sometimes during the week. You are happening, you are making a lot of money. What was life like being the biggest artist in Zambia at the time?”
Danny Kaya responded, “Life is weird, you know, eish! I understand Yo Maps. He’s in the shoes that I was at some point. The unfortunate part for him is that there’s a new animal called social media, we got away with a lot of things because there was not social media. ”
He continued, “It’s tough, one you are young, you are exposed to things, suddenly you are there – so it difficult to understand exactly how to handle everything. Its a very very difficult space but you just have to grow with it, go with it and ah of course the money was coming in well, she(he) was happening but we made a lot of mistakes. ”
“Everytime I would be recording a new album, I’d put my previous album there, look at it and say, I have to beat it,” said Danny Kaya as he answered what the biggest mistake an artist would make when they are at the top.
The singer stressed that when an artist makes a hit song, they shouldn’t relax but work extra hard to beat their previous project, a mistake he says he almost made. “Ulu lwimbo abantu balu temwa sana, nala imbeshi nomba,” the singer explained how artists should be looking at their work and not relax once they have a hit song like young artists do.
When asked about substance abuse, the singer responded, saying he has never abused substances but only took whiskey to get him by, and that has added to his longevity in the industry.
DANNY KAYA’S LONGEVITY, WHAT FACTORS CONTRIBUTED?
Kenny T went ahead and asked Danny Kaya what has contributed to his longevity and how he is still able to pull crowds years after his peak in an industry whose dynamics have significantly changed when his peers have failed to do the same.
Danny Kaya responded by listing the factors.
■ “You have to respect what you do, give it all the time, try to be as professional as possible.”
■ “Understand you are your only competition.”
■ “But the biggest one that has kept me up to date I wanna believe is that, I identified playing music at a very tender age and took up that direction because I wanna believe that is what has also sustained me.”
Danny Kaya added to this that with the help of the late Mr. Chris Chali offered him a show here and there. Hence, it motivated him to keep working.
He further went ahead and talked how important live music has been in his life as he explained, “From there I learned that live music is the way, you can even perform from five to ten years, live music, not even making good money. But after 10 years, people will identify you with that – my brother! You are booked forever. In the last five years, I’ve had more shows than I’ve had in my whole career. I have shows now from August to December, I’m booked every weekend.”
The singer further said that because people know that he does live music and he has a band, he is almost always booked apart from a few weekends here and there. He also added that the Amayenge band is also fully booked, maybe even better than him.
DANNY KAYA’S FIRST SHOW AND PAY
“To me, I was doing it for passion. It had nothing to do with money,” recounted Danny Kaya when he was called to perform at Masiye Motel 25 years ago after his album release. The young Danny Kaya went to perform for free, but after the show, he was given 600,000 Kwacha rebursed currency (600 Kwacha now), an amount he said was a lot.
Danny further said that he never saw music as an income generating venture as he was doing it for passion because he loved music. He added, saying that he thought he would go back to electrical engineering as that is a course he did after grade 12 and is his profession, but what he would be part-time became a full-time thing.
DANNY KAYA’S MANAGEMENT
Danny Kaya revealed at the start of his career, his sister Virginia a nurse managed him through a label she formed ‘Mutolilo Entertainment’, using her management skills she had learned, she pushed Danny Kaya in his early days before he took over managing himself.
He further revealed that, at the time of his rise people never took music as a serious venture hence he couldn’t find a manager who could work with him full time hence he managed himself until his friend Collen who had managed a band in the UK came back to Zambia and the two connected – working together for a little over two years.
● The two went on to talk about artists and managers where Danny Kaya said an artist’s success depends on the types of managers one has, and managers need literacy in artist management.
The singer also went ahead and congratulated B Flow and KB for their election as president and vice president of ZAM respectively – stressing that one of the things on their agenda should be organizing workshops for managers with people from advanced music industries like South Africa so they can teach them artist managerial skills.
● When Kenny T asked what his take was on Yo Maps and Kandeke, with Kandeke being someone who is criticised for his managerial techniques but has managed to set up Yo Maps as the biggest artist in the country, Danny Kaya’s response was;
“My take is that those are my two brothers, trust me! That’s a pair from heaven. We may never understand, but if you mingle with them more deeply, Kandeke is the business aspect of Yo Maps’ brand. He may come out a bit different, people may not like, may nor affiliate to but when it comes to sitting down in meetings, understanding the value of the value of the art that Yo Maps brings to the table, Kandeke understands it more than Yo Maps himself.”
Danny Kaya further added that Kandeke has great negotiation skills, and the two come very far. Hence, people may have varying opinions on them. “That’s a pair that God just put together for that brand to grow, and it has to go like that,” he added.
DANNY KAYA AS A FARMER
Kenny T went ahead and asked him about family as the artist has been noted to be a farmer, to which he responded that before music and electrical engineering, he has always loved farming.
Danny Kaya said, “My favourite subject in school was agriculture science, from grade 8 to grade 12, I did agriculture science. I just loved the subject, I love animals, I relate with a lot of animals, I love crops. From the time I was in primary, I would have my own flowers, which I would even sell outside pa yard.”
“You are growing in music. They’ll come a time when you can never be very active in music. What are you gonna do?” said the singer he said he contemplated on what he’d do after music, and then he settled on farming. He then bought a big farm in Situmbeko along Mumbwa road, and he has been cultivating crops there after experimenting in his back yard in Lusaka, where he says he has a big garden.
The singer added that he has never bought fish in three years as he has fish ponds and chickens(layers) at his 10 acres (5 hectares) farm.
Danny Kaya further added that when answering Kenny T’s question, he said he sells his crops commercially and not to individuals. He said that at the moment, he has 2 hectares of potatoes to be ready in 6 weeks.
DANNY KAYA RECORDING MUSIC AT NEXUS
Kenny T asked Danny Kaya how it was working with Nexus Music and the singer responded that, he had a deal with the owner of the studio where he would be producing for the Nexus Music artists during the day and have the studio at night. It was from there that he recorded his Ama Lovingi album.
DANNY KAYA’S BIGEST ALBUM
Danny Kaya couldn’t point at one song as his album has different trajectories. He gave an example of Ya Kumbuyo album with instantly skyrocketed to success whilst Kaya album plateaued before insidiously rising to success.
Kenny T then asked what his biggest song is to which he responded that it was Kaya, and that was the way he even changed his name from just Danny to Danny Kaya.
DANNY KAYA AND BEN BLAZER
Danny Kaya then went ahead and talked about how when he went to the USA, he came back with a big book called Audio Bible and CDs given to him by the Audio Institute of America. The book and CDs he gave Ben Blazer, who is his young to make copies of and up to date, Ben Blazer, still testifies to the impact it has had on his sound engineering career.
DANNY KAYA’S CLEAN RECORD DESPITE 25 YEARS IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY
With stardom comes a lot of stories, Kenny T went on to ask how the superstar has kept a clean record to which he responded that, “I lead a boring life,” and has been hidden such that if he picks a club to be drinking from, he’ll continue doing so for the next five years at the same spot.
He further added that he has been lucky as he just like everyone has skeletons in his closet, but for some reason, that information has not hit the public domain.
DANNY KAYA’S HEADPHONES AND WATER BUSINESS
Kenny T then went ahead and asked Danny Kaya about his “Headphones” and “Water” business he had announced to which he responded, “I’m a trendsetter, I start things, I spark brains in the industry to show that we can not just rely on music. We have to enterpreneurs doing this and that.”
He highlighted that the headphones business was just to motivate his peers to venture into business like making mechanise for their brands.
On this water business, the singer said that he started the business too early hence it could not manage the surge in customers that came at the time as he was working with a company to produce the water hence he stopped and is building his own water plant at the farm in Situmbeko which will be completed in 30 days time. He added that he would also be making ice at the farm.
DANNY KAYA’S NON INVOLVEMENT IN POLITICS
Kenny T then moved forward, asking Danny Kaya why he is not involved with politics. He asked whether it was by choice or he was not just approached.
Danny Kaya acknowledged that working with political parties is business he still chose not to affiliate with them despite wild money offers as he aimed at having a long musical career. “It’s a very deliberate personal decision… you can easily split your fan base by one affiliation,” he said.
“God forbid, suppose there’s a civil war, who is gonna stand and say hey, lekenifyo. You need one or two who would come up, and people won’t associate you to this or that,” added Danny Kaya as he gave more reasons to why he remained neutral, sitting “principles.”
“I went into doing music for the calling, the passion and not the money, so that has never departed from my heart and in everything I do in my life. I’ve kept it clean as that because that’s what I believe,” said Danny Kaya before going to relating his career choices to that of Bob Marley.
Danny Kaya has had an exemplary career spanning over 25 years, and up to date, he still remains as influential as he was in his prime.
