Five school leavers beat joblessness with their melodious voices

Members of The Nicholas Harmonies acappella rehearse at the Rift Valley Provincial Headquarters in Nakuru last month.Photo/Suleiman Mbatiah 

By  MORAA OBIRIA

The St Nicholas Harmonies, an acappella group made up of five members, began their journey about four years ago. Members of the Nakuru based group include Laban Asila; the team leader, Patrick Simali, Jason Jeff, Peter Wanjo and Steve Biko.

Coming from poor backgrounds, the five were jobless after completing their High School studies. Being dependants, they dreamt of becoming independent by the time they turned 25 years.

They had participated in various music festivals while students at St Nicholas Anglican Church Secondary School.

Soon after sitting their Form Four exams, they agreed to form the group. But they did not have money for recording their songs. It was then that a secondary school head teacher contracted them to teach music.

“We used to walk for 21 kilometres to and from the school daily. We ate one cheap meal per day. We were so excite, believing that by the end of the training session we would have raised enough money to record our music. But it was so discouraging when he handed us only Sh3,000,” said team leader Asila.

But they did not give up. Instead, in June, 2009 they began training at the Nakuru-based Anglican Church of Kenya premises.

Soon they started receiving invites to weddings and other family functions. Clients started paying them by the beginning of 2010. The money went into recording their first 12 songs.

Performed in major towns

Since then, the group has performed in major towns in the country and as far as Uganda and Rwanda.

Today the group serves as ambassadors for the National Aids Council of Kenya and the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association. St Nicholas Harmonies has also tried their hand at Jazz music. Their weekly schedule is always packed during the high season which stretches from June to December.

Although they did not reveal how much they make, they said that they were comfortable with their earnings.

“We now live in our own houses and each of us runs a business which supplements what we earn from performances,” said Mr Jeff.

The group can sing in 10 different languages including English, Kiswahili, Kisii, Luo, Luhya, Kikuyu, Turkana, Kalenjin and Luganda.

“We are still learning the rest. We want to be able to sing in all the 42 languages,” said Mr Asila. Focus, perseverance and humility, the group leader said, are key to their success.

“When we were starting many people discouraged us. They said that we were wasting our time and seemed to have lost a sense of direction. Had we given up I do not know where we would be by now,” said Mr Jeff.