Museke.com: Habari yako?
STL: Mzuri sana.

Museke.com: When were you born? can you tell us about your background and family?
STL: I was born on 1st September 1986 in Kenya and we moved to Norway when I was 5. I'm the second born in a family of three and we all live in Norway.

Museke.com: Was your family into music? How did you get into music?
STL: My Dad used to take us around Norway when we were young, performing Kenyan songs like .....Jambo jambo bwana Habari gani mzuri sana... but at a young age I faced a lot of racism in Norway and every time I came home, I'd tell my Dad about it and he told me to listen to the Public Enemy song “Fight the power”, so after a while I took Hip hop as a weapon to get me by whatever I was facing. When I was seven, I was now rapping and listening to more hip hop female artists like Queen Latifah, Salt and pepper and Mc Lyte. When I was 8, I knew this is what I wanted to do thus I started taking it really serious.

• View all from Mampi
  Album Chimo Ni Chimo (Sin is sin)
  Artistes Mampi
  Video URL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt0x6l63CvY
  Writer Mampi Mirriam Mukape
  Year 2007

I was impressed with the Metahua video when I saw it. Yosef Gebre aka Jossy is a very new school Ethiopian musician and has potential to be bigger. The Kora awards already nominated him as a promising artiste. We chatted with him about his music, and his thoughts on Ethiopian music. The interview transcript is below.

Museke.com: Can you tell us about your background and family?
Jossy: I was born in a town named Dilla in southern Ethiopia and I come from a family of total 10 children- five boys and five girls. I am the 6th child. I grew up in beautiful city of Nazret and completed my high school education there. Then I moved to Addis Ababa and currently reside there.

Museke.com: How did you get interested in music and when did you realize you wanted to take up a music career?
Jossy: Though my family generally loved music, my father especially appreciated it. He used to send me out to buy records and I sat with him enjoying different songs. I used to sing daily just for the love of it but it was in 2004 when I decided to make it into a career.

What happened to the Plantashun Boiz Reunion aka Plan B? What has been Faze's most challenging song to write? Faze aka Richard Chibuzor Orji answered these questions for us in an interview with Museke.com. He also put to rest the whole shebang about 'See me so' and 'Letter to my brother'. Read what else he had to say in this interview transcript.

Museke.com: How are you?
Faze: I’m good and u

Museke.com: Can you tell us about your background and family?
Faze: I’m the 4th born of my family of 11, 6 boys 3 girls my mum and dad

Museke.com: How did you get into music and what was your first break?
I’ve been singing right from secondary school days but I took it as a profession 1995

Museke.com: How did you guys get together to form Plantashun Boiz?
Faze: It started with black face and 2 face. Then I was called lyrical Urge because I used to rap but when I joined the group I had to change my name to faze to blend with the group name.

Lira Molapo's music was the most downloaded (bought) in South Africa last year. Here what this beautiful South African artiste has to say about piracy, her music and her career in this Museke.com interview.

Museke.com: Sawubona! Unjani?
Lira: Ngiyaphila wena unjani?

Museke.com: Can you tell us about your background and family?
Lira: I grew up at my grandmother’s house where there were 13 people in the house. It was awesome! I moved in with my mom and dad when I was about 11 years old and my sister was born when I was 16.

Museke.com: How did you get into music and what was your first break?
Lira: I sang privately with a friend of mine while I was in high school. I as generally very shy about my singing and only performed in front of an audience when I was 16 years old. I also wrote my first song then and entered a talent show with a group of friends. We won Best composition, Best Vocalists and Best performance and it was then that I thought I had something special. It was further emphasized when we started performing in various clubs ad seeing people react to our music was fulfilling and quite addictive!

MTV has unveiled the nominees for the Listener’s Choice Award at the MTV Africa Music Awards with Zain (MAMAs). The awards celebrate the tracks and artists who triumphed on the radio airwaves in 2007/8.
You can view the nominees for other categories in the MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMAs) are this Museke.com link.

The nominees for the Listener’s Choice awards, chosen exclusively by radio listeners across Africa are:

- Jax Panik (South Africa) - 'Cigarettes and Cinnamon'
- D’Banj (Nigeria) - 'Why Me'
- Nakaaya (Tanzania) - 'Mr. Politician'

Who is the former Miss Tanzania who is now enjoying a successful music career? If you got it right, then you are either from East Africa or a don in African music. Either category is great, but let’s learn a little more about Jacqueline Ntuyabaliwe (better known these days as K-Lynn). Museke.com delved a little deeper into her life, music and her thoughts on the industry. Read the interview transcript below.

Museke.com: Can you tell us about your background and family?
K-Lyinn: I’m the last born in a family of three girls, my father is a doctor and my mother who passed away in ‘95 was a nurse. I was born in Dar (Dar Es Salaam), Tanzania.

Museke.com: How did you get interested in music and when did you realize you wanted to take up a music career?
K-Lyinn: I always loved music and since the age of maybe 6 or 7 I knew that I wanted to become a singer.

Just A Band just got nominated for a Kora award for best African video. Do you know that they made the animated Iwino Piny video themselves? Museke.com asked them about it and other questions in this interview. The JAB guys are quite entertaining, and just like their music, this chat is a 'swell' rockas of a ride!

Museke.com: Can you tell us about your background and family?
DANIEL: Since I left the Touareg caravan, Azim has been like a father to me…

BLINKY: You’ll have to forgive me; I don’t remember large sections of my childhood. There’s a gap in my memory.

JIM: I grew up in Kilgoris. It’s a little town in Western Kenya – but we were indoors all the time, so it could have been anywhere. I still prefer dark rooms to this day.

Museke.com: How did the three of you meet?
DANIEL: If you’ve read our bio then you know we met under what other people would call strange circumstances.

JIM: It was more like concentrated doses of serendipity.

A week ago, I went to see the Grammy winning Soweto Gospel Choir perform at Stanford's Memorial Church. This is not just any choir, this is a Grammy Award winner born and bred in probably the most melodious corner of the world, Southern Africa. I was very excited to see them that I got lyrics to their songs which were not on Museke.com (yet) just so I could sing along and show them how much of a fan I am. Eventually, they didn't perform any of my top 3 SGC favorites but they gave a marvelous account of themselves. If you hear that they are coming to a venue near you, you should go see them too.

The Soweto Gospel Choir is in the midst of their "African Spirit" tour which comprises of 48 dates from early October at New York's Carnegie Hall till December 23 with a concert in the Disney Hall in Los Angeles. "African Spirit" is the name of their latest CD. "African Spirit" won the 2008 Grammy Award for best traditional world music, following their success in the same category in 2007 with their CD "Blessed."

Museke.com caught up with Ugandan dance superstar and Hotsteps winner, Antonio Bukhar for an interview. Below is the transcript.
Museke.com: How are you doing?
Antonio: Am good, just came back from Germany after a two weeks tour with Burudani Dance Company.

Museke.com: Can you tell us about your background and family?
Antonio: I am the 4th born in a family of 5 kids. Mum and Dad are in business, the 1st born is in UK, 2nd born working in hotel business, 3rd born is a teacher, and then the last one is in A-level.
There is not so much music and dance (in the family) but they all have rhythm. The best thing is that I have 100% support from them to chase my dreams and goals. It's a happy family.

I went to Mugwanya preparatory school Kabojja for p1 and p2. Then I went to Massajja modern from p3 to p7. From s1 to s6, I was at Lubiri sec sch. After that, I went for a computer networking course{cisco} at Makerere University. I’ve been a church choreographer for over 6 years, since 2001. I am the co-founder of the Breakdance project Uganda. I was performing for G-force dance group for over 2 years. Once worked for MTN as a promoter in line of entertainment.