Nairobi-based producer and organizer Muthoni Ndonga (OneBeat 2012) has been featured in Google’s new documentary series from Womenwill, an initiative dedicated to closing the global gender gap. Muthoni talks about her challenges facing a lack of opportunity in the Kenyan music industry, and her desire to change the landscape. “If you don’t fit this very specific idea of Kenyan pop, it was next to impossible to book gigs. So then, I invented my own night.” What started as a budding evening of alternative music has, since her return from OneBeat 2012, blossomed into in a major annual music festival called Blankets and Wine, which leverages partnerships with global brands like Red Bull. “On one track, I’m a singer-songwriter [and] performer. On another track I run two music festivals,” says Muthoni. “I overcame the challenges and the barriers one step at a time, and I fought for my space.”
To hear more and watch the documentary, visit Google Africa’s YouTube video.
