Following in my father’s musical beats

What veteran gospel musician Mwaura Njoroge started, his son, Joe Mutoriah, a young musician and a producer is taking it higher. The father and son duo shared their story with Njeri Maina.

Njeri Maina @njerimainar

Joe Mutoriah is a vivacious young musician and producer. He has a 12-song album that he released last year and a long list of musicians that he has worked with that include Sauti Sol, Serro and Xenia Mannaseh among others. 

He defines his music as afro electric pop and aims to create music that is authentically Kenyan both in sound and lyrics.

He is passionate about having an authentic Kenyan sound citing how listening to Daudi Kabaka or Kamaru gives someone the sense of authentic story telling. But when did his love for music start?

The genesis

“He was always a musical kid. He was interested in learning to play guitar and  keyboard from an early age.

So, I talked about this with one of my friends who gifted him a keyboard on his second birthday in 1998.

He took to this like a fish to water. I taught him just a few chords and then he built on this through a lot of experimentation,” Mutoriah’s dad Mwaura Njoroge explains. 

Mwaura Njoroge is also a gospel musician. He released two albums in 1991 and 1992, each having 12 Kikuyu gospel tracks.

He was also part of the Daystar choir where they made an album with great Swahili gospel songs.

Mwaura is a great vocalist and instrumentalist and is extremely proud of the leaps his son is making in the industry.

He has always believed in his son’s production skills often asking him to produce for him some of his songs.

This dream came true in November last year with the release of his first single, Unjirite Ndikamake (You have told me not to worry), off his upcoming album that is being produced by his son Mutoriah.

Mutoriah terms the experience of working with his dad as fun. He talks of how his dad has been one of the greatest influences in his life.

Not only did the dad teach him how to play the keyboard, but also the guitar.

“In secondary school at Kiambu High school between 2010 and 2013, I became really interested in the guitar.

My dad being a good guitarist himself would teach me how to play during school holidays.

I can now play bass guitar, acoustic guitar, the keyboard and the percussion drums, though I’m not proficient in the last one as I would like to be,” he explains. 

Mutoriah talks about how his entire family has been supportive of him, with his parents supporting his love for music while urging him to complete school first so he could be able to focus solely on music.

He remembers going to SubSaharan Records together with two of his high school mates as they wanted to do music seriously.

He was the music producer of the trio, while the other two were artiste and manager.

ut when they visited the studio, the studio executive softly let them down telling them that they could not be signed at that moment.

They would be urged to visit the studio once they had completed secondary school, something that they saw as a positive sign.

“I am glad that happened – it taught me just how hard the industry can be when I was quite young.

Having started producing in Class Five, of course then I did not know what I was doing, I was just tinkering with my computer and coming up with melodies, I felt like I peaked in secondary school.

But I now believe that growth is a continuous journey that never stops. I have plenty of melodies in my head that still need to be explored.

I push myself daily, working to be better than I was the previous day in every aspect of my life,” Mutoriah enthuses.

After secondary school, Mutoriah would join Sauti Academy where he was an instrumentalist for the vocalists being trained.

He would pick up on so much information, consequently growing his vocal skills. His most favourite lesson had to be in music business as it taught him the foundations of creating a business around his talent.

He did this during the gap year before joining university. He would join Kenyatta University and pursue a degree in film technology and theatre arts.

“I would perform at live gigs with some of the people I met at Sauti Academy while attending classes at the same time.

It was a juggle, but nothing a lot of planning and late nights could not take care of. I finished my degree and I’m still passionate about films and film making. I am actually working on the music scores of several films.

I believe that a great score does not only enhance a film, but can also lead to cultural and perception changes among the audiences,” Mutoriah explains.

Mutoriah still loves performing live with his band called, ‘The Movement’. They met and agreed to form the band in 2016.

He enthuses about just how great each band member is in his own right and how their singular vision where they aim to create great music together has kept them going ever since.

The future

Mutoriah hopes to impact the next generation of music makers. This is the reason he came up with a section dubbed, ‘The Glue’, where he deconstructs popular songs showing how the beat was made.

He does this with the aim of showing future musicians that music is not as complex as people make it to be, and hopefully inspire them to join the industry.

He hopes that others can learn production skills from watching ‘The Glue’ and that this can be the kick that gets more people in the industry as there is always room for more great minds.

He also plans to keep performing live and to keep making great music with his dad as well as with other musicians.

“I always knew Mutoriah was musically gifted ever since he was a toddler. I’m happy that he has grown into this young man and I’m sure he has more highlights in his career ahead of him. I am so proud of him,” Njoroge says in conclusion.