Gentle woman with spine of steel

Jasmine Atieno @sparkleMine

As much as there are many female artistes in Kenya doing different genres of music and thriving at that, the reggae scene has been majorly dominated by male artistes.

Up until a few years ago, there were few celebrated female artistes doing well and taking over international waves. Amongst these stands Cathy Matete.

The female reggae star has been featured this year, amongst the best in the world including Anthony B, Kabaka Pyramid and Jamaican dancehall queen Cecil.

But one thing that stands out the most about Cathy is that on many of her live performances, she shares the stage with her baby sister, Bella Matete.

This, as her sister shares is an unbreakable bond birthed and nurtured from childhood. 

“Cathy is my ride or die sister; we complement each other. I remember growing up­— when we were children, we fought a lot over ridiculous things.

But we bonded well and that is why we are still tight to date. I’ve been singing with Cathy ever since we were little,” she says.

Bella says it’s a special feeling to share the stage with family. “Let’s just say it’s a blessing; Cathy to me is like my musical mentor.

She understands me as much as I do understand her, which makes it easy to work together.

Looking at where she’s come from with her music, I get thrilled at how immensely she has grown,” shares Bella. 

The Matetes are quite a big family of nine children; six girls and three boys, though one of them passed away a few years ago.

Cathy is the second last born while Bella is the last born of the family. The two have been born and raised in a musical family with the roots generating from both parents, Edward and Josephine Matete.

Of the nine, four of them are all musically talented including the one who passed away (what is the name of the one who died?), but as Bella intimates, Cathy is the voice of them all.

“Music is definitely in the blood; both my parents bred us into it (music). They used to sing in choirs during their youthful days.

My dad was a choir master, I remember growing up, he would sit us round the table and give us different voices to sing.

We could recite and sing many choir songs from Kenya and Tanzania. The whole family and my parents, especially, have always supported Cathy and her music.

My dad is actually a lover of reggae; he has a favourite musician, which is Jamaican Romain Virgo and of course Cathy,” she says.

Cathy is fondly referred by their mum as Nyar Boma, a luo term meaning the city girl, which is her true definition as she was born and bred in Nairobi.

The 27-year-old attended Gikumene Girls High School in Meru, where she sat for her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education in 2010 and later joined Africa Nazarene University, Nairobi where she graduated in 2016. She’s actually a sales executive who has specialised in irrigation.

Just like many female reggae artistes, she has gone through and is still overcoming many challenges, the biggest one being the belief of male dominance in reggae rather than equal rights to both genders.

As a conscious genre that mostly talks about injustice and equality, it is seen to be a male dominated industry, but Bella believes that there are as many women in reggae as there are men.

“You can easily compare the women in reggae to the women in the business industry.

Nothing comes easy—for you to simply make it as a female reggae artiste, you have to be always on your toes and work twice as hard in order to have an advantage over the rest.

I think the question we should stop asking is “where” are the women in reggae and instead ask “who” are the women in reggae,” she says. 

Effort and sacrifice

“At the same time, I’m sure everyone can attest to this, everything and anything we do in life is like a movie, you’ve got those days that are stagnant, moments that are fast paced then to the buildup.

Challenges will always be there, especially juggling between work and music and still giving your all to both.

One thing that really stands out is how she finds joy and motivation in what she does and in every step,” says Bella, who is also a teacher by profession. 

Being Cathy’s closest friend, sister, and musical partner has made Bella the biggest fan to her sister’s music.

Her favourite songs on the charts being Woman and Eternity. It stands out more because the song talks about the struggles that women face on a day to day basis dealing with work, society and life in general, while still emerging as strong and powerful.

In the 2019 Kalasha Awards, Cathy was awarded for Best Original Score for her song Woman of Steel in the film titled What’s On Your Mind. To her sister, this is exactly who she is, a woman of steel.

Cathy has a powerful voice and larger than life stage personality. “She is quite a woman of steel, a tough one and well organised.

There’s nothing more frustrating or embarrassing than tardiness, especially in music, you will never get anything done.

Being organised comes with being tough; you can never sing or play a wrong note without Cathy turning to give you a stern look.

I love how ethical and persistent she is —looking at how she has grown musically over the past few years, it’s definitely something that can’t go unnoticed.

It takes quite a lot of effort and sacrifice to be where she is, especially in the reggae industry,” she says about her elder sister. 

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