Toddler’s gospel song excites Kenyans
Harriet James @harriet86jim
The lyrics from Harmony Masaki Junior’s Niguse song are as moving as the manner in which the two-year-old makes a passionate plea to God for help with clasped hands.
His smooth voice, gestures and trendy clothes draw you in as he belts his debut song on YouTube.
The boy who turns three in January has been the talk of town since he released the song on November 27, this year. The song has garnered over 17,000 views.
Even his parents, Caleb and Irene Masaki are amazed at how fast the song has gained an audience and how much it has touched the hearts of Kenyans.
The father, a producer, says after watching how the pandemic had negatively affected people’s lives and placed them in tough situations, he was inspired to write a song that would encourage everyone during this difficult season.
Nurture his talent
“Everything in the news was about people losing lives all over the world. People lost jobs, didn’t have any money to buy food or pay their rent and that’s when this song came to mind I believe that God comes at the eleventh hour, when we have exhausted everything.
I thought of how Jesus had healed the woman with the issue of blood in the Bible and knew that he would come to heal us,” said Caleb.
Caleb recorded the song in his studio and came back home to perfect it. It was while they were listening to the song that his wife, a radio presenter at Meru FM, noticed that her first-born son was belting out the song effortlessly.
“We all listened to him and then my husband switched off the song and told him to sing alone and he did.
Then I suggested to my husband that since our boy loved singing songs from different artistes, he should let him record the song,” said Irene.
She thought her husband wouldn’t give her suggestion much thought because the child hadn’t received any training in music.
Surprisingly, one Sunday afternoon, he called and asked her to take the boy to the studio to record his voice.
After three trials, the sound was perfect and the boy sang the entire song with no struggle.
“He repeated the song thrice and we left the studio. A few days later, I looked for my colleague at Kameme radio and requested him to record my boy again.
Many gospel artists will tell you that they pray before they release a song and that’s what we did just before our boy began to sing,” she said.
Caleb said he was shocked at the ease with which Harmony sang the lyrics.
“I was to release the song the December but after Junior did it so well, I was overwhelmed with joy and I decided to support him.
It was like God wanted the song’s message to be delivered through Junior because I remember I did the video twice, but it did not come out so well,” says Caleb.
Their son was born on January 21, 2018 and named after his great grandfather.
The couple recalls saying a short prayer soon after he was born that he would be a role model in his generation.
As he grew older, the couple noticed that their baby boy would sing songs from other artistes even before he could pronounce the words well.
Since Caleb is a musician and producer, he could come home with guitar at home and they would sing together.
Though his son has recorded the song, Caleb still plans to do a cover for it.
“I will continue giving him guidance and support to nurture his talent. And also it’s my wish that he will continue pursuing a music career in future.
Parents should study their children as early as possible to detect what God has bestowed in them so that they can give them support as earliest as possible,” said Irene.