John Maina, a former internally displaced person (IDP) turned musician talks about how he survived the 2007 post election violence and how circumstances have transformed him into a musician.
UP magazine and its whole ethos revolve around one simple fact: the stronger we are as an urban culture, the more our influence and power in the world increases. What makes us cool locally (to ourselves), makes us cool globally. All kinds of power play out on the global stage. War power is one obvious way of beating people into submission. On the other hand, the kind of ‘soft power’ ushered in by the Obama era can convert and win people with love.
Picture this: in 1942 J. Howard Miller designed a simple poster with an image aptly titled “We Can Do It!” to ‘persuade’ more women to work alongside men during World War II. This iconic image is embodied in ‘Rosie the Riveter’, an American woman who worked tirelessly as a factory worker to build military weapons to support her country’s WWII efforts. Using soft power, Rosie inspired a global social movement that opened more doors for women to take up active roles in domains previously reserved for men.
Today, there is ‘Urban Power’, or the ‘quotient of coolness’ a city produces through a mixture of its arts, culture, business, design and community—ultimately its ability to attract and produce talented, forward-thinking individuals that provide leadership at all levels of society. Yes, as compared to a Kiev or Rome, Nairobi might have some ways to go in these departments, but that’s changing. Now more than ever we are developing a formula and a momentum that makes us more Urban Powerful. One of these measurements of cool comes from the progress of women.
Rosie the Riveter sets the theme for the current cover of UP Magazine—which is out to celebrate the emergence of the smart, fresh, urban woman in Nairobi. Clar Ni Chonghaile talks to Atsango Chesoni (Vice Chairperson -Committee of Experts), Rahab Nderu (CEO Ramoma), Wambui Muchiri (Owner JM’s Fashions) Isis Nyong’o (Business Development Manager Google Kenya) and Lilian Thothoi (Disc Jockey),
The magazine also looks at how a clever exchange program between music artists in Nairobi and Berlin has given birth to a whole ‘new’ concept for popular African music that is hitting the global airwaves back in Germany.
Following the international music thread, there is a feature on John Maina, a former internally displaced person (IDP) turned musician in ‘UP Next’. Maina talks about how he survived the 2007 post election violence and how circumstances have transformed him into a musician. It is a compelling story that shows just how much culture can make us powerful. There is also a piece on Sport, Robbing the DEAD (a very sober piece on corruption ridden City Council of Nairobi).
Get your copy of UP Magazine at these fine establishments.
All Nakumatt & Chandarana Supermarkets, Silverbird Stores (at Junction and Westgate), All times Media (at Village Market and Westgate), Book-Stop, Monty’s Sarit Centre and leading newsstands in the CBD.
