Otieno…Michel Otieno.
 He has big dreams, always trying to stay one step ahead of his peers so that his dreams become reality.
He talks about these dreams, freely and often. Small wonder that at the turn of the new millennium his friends coined him a nickname that, unbeknownst to him at the time, would become a near permanent tag.
They called him…Michelenium. So as his career progressed, picking up headphones and destined for turntablist supremacy, a tag was not hard to find. Meet DJ Lenium.
Mombassa’s top Gospel disc jockey, Silaha front-man and Baraka FM radio presenter, the many hats that DJ Lenium wears are indicative of a young man, hard-working and industrious, intent on going places. At only 21 years of age, he has managed to achieve a great deal.
Lenium is a Mombasa native, the first born in a small family of two. Unfortunately, and increasingly like many of today’s generation, a father figure was hard to come by. His dad left the family when he was only seven years old, and its been well over fifteen years since Lenium visited his paternal Kisumu home. As such, it was not long before rebellious adolescent tendencies grabbed him by the collar and flung him into a nonconformist dissident state. With a little bit of a snicker he admits to being more than a handful for his single mum.
Yet even as a little renegade, his love and passion for music burnt within him from an early age. Music and entertainment were always in his heart. NIC Squad, a dance group, was his first serious foray into the industry. Together with some of his friends, he turned the group into one of Mombasa’s top dance teams, even sharing a stage with the likes of Rufftone, SITA and Ditto. Yet as the dance craze slowly died down, a newfound passion arose. When Nairobi’s DJ Kev, impresario at Mo Sound Ministries, started a pioneering Gospel show at a Coast-based radio station, Lenium begun to seek his calling.
Not too dissimilar to the Biblical story of the Persistent Widow who would not stop until she got her heart’s desire (she bombarded a hapless Judge until she received the justice due her), Michel is the first to admit he became somewhat of a pest in his newfound quest to become a disc jockey. Fortunately, DJ Kev, who at the time was the head trainer at the Homeboyz DJ Academy, was kind enough to take him under his wing, training him and facilitating an exam at the Academy.
Yet as Lenium bubbled under for a time, he began to succumb to the all too familiar industry challenges, chief among them finances. It cost to establish himself and his ministry, money that was extremely hard to come by. In late 2003 he got a major break. After casually sharing his struggles with Njugush of the K-Krew, Njugush was quick to offer assistance with some of the regular event expenses. This was a great relief, and afforded Lenium the opportunity to hold more events, and even invite Nairobi artists down to the Coast. Even though his next gig flopped, he never lost heart. Come May of the following year, he bounced back in some style with Life Light, an event that brought together over twenty of Nairobi’s top names, including Gospel Fathers, Daddy Owen, Mr. Googz, DNG, DJ Soxxy, and Jogg C to name a few.
He was even able to move out to Nairobi and hold two of his very own gigs at local churches.
 Lenium With Ryan, Bwana Scarvage & Xzella
It was at about this time that he began to flirt with the idea of being on radio. Ever the maverick, one day on his way to watch a movie at a local theatre, he passed outside Pulse FM and had the crazy thought of walking in and making enquiries. He did. He walked in, asked for the station manager, who happened to be Indian, had a chat with him, and after some serious arm-twisting and swaying, he was asked to do a voice test there and then. Taken aback, he proceeded to do so, before heading off to the movies, obviously feeling light-headed and flummoxed. Straight after the movie he received a call, asking him to start a show the very next Sunday.
Petrified, yet boyishly excited, he soon hosted his very first program, the hour-long Gospel Service Unit. Within the next three months, despite the fact that he had a brief show that aired at a fairly nondescript hour (Sunday 9-10am), his show was ranked ninth out of the twelve shows on the station. The show was duly allocated an extra hour. Come the next quarterly review, he was ranked third, and was not only rewarded with two extra hours (Sunday 6-10am), he got the opportunity to do voice-overs for commercials and read English news. Unfortunately the Communication Commission of Kenya eventually shut down the station, forcing its owners to sell it off to Muslim interests. Lenium was forced to move.
After a brief unhappy stay at Tony Msalame’s Shaky FM, he eventually found his way, with much encouragement from his peers, to Baraka FM, one of the Coast’s leading stations. As a result of his links with DJ Kev, and the contacts they shared, he was able to get a foot in the door. On July 28th 2005, three weeks after submitting his proposal, he was accepted, and started co-hosting Off the Hook, a show he still presents, with Justus Mwakideu (now at Hope FM).
All the while he was running an entertainment company with a friend of his, and only showed up at the station on Sundays for his broadcast. Yet his inquisitive nature and willingness to learn saw him appear at the station more frequently. As luck would have it, he once stumbled across a creative team meeting, and was asked to sit in. They so loved his ideas, that the very next day he was offered a full-time position at the station as part of the very same team.
From then he has had a steady rise up the ladder at Baraka FM. He became the producer of the popular show The Countdown, hosted by Maureen Masawe (now at Simba FM), and eventually took it over as the host moved out. Distinguishing himself as an assiduous and creative worker, he was eventually elevated to the role  of Production Manager.
Now he juggles his time between his independent work as a DJ, as well as with his production and radio hosting, and his studies. Pushing himself to the limit, he is currently studying a double degree in Journalism and Information Technology from the African Virtual University.
And if that would not have most people’s heads spinning from overexertion, he is also the founder and leader of the Silaha Family - a grouping of Coastal artists committed to spreading the Gospel through music, dance and entertainment. Mombasa names such as dual Kisima nominee Krystn Ndela, Impact Award winners Bantu and Simaloi (Best Male artist 2006 and Best Female Artist 2006 respectively) as well as Scarvage and Xzella.
Now as DJ Lenium ponders what is no doubt going to be a bright future, he looks forward to entrenching his roots even further in the media industry, becoming more like his television icon, CNN’s dynamic Richard Quest. If you ask us, we say he may very well be on the way there.
» Post Comment
» No Comments
There are no comments up to now.
|
