A chat with Zainab Sule,The Nigerian Queen of Soft Rock

We are so excited to have you in Kenya and can’t wait to see you perform this Saturday, here are some questions for our readers to know more about you before the show 🙂
There aren’t that many Nigerian rock artists touring Kenya lately or ever, I think…How did the idea of you playing here come up?

Lol. I don’t know… Plus there’s an active rock scene here and it’s amazing. The plan was to come way back in May, but the timing was wrong, so we moved it down.

How and why did you first start out playing rock Music? Pick up the guitar?

It’s something I’ve always been surrounded by. Country Rock, Alt Rock, Contemporary Rock, Indie Rock, Punk…. I’d always known this was what I wanted to do. I started learning guitar back in 2001. Was fresh faced into the university and naive and wanted to write rock love songs…. lol.

From all the information shared between the Kenyan and Nigerian rock scenes on sites like audio inferno, heavy and the beast and some newspapers, how would you compare the two scenes? Similarities? Differences?

Basically I think it’s the same. They complement each other. Some information about the acts performing at the show, I got from the Heavy & The Beast Blog, and I also knew about some guys from the Audio Inferno Blog. One needs the other, I think. For merging cultures. You guys know about us from Audio Inferno as well, the same way we know about Bands like RASH from the coverage. So it is complementary.

 
Favorite Kenyan Rock musicians?

Haha. That’s easy. RASH BAND are amazing. So is RISH. And Seeds of Datura are hard core. I’m loving Crystal Axis already. Should I continue? Lol.

We have heard some Tracy chapman and Nigerian Folk music sound in your music, What are some your Musical Influences?

Haha. Not you toooo! Tracy Chapman is awesome, but she isn’t on my playlist. It was after being compared to her by so many people I became curious and downloaded all her songs. Hmmmmmmmmm. I love Pink, a lot. Used to be a die hard fan of Avril Lavigne. Brittany Howard from Alabama Shakes is my new idol. My major influences are Country, but always almost dosed with a rock music.

What should audiences expect this Saturday at alliance?

Hmmmmmm. Tough question…….lol. I have no idea. But I do know one thing: the aim is to have fun. I don’t intend to come, sit down, and play guitar for 2 hours. Everyone is in it for the music. For the love. So let’s keep our fingers crossed. And a major band who we didn’t advertize earlier might be playing too!

 
Last words to our readers? Words of advice to aspiring rock musicians?

Thanks to Kenyans for the love. Honestly it’s been amazing and humbling. For aspiring rock musicians, I’ll say, get a side hustle. Let it feed that dream so it can stand a chance to remain alive. And when it does, give it the best you got.

Thank you for your time and answers…

Thank you, Sam. It’s been an absolute delight talking to you. See you Saturday!

————————-