It's true, beyond reasonable doubt, that most of us have ears wired to love upbeat and vibrant
music. I cannot hang an adolescent who has his/her ears always covered by booming
headphones 'cause, after all, this makes them feel younger than their real age. It further
makes them vivacious as they wiggle and wriggle themselves in tune with the beat.
Nevertheless, it is surprising that chunks of sad music still wade their way into the music
industry and sometimes outdo the so-called vibrant melodies. So, what's this so special with
"sad" music that makes it more appealing to the brain than the upbeat music?
When we are enveloped in solemn meditation and gloom takes the better part of us, one
would expect us to tune to a happy song to ignite our mood. Furthermore we may assume that
when we listen to happy music while jovial, it will help us sustain the levels of good mood.
Not at all! Sad music plays a paramount role in maintaining our emotional balance. It evokes
pleasurable feelings of awe and ecstasy. This may probably explain why most soap operas
will have serene background music. It may further be explained by the fact that Soft Rock,
worship songs and cool country music gained immense popularity around the globe.
Today was a special Sabbath unto the Lord because it was fellowshipped in duality. It being a
High Day Sabbath and a creation Sabbath, things would not have been the same. Everything
was fantastic; I am actually wondering what to report. However, I want to give a special
consideration to the most exciting, talented, organized and devoted team of young and
conspicuous ladies who, to my opinion, bagged the trophy of the day. This group introduced
a new fragrance to the church, the reason why I acclaim them for their innovativeness. They
have specialized with Hebrew worship songs accompanied with the coolest and most unique
moves I have ever witnessed being performed live. I watched without a blink as they
swaggered and modestly swayed on stage like newly-hatched butterflies. I thought I was the
only being moved by their musical elegance only to see some eyes welling with tears as they
admired the team. The music sounded like sweet-angelic jingles sung for a special event in
paradise. Once they wound up, I was on rush following them to request for an interview and
fortunately, my wish was granted. Below is an interview with the group leader, Maryanne
Nyambura:
MEDIA TEAM: You must be dancing on top of trees after presenting such beautifully.
What stirred you to think of such?
MARYANNE: We are humbled. It's by Hashem's grace that we did it as we had
planned. We have always wanted to be part and parcel of positive change. This urge
stimulated us to come up with this idea.
MEDIA TEAM: What is the name of your team and what special characteristics
distinguish you from the other groups?
MARYANNE: We call ourselves Ariel Judah Kenya due to the nature of our
performance. We normally perform worship songs done in English and Hebrew. We
had to add the name Kenya to make ourselves distinct from any other group that
might use the same name. It is also important to point out that we are six girls in
number; just as we began. We have, therefore, retained a hundred percent of the
members we began with.
MEDIA TEAM: Wow! Thumbs up, ladies! By the way now that you mentioned it, why
work with ladies only?
MARYANNE: We would have liked so much to have gentlemen within the group but
I think due to the nature of our performance, most young men might have felt that the
dance isn't their thing because we never turned down any of them; none of them
showed up during the formation.
MEDIA TEAM: Why opt for what I might call "sad" music and more so some in a
language I suspect you do not understand (Hebrew) let alone the audience?
MARYANNE: We opted for this music because, firstly, we are Messianics and would
thus want to feel closer to our spiritual mothers (the Jews) by performing music done
in their language. Additionally, such calm music has a particular effect on people's
brains and I think you attested to this during our performance. Although we might not
understand word by word, we always pick songs that have an interpreted section to
ensure that our audience understands the message. Furthermore, our actions will ever
shed light on the message of the song.
MEDIA TEAM: You said you're all young ladies. Is this a temporary group to be
dissolved after you all knock to matrimony or what is its future like?
MARYANNE: (chuckles)...We have a long-term vision of sticking together till old
age. We don't just practise performance; we have more happening out of the public
limelight, including spiritual nourishment.
MEDIA TEAM: what inspired you?
MARYANNE: Inception of our team can only be accredited to our beloved General
Overseer, Pst. Karanja. He advised us to come up with such a team after the church
had received Jewish guests from the USA. He thought that a Jewish dance would do
and after I did it with some other two ladies, I embraced it as an idea, incubated it and
now here, we have a functional group.
MEDIA TEAM: Are the songs you dance to your own composition?
MARYANNE: Oh! I'm glad you asked that. They are not. We normally download our
materials from the internet, get instructional materials from abroad via social media
and then work on them. However, in future we look forward to having our own
albums because we have artistes within the team. Nonetheless, it must be a calculated
move so that we do not compromise on quality in an urge for originality.
MEDIA TEAM: Your team has only six members, are you recruiting new members
currently?
MARYANNE: This must be a bombshell to aspirants: we are a closed group that is not
recruiting at the moment. We do not intend to send the wrong signal to our fans by
making some think we are snobs that feel self-sufficient, not at all! We first want the
pioneers to work on all technicalities before giving a thought on whether to recruit or
not. However, I can challenge those who might have aspirations to join us to come up
with other groups that will provide more variety in the church.
MEDIA TEAM: To wind up, do you have some challenges you can call major?
MARYANNE: Yea. To start with is time factor. Sometimes we do not get enough time
for practice because all our members are normally engaged on other life businesses.
The little time we afford is normally as a result of immense sacrifice. Another major
challenge that we face is lack of resources. As I had pointed out earlier, our materials
are downloaded online. As such, we require electronic gadgets to enable us prepare
the performance. We do not have these gadgets because we are very new. We are
hopeful that in the near future we will acquire our own because we are praying to God
round the clock; whether He will use sponsors, well-wishers or our pockets, we are
waiting.
MEDIA TEAM: I appreciate your attention and all that information. I wish you well as
you approach the unknown future.
MARYANNE: Thank you too.
