In an interview with RX Radio’s Crystal Newman on the Groove Cafe at RX Radio, Electrical Engineer and songwriter Saabwe Daniel Kiruta the leader of The Shalom for Peace Choir mentioned that he began writing and composing songs during Primary school.
First inspired by Jose Chameleone, Kiruta narrated that he started writing love songs which he could then sing to his father Elly Kiruta, who subscribes to the anglican faith. The father then encouraged him to compose some gospel songs.
“So from that time, I slowly started falling in love with Anglican music and started composing gospel music. I started with my sister Ruth and later on, our other sisters and brothers joined us,” Daniel said.
Being in school choirs, he narrated that he fell in love with scholarly songs such as those of Buddo Secondary School and hence composing songs for different schools under the mentorship of Paul Saaka.
However the formation of a new choir known as Shalom for Peace Choir came after his brothers and sisters parted slowly from the initial home choir after getting certain responsibilities and calls in life.
“As we grew up, some of them lost interest, they didn't have that talent. When we were young, we were just doing it as a family for fun. So the choir ended like that because some got jobs and others got married,” he said.
“But I kept on writing my songs and keeping them. So in 2017, I got an idea to start a new choir with my younger sisters because I had my songs. So I talked to my producer Gideon Kato,who gave me the same advice. So we started singing, composing our own songs and now we've recorded over 11 songs and 2 videos,” he recalled.
He attributed the continued pursuit of music to the support got from his father from his childhood to now. Kiruta said his dad gave him an opportunity to write songs for his (Father’s) school giving him the resources needed as well as constructive feedback.
“At first I used to write songs in like one rhythm and he would quarrel with me telling me, ‘why do you write songs in the same rhythm, like it's one song.’ , I remember telling him, ‘do you think it's easy to write a song?’ But when I sat, I realized that it was true. So I've tried to teach myself how to write songs in different rhythms and through him, I've improved my writing skills.”
Shalom for Peace Choir music is available on youtube including the two video songs Kaseera Ka Sanyu and Ddala Wa Maanyi.
The Groove Cafe with Crystal Newman airs every Weekday from 4-5pm on RX Radio.
Download the RX Radio app: