Wakake Otieno

38-year-old Wakake is a self-taught musician. He specializes in all kinds of drums and the nyatiti. He started playing in 1996 at Kenya National Theatre and went professional in 2000.

He has worked with lots of people in the composition of their music. He featured Eric Wainaina's band, and was part of Eric's 'Twende Twende' album, among others. He has an album out called 'Hili na Lile' released in 2010, and is currently working on his second, recorded at his studio, 1 Music Studio, which is also a platform for music activism.

He collaborated with engineers in Norway in the production of his album, which was a learning experience for him. He has toured with the Mapinduzi band in Ghana, Haifa, Zimbabwe, The Netherlands (North sea Jazz and Music Mundial). As a solo artist he has performed in Norway, Sri Lanka, Japan, Thailand, Uganda, France, Belgium, among other places.

His foundation is African traditional music, and he is inspired by Asante, a percussionist from Ghana. He considers the merger of the modern music he plays with the traditional one that inspires him as magical. He is also inspired by Giovanni Hidalgo, who he considers the leading percussionist in the world, and Samuel Torres. His specialties are: African percussion, as Instructor and performer; Latin Percussion: Instructor and performer; Choreography: African Traditional and Contemporary Dance; and African Drum making and string instruments development.

In 2010 he performed with Artur Dutkiewicz, a leading jazz pianist from Poland at the Goethe institut, Nairobi.