Kainawa

Kainawa (Born Matthew Ganda on 21 May 1990) is an artist from Serabu, Sierra Leone.

He moved to Guinea with his mother during the civil war where they stayed before migrating to Gambia. From there, the family joined Kainawa’s father who lived in the United Kingdom.

In the United Kingdom, he played music as a hobby, and even went for opera lessons. His fascination with music ignited his interest in production, and he taught himself FL Studio (former Fruity Loops).

He composed beats that were influenced by the sounds of Gambia, Guinea, Nigeria, Ghana and Angola. Kainawa also merged his productions with Reggae and Soca, which he came to appreciate after spending a lot of his time with his Caribbean friends.

He became a professional artist after recording a song in collaboration with Kenogee, and Sus Prince. He saw it as opportunity to continue in the footsteps of his Uncle Ali Ganda, who was a senior producer and calypso singer that freelanced for BBC TV.

After much consideration, the musician changed his production name from Super MG/Datguymg to his middle name Kainawa, which means 'The Big Man' in his home language Mende