KenyanGospel.com recently sat down with a gifted young lady about to cause ripples. A breath of fresh air to the Kenyan gospel industry check out part I of our two part interview. Introducing Mercy Njoki...
Who is Mercy Njoki?
Mercy Njoki is a born again YOUNG lady (laughs). She is an “everyday” girl, who is going through life like everyone else, with hopes, dreams and aspirations, with fears, joys, doubts… just a very normal person, who is sure she wouldn’t make it outside of God! My ability to hack this life is pegged on the assurance that there is someone more able, who is for me, who has the plan for my life, who is handling it and who I can constantly lean on.
How long have you been singing and where?
Professionally/as an “artiste” I started to sing in 2010, when I launched my album. Otherwise, as cliché as it sounds, I’ve been singing since I was a child, about 4-5years old; and again, like most singers, I grew up singing in church. From experience, I have to say that I’m grateful that my growth was nurtured in church. It built my character and readied me for the “outside” world, to be someone who knows who she is, what she stands for, and to stand for it; which is truth and value for living.
You were featured on the NPC Woodley worship album, tell us a bit about the project and the songs you sang...
Yes, I featured on the CITAM Woodley Music Team album, titled “Total Surrender”. I am the lead singer on two songs, “Total Surrender” and “Mimi”. The two songs carry the same bottom line of being completely dependent on God and the fact that we are unable to move and live without Him. The album was a sort of ‘coming of age’ for the music team, in the sense that as a team, we had seen God’s continued favor and grace upon us, and so it was/is a “giving back” to God not just the songs, but all that we are as individuals and as a team saying, “Take all that we are, we have seen You be GOD in our lives, we completely trust you, we completely surrender to You”.
You have an album, tell us about a bit about that project...
On August 1st, 2010, I launched my album titled “My Testimony”. It is a collection of songs written over a long period of time, from as early as high school! The title, “My Testimony” captures what the album is about, in that the songs speak of my life and what my journey of growth had been like up to that point. How I viewed things and how I understood or misunderstood various stages in this journey. It’s a reflection of everyday experiences, when sometimes you feel happy, sometimes scared, sometimes blessed and overwhelmed, sometimes you have an “aha!” moment, sometimes you feel lost…just everyday stuff that anyone can identify with.
Nakupa is a wedding song off the album, plus a couple others. Tell us about this side of "ministry", how it was birthed and where you envision it going...
The wedding songs! I have been very pleasantly surprised by the reception of people to the wedding songs. There seems to be a consensus that there aren’t enough people singing “pure” love songs, i.e. songs that don’t have sex or conquests as the end game. I began writing songs as a gift to my friends who were getting married. They would ask me to sing, and I wanted for them to have their OWN song. The more people asked me to sing, the more songs I wrote. The songs were mostly for the bride to walk down the aisle to…why walk to someone else’s song?? Nakupa, was an unplanned song, it was for no-one in particular. It happened that I was singing at one of the wedding fairs that take place in the city; that was when the song came to me. It is a favorite of many, another pleasant surprise! In terms of envisioning, I definitely intend to do a wedding song album; I’m excited at the prospect and the encouragement by many people to do it. I look forward to having brides walk down the aisle to more original songs, their own songs, I think it makes the moment even more special.
