Bakhita's Cathartic Return To The Music Scene

After consciously taking a few steps away from music, Bakhita has signalled their intention of getting back into the scene in a big way this year. Their last full body of work called PURGE was released in 2021 and according to them, it was released at aa time when they needed to release a lot from what was happening in and around their lives. 

Earlier this year they released a song (with similar themes) titled ‘DECAY:ATTACK:RELEASE’. This time though, it seems that they have managed to let their past go, learnt their lessons and transmuted all the heaviness that they needed to. When you listen to the track, you can feel the growth through a reconnection to self but in a much more elevated way. A rising of the phoenix to a newer version of them - a total rebirth.

During their three year hiatus, they kept themselves busy with their other creative pursuits. “I had told myself that I wanted to set a solid foundation for my creative work as a set designer before pursuing anything else. Music had stopped being enjoyable for a little while, and I needed another creative outlet, which luckily for me proved to be more fruitful at the time”, they say.

True to this, Bakhita has made an incredible name for themselves as a set designer working in Nairobi, leading them to consecutively design a number of stages and venues such as Beneath The Baobabs Festival, Santuri East Africa’s Kilele Summit and many more. They have also created and produced creative sets for film and music videos which started with their own, and as they further proved their colourful artistic eye to the world, people took notice. 

This led them into opening Dimension 33, a creative studio in the heart of Nairobi which is intended to be a community and safe space for contemporary, eclectic creatives, but more importantly, geared towards the queer creatives of the city and more. They are also part of Metamour, a creative community for queer alternative Africans that hosts a number of events, creates workshops and is active in queer community activism.

Meanwhile, they still went further into acquiring musical knowledge despite the need to cocoon and enrolled in a beginners music production programme also from Santuri Salon in Westlands, where they sharpened their skills to the point of confidently creating their own records independently while also learning more about the music business.. DECAY:ATTACK:RELEASE is the first release and also first self produced track of their upcoming EP, which also includes a lot more self produced tracks, alongside longtime collaborator Lemi and others.

Emphasising on the understanding of who they are now versus then, Bakhita is clear on now being  worried about people who don’t resonate with their work. Once previously wide-eyed in sharing their community and being an activist through their work, is now more focused on creating community in a very unapologetic way. This gives them more freedom and thus more discipline in all facets of their work. Afterall, to whom much is given, much is expected.

“Right now I’m in a space where I want to learn in order to teach others to empower themselves. When I started out, I had to learn a lot on my own and I still am. So with everyone that I work with, whether it is set design, art direction or community building, I want to provide them with the tools and guidance I wish I had.”

Even while talking to them, you can tell that they are in a much better space mentally than they were before, and this is promised in the musical offerings we are yet to hear more of. 

It wouldn’t be a Bakhita project without a visual aid to tell the story of their journey thus far. The single is also accompanied by a gorgeous purple visualizer (their favourite colour), in a scenic field of lavender, shot and directed by the one and only Natasha Ayoo who captures the hypnotising and catchy song that tingles all the audio and visual sensors. 

More from the EP is yet to come, including the main single called Cheza in the coming months,before the eventual release of the full project which will be called ‘CLUB 88’ around pride month. They promise a new era in funk, disco, jazz and soul fused with tech, dub and bass. It’s Bakhita’s dancing era, and we can’t wait to see what more our non-binary ethereal being has yet to offer us. They hope to inspire authentic self expression through all their work, and it's safe to say that they are living by example of that in every way.

Make sure to follow them on instagram to keep up to date with their multidisciplinary offerings to the world and keep streaming their music on your preferred music platform.