WHAT AFRIZO DO

Purely for the love of music, Hellen Akoth founded Afrizo in the year 1998 and has been its leader since then. She is an alumna of Daystar University, (Bachelor Education Degree in Bible and a minor in Music), where she currently teaches African and Western music, alongside being a choir trainer in various churches around Nairobi. She is well trained in voice projection as well as playing musical instruments such as the drums, keyboard and guitar. She is well known countrywide for her dazzling performances in the local music scene and magnetic personality that saw her as one of the nominees of the Eve Woman of the Year Awards. She has so far done five solo albums that have sold more than 60,000 copies. Hellen and her husband, Alfred, a musician too, have also jointly recorded at least four albums in Dholuo, Swahili and Giriama, something that has seen the couple land invitations to perform African songs in far-away places like Brisbane in Australia and New Zealand. Read more about their music on www.artmatters.info/music/africaflavored.htm. They are parents to a three year old daughter, Neema, who loves dancing as well as playing the keyboard with her mother. Seeing Hellen on Stage, one would definitely know that she was born to perform! She started out by a gathering a group of 4 males and 6 females from the
Daystar Nairobi campus, whom she trained in choreographed singing in Swahili and Zulu languages. She named it Afrizo which meant 'from the African Zone '. She sponsored the group, since it was not under the University by providing costumes, meals and transport in all their missions, a task that was not easy. However, through perseverance, Afrizo began to enjoy its first taste of success when they began to receive invitations to perform in various churches around Nairobi. This was a result of Hellen tagging along the group whenever she would be invited to perform as a solo artist. As events unfolded, the University Management sought to take advantage of Afrizo's performances to build the institution's public image, much to the relief of Hellen since she would not have to cater for all costs. This led to the introduction of Afrizo in the main Athi-River campus in August, 2002, where more students were enrolled. The group increased its variety of songs by learning songs in additional languages such as Chichewa, Luo, Kikuyu, Lingala and French. This was made easy by the fact that they now had more international students, coupled by the fact that Hellen is a linguist of no mean repute who speaks an electric array of languages spoken across Africa. Afrizo went beyond performing in churches only but also at weddings, book launches, graduation ceremonies, birthday parties, public as well as state functions. Due to the fact that there are a number of Afrizo members graduating each year, Afrizo enrolls new members annually. the beauty of it all is that no qualifications are required of applicants except practice and commitment. Hellen strongly believes that anyone can learn to be a performer if trained. Many members tell of how far they've come, having been very shy of live performances. They have amazing stories to tell about their experiences as Afrizo members that have made them be what they are now. Technically, Afrizo has more than 25 members. This is because all who have been members of the group and have left are still considered to
be part of the Afrizo family. Many of them actually spare some time to go on some Afrizo missions, hence the phrase, 'Once an Afrizo, Always an Afrizo!'