Caroline Akinyi is a Kenyan gospel artist who has recently been making waves with her hit song Mungu Mwenye Uwezo among others. The born-again singer hails from a family of eight, with her being the third born of the family. In addition to being a gospel singer, she also works and has a hand in business ventures. Caroline Akinyi has quickly grown to be one of the highest-profile artists on Mdundo, commanding a monthly listenership of over eight hundred thousand and constantly featuring in the top ten most downloaded songs on the platform.
With her roaring success and increased visibility on Mdundo in the past few months, we decided to sit down with Caroline to discuss her start in music, the challenges she has faced so far and what the future holds for her
What inspired you to start music?
As a gospel singer, my inspiration comes from my faith. It is a calling, the Lord called me and chose me to do this so that I could sing, touch hearts and spread his message through my music. My inspiration for making music all comes from the Lord Almighty.
How did you get into music as a career?
My first experience with recording music was actually a full album and not a single like most artists. I went to the studio to begin my journey in music in 2010 then I recorded a full album called Yahweh Ni Baba which contains eight songs. I released this album in 2011 but the videos of the songs on the album were released in 2016.
After releasing the album I focused my energy on releasing singles which led me to release songs like Sema Neno Moja and Mungu Mwenye Uwezo
What challenges did you have when starting your career?
When I was starting out in the music industry there were many challenges but the biggest one was financial. It was difficult to find funding to produce music and even harder to find money to promote the music. The promotion of my music was challenging but once I joined Mdundo it was just as easy as uploading the song to the platform for free. It was very easy and helped me overcome my financial difficulties.
How has being on Mdundo affected your career?
Mdundo is a great platform that allows me to reach as many people as possible with my music so that I can keep spreading the word of the Lord. My ambition is to be able to reach as many people as I can with my music and Mdundo has been instrumental in allowing me to do this.
Mdundo has brought a lot of value to me and my career. I am very grateful to the Lord and the team at Mdundo for the growth and change that has happened recently in my career. There are a lot of positives in my career due to Mdundo and I pray that it remains the same throughout.
Once I joined Mdundo I just shared my songs through social media with my friends and family and put my faith in the Lord that my music will reach a lot of people.
What are your future goals for your music?
My goal is to keep recording more gospel songs so as to keep spreading the message of the Lord for as long as I can to as many people as I can. I will continue to make music with the goal of serving the Lord and uplifting the gospel.
This interview was edited for clarity and brevity