Durban teen sets music scene on fire

DURBAN singer, Kianja Harvey, is making waves on the music scene. As a child, Kianja, (15), which is Swahili for sunshine, always enjoyed music, and listened to all sorts of music ‘from the womb’. She was always rhythmic and enjoyed dancing, playing the drums and guitar and singing from a very young age. While living in England, she often found herself in lead parts for school musicals such as Oliver Twist and Buggsy Malone, and at 12 she entered a national UK singing competition and came second. It was then that her family realised they had a natural talent on their hands! Kianja relocated from London to Durban in late 2011 after visiting the country with her family. She started school at Durban Girls’ High School and made her SA debut at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Jazz, at the Youth Jazz festival 2012. She immediately emerged as a singing sensation and gained a scholarship to study at Eden college. There she teamed up with friend Arianna Carini on guitar and the duo created a dynamic acoustic set. They won the Beyerdynamic cover competition 2013 with a Gangs of Ballet Song. Kianja has performed in a number of accoustic gigs at the Musho Theatre Arts Festival in 2014, came second in East Coast Radio’s Be The Band competition for Durban Day, and performed at the Mr Price Pro Ballito last year. She hopes to release her first album at the end of March. So far she has recorded two singles, Mr Retro, which has been played on ECR, and Reinvent the Wheel. Both are written by Kianja and produced by Paul Hussey from the UK and are available on Itunes download. “I was honored to perform for a special Mandela Memorial Concert at the Chatsworth Education Centre Durban, and also to be chosen to receive the coverted ‘Shooting Star Award’ from Eden College last December. I also received the Lily Savitz Senior Musicianship award at prize-giving last year. I am so grateful to the school for the opportunity to study and pursue my passion for music and singing,” said Kianja. Kianja plays drums, guitar and keyboards, but said she would like to formally go into playing the piano. “I love singing and my music is very natural, I have no voice training. Tracks for my album will reflect international, Caribbean and African flavours,” she said. An upcoming highlight will see Kianja live with her amazing band at the Sunday Beat, at Suncoast on 2 March from 2pm to 4pm. Visit the youtube channel ‘kianjamusic’ and see Kianja’s EPK on youtube: https://youtu.be/wD8tG5Av_LU www.facebook.com/kianjamusic

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