"Many faces, many phrases,
I've come through many places,
But I never seen a sky so blue" ~ Gidi Gidi Maji Maji
Many Faces is a 2003 song that, at face value, brings back many memories of the political and social ferment, in Kenya particularly, of the first decade of this millennium. It is, in a way, emblematic of the Great Leap which many felt that they were perforce involved in. That is, the subliminal and hugely rare 'transition' from one millennium to the next. More locally, Kenya was in the unfinished transition back to multipartyism. Gigi Gidi Maji Maji, with others, led the artistic fraternity into a broad-based struggle.
There's great melody in the singing, and in the guitarist's stringplay. The tone that runs through the whole song stirs the soul, truly. It takes grip of the spirit, and doesn't let go. It's really, really good. And the art in Gidi Gidi Maji Maji's performance doesn't begin and end with 'Many Faces'. They excel in other songs as well, such as: Ting' Badi Malo and Unbwogable. You be the judge. And yet they have since literally disappeared from the 'field'!
Click here to watch the 2003 version of the video
And here is the clearer, 2011 version of the video
As for the video, Many Faces is set in a hauntingly sunny and desolate place. It's a place like no other, and the singer has "never seen a sky so blue". The story starts with two soldierly types emerging with some relief and even euphoria from the vicinity of a nowhere reservoir, like survivors of a nearly-decimated platoon -- or pop. The 'past' thus behind them, they 'appear' more than glad to be egged forward into the new millennium by a muse-fairy, with striking outlines, strumming an ethereal note with her one-of-a-kind guitar. They walk with a kind of baffling konifidens.
The montage of people, places and things that the video packs -- into all of 3:41 minutes -- gives the impression (illusion) of paintings or murals eerily set in motion by a force-field deep inside a story that's cryptically and haltingly told in hauntingly lyrical lyrics. It is, alas, a story that inconclusively unfolds.
As hopeful as the singing is, in parts, this is an indubitable place of desolation. Like a bombed-out place. Our eyes even 'come upon' what looks like an abandoned nuclear power plant, and some kind of cleansing ritual, or ghost-dancing, in a never-never section of it. These are allusions to an unspeakable thing. Like another bombe coming? What happened, in this 'future'!
READ: What You Didn't Know about Gidi Gidi Maji Maji
READ: Interview with Gidi Gidi Maji Maji's James Ogidi
UPDATE: The 2003 version of "Many Faces" had 50,770 total views as at 1:28 AM on Feb 14, 2018. The 2011 version had 43,936 total views at 8:26 AM on Feb 14, 2018.
