Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kenny Allen. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kenny, appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

20 years ago, I was a part of a thriving soul and hip hop music scene anchored in the U Street corridor of Washington, DC. Up to that point, I had been making and performing music full-time for about 5 years and had toured the world supporting other artists. One night, I was doing a local gig with a singer named Wayna whose roots are in Ethiopia. At this show, the promoter, Amanu Mekuria asked Wayna if she knew of anyone like me who might want to go to Ethiopia for a 6 month residency to perform at a new club he was opening in Addis Abeba. She told him to ask me. As I had never been to Africa, I said “Sure. Why not?”. So…with a couple of suitcases and a couple of guitars, I set out on a journey to the capital city of Ethiopia thinking, as long as I had a return ticket, if I didn’t like it or if it didn’t work out, I could come home. At the end of 6 months I had become totally immersed in the culture and had established such a notable presence that I decided to stay. Not knowing the language and being 10,000 miles from home, that 6 months residency turned into a 16 1/2 years life and creative adventure. Learning a new language, adopting cultural sensibilities and seeing the world from a distictively different perspective taught me lessons of insurmountable measure. I went with no expectations and gained a completely new outlook. Now I am back in my native hometown area of Washington, DC and I’m so grateful that I took a risk.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Kenny Allen and I am a Singer-Songwriter/Music Producer/Image-Capturer/Storyteller originally from Washington, DC.

Over the years, through music, I have been able to expand my craft as an independent artist. I have self-produced 12 Albums/EP and used those skills to provide that service to others from around the globe.

I dare call myself a photographer, out of respect for some of my closest friends who are bonifide shooters, but through selling music independently I have realized l that no longer do people only listen to music, but they also see it. So, I have learned to express myself through the visual arts for the sake of telling stories.

During my 16 1/2 year stint in Ethiopia, I produced albums and singles for some of the top International artists based in Addis Abeba, hosted a drive time radio show, acted in 4 feature films (one, mainly in local language, Amharic), and creative directed my own leather bag company which was called undken, meaning “one day.”

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

One of the main things society can do is to support your friends and family like they support mainstream artists and brands. Sometimes the cost of Beyonce/Taylor Swift tickets could Kickstart an entire campaign for an entrepreneur/developing creative. Normalize collaborations and putting money back into communities. Normalize not asking to be on guest lists and getting discounts from people you know.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding part of the creative process is completing a project and letting it go into the world. Anything that happens after thst is simply sprinkles on the hot fudge.

Contact Info:

• Website: kennyallen.bandcamp.com
• Instagram: @mrkennyallen @kensoslensos
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kenny.allen.1217
• Youtube: youtube.com/kennyallenmusic

Image Credits
@kensoslensos Sabine Dundere