Milele
Milele is an urban gospel and humanitarian group composed of Kanjii Mbugua, Harry Kiiru, Christian Mungai and Kaima Mwiti. The group formed after the longtime friends who were originally from Kenya met in Pomona, California at a prayer breakfast in 1998. Milele, which means "forever" in Swahili has performed alongside gospel artists like Andrae Crouch and Helen Baylor and recorded four albums, Forever, Level up, Afrique and their most recent recording, Monday. Apart from the music, Milele has also launched many campaigns in Africa with the purpose of providing means for impoverished African communities to gather strength to make steps towards better living standards.
History
Formation and early years
The members of Milele were childhood friends in Kenya up until high school when they separated to follow the path of their individual lives. Each of them pursued school and work in different arenas, however, one day, 10 years later and 10,000 miles away from home in California, all four of them found themselves in the same room at a prayer breakfast. They had all come to the US separately to pursue further education. They started singing together as a pastime but it slowly not only evolved into a successful musical ensemble, but also a unity of friends committed to remedying social injustices, poverty and resulting oppression. Milele has travelled extensively and succeeded in becoming well known musical ambassadors in Kenya as well as Christian circles in the US. What began as a celebration of God through music became using music as a vehicle to carry out work that would move and spread their ministry and outreach. In the past few years, Milele averaged about 150 concerts and performances annually, mainly at churches and schools. Some of these include Lake Avenue Church, Faith Community Church, Mariners Church, Bel'Air Presbyterian Church, La Canada Presbyterian Church, Cottonwood Christian Center, First Church of the Nazarene, Pasadena, Azusa Pacific University, Claremont School of Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary, and Biola University. They have also shared the same stage with such Gospel legends as Andrae Crouch and Helen Baylor.Concerts and tours
In 2001, Milele held a special concert in the slums and also performed to over 30,000 young people at a stadium concert. In early 2002, they had a special concert dubbed 'True Love Waits,' which was geared towards promoting abstinence in a society that is being crippled by AIDS. Kanjii of Milele was quoted saying,"We saw the success of our efforts when many young people committed their lives to waiting for the partner that God has set aside for them."In summer 2003, Milele toured forty states across the US to promote their second album. Since their successful Level Up tour, they were the featured band at the "Blessings of the Shoes" interfaith service at the Orange County AIDS Walk, which drew over 10,000 people. Shortly after, they were nominated to be one of the top ten finalists of the 95.9FM Fish Festival award. These successes culminated in their first live recording concert at Mariners Church in Irvine, California which was also their kickoff for their 2004 summer tour.
Members
Kanjii Mbugua,Harry Kiiru,
Christian Mungai and
Kaima Mwiti.
Additional members include African Guitarist Henry "Karis" Mburu, Nimo Mathenge, and Carol Ongera.