Safaricom’s International Jazz day celebration went down on Labour Day, 1st of May, at the Carnivore Grounds. Kenyans turned up in droves to watch Cameroonian legend Manu Dibango joined by top Kenyan bands bring the house down.
Gates opened from 11 am and the show started at 12 pm with veteran jazz vocalist Kavutha Mwanzia as the Mc of the day.
The curtain-raiser for the event was nonother than the adorable Ghetto Classics who wowed the crowd with popular hits like ‘Happy’ and ‘Havana’. The first act of the day was Mambo Tribe, a band made up multi-cultural musicians originating from different parts of Kenya – they brought their A game, lots of energy, and the crowd seemed to love it. Afro sync took the stage next, followed by Chris Bittok who also rocked the crowd with some top performance.
Other notable acts of the day were Eddy grey, Mwai and The Truth, Ken Mwaura, Edward Parseen, Nairobi Horns project and Jacob Asiyo and Kavutha who blend really well as on stage with their comic jabs at each other.
The man of the moment Manu Dibango finally took the stage and of course he did not disappoint. His set included his giant hit ‘soul makosa’.
The weather was a bit drizzly and the ground was muddy but this did not stop the crowd from having a great time.
All proceeds from the event went towards supporting Ghetto Classics, a non-profit programme that teaches music skills to the youth from unprivileged backgrounds in Nairobi and Mombasa. Since the launch of Safaricom Jazz event, the festival has raised close to 40m. These funds are used to transform the lives of young children through Music education.
Check out images from the event here:
