Safaricom Jazz Kenyan Edition: A Testament to Kenya’s Growing Jazz Scene

The Kenyan jazz scene and the jazz community aren’t new as there’s existed a love for jazz in Kenya for decades especially with talented musicians on the scene like Aaron Rimbui and Chris Bittok. The Safaricom International Jazz Festival has however, given jazz a mainstream platform that has seen international musicians like Richard Bona, Branford Marsalis, Jonathan Butler and David Sanborn among others perform. Even better, Safaricom Jazz has given a bigger platform to already existing jazz artistes and introduced the Kenyan audience to new ones.

I’ve attended Safaricom Jazz from the very beginning and through that I have discovered and come to love bands like Afrosync, Shamsi Music, Swahili Jazz Band and the Nairobi Horns Project. I have also come to support the Ghetto Classics programme. Ghetto Classics is the flagship programme of the Art of Music Foundation which is a community programme that involves over 650 children in Korogocho founded by Elizabeth Njoroge and Fr John Webootsa in 2008. The programme uses music education to provide the youth with opportunities to better themselves and their community by giving them the life skills that come with the discipline of studying art music as well as providing them with income generating opportunities. The programme so far has raised over Ksh 19 Million through Safaricom Jazz tickets.

To celebrate International Jazz Day which falls on April 30th, Safaricom Jazz held a Kenyan Jazz All Stars Edition that included performances from Swahili Jazz Band, Nairobi Horns Project, Shamsi Music, Mwai & The Truth, AfroSync, Edward Parseen and The Different Faces, Jacob Asiyo & Kavutha Mwanzia-Asiyo, James Gogo, Juma Tutu, Eddie Grey, Chris Bittok and Ghetto Classics.

The event was sold out and the performances were fantastic. To be honest, it was the best Safaricom Jazz event I have attended. Everyone that got on the stage gave a world-class performance and had the audience on their feet. It’s difficult to pick who my favourite performers were but I will say that Swahili Jazz Band, Shamsi Music and the Nairobi Horns Project resonated the most with me. I especially appreciated the Kenyan pop classics jazz covers by Nairobi Horns Project. By the time it was all over, my feet were aching from all the dancing I did.

There’s something beautiful about music that sounds familiar. I think that’s why this edition of Safaricom Jazz worked so well; the music was infused with elements of Kenyan music from taarab, chakacha, genge and traditional folk music. It would be great if this is made into a permanent fixture on the Safaricom Jazz calendar to not only celebrate Internatioal Day but the growing jazz talent in the country.

One of the highlights of the event was the performance by the Ghetto Classics kids. Seeing them up there was proof that the Kenyan jazz scene has an even brighter future than I thought. It was especially amzaing to see the kids play with some of the jazz artistes including Swahili Jazz Band and Nairobi Horns Project and see that they were up to the challenge. I am looking forward to seeing more from them and hopefully seeing some of the kids go on to form their own bands.

All in all, it was a well put together show with the little but important details thought out like availability of phone charging stations, free Coldstone icecream and music that moves merchandise for every donation to Ghetto Classics, lots of food and drinks available for those who didn’t pack a picnic, free airtime and bundles and phone giveaways and as always a fantastic stage setup. The energy was unbelievable and it’s probable because majority of the audience was under 35, another testament to the growing interest in jazz music and the bright future Kenyan jazz has.