The Kenya Music Week will be held at the Sarit Centre Expo Hall over the second weekend in December. Opening each day at 12 pm, the events will go on until 8 pm providing a celebration of Kenyan music that goes beyond normal music festivals. In addition to live performances from talented local musicians and performers, KMW features education workshops for aspiring musicians.
Originally started to further the Kenyan music scene, the week event hope to connect artists with producers and record label companies so…. come to the Sarit to hear and be heard.
Discover Kenya’s culture and rhythms at this Music Festival, which takes place every year at the Kenyatta International Conference Center, in Nairobi.
Oriental, western and african music gather at this celebration, where Kenyan talents from different schools and universities are put to the test.
For 10 days in August, besides music, the festival welcomes poetry, dance, several competitions and lectures. Dare to learn some dance steps and feel the Kenyan people’s energy — Nairobi awaits you!
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
The oldest music festival in Kenya was first organized by the colonial government, 80 years ago. African music is predominant, but you will also have a chance to see western performances and other foreign artists.
The Kenya music and drama festival is a programme under the ministry of education that nurtures artistic talents in music and drama. The main objcetive of the festivlals is to promote culture as one of the goals of education as well as promote extra carriculum activities within the school programmes. The programme is an annual event fully funded by the government which provides oppotunities for school pupils and college students to create and showcases drama and music artistic and culturla creations at a national festival. Entries for participation are drawn from primary to college and university levels.The programme provides a platform for pupils and students to express their cultural expressions competitively. The festivals are organized by the Ministry of Education and is funded by government. The programme through competition starts from the loca level to get entry to the to national level. The competitive nature of the festival provides an opportunity for students and pupils to be creative in their talents and pieces. The festival has enabled some of its participants to link up with producers after school and have made careers from their creativitly. Indeed the current education education reforms in Kenya which have been ongoing for the last two years have reccomended that reative arts subjects be introduced as examinable subjects in the curriculum to enable those with talents pursue arts as careers. Though the current education curriculum recognizes craetive arts as a subject at primary level it is not examinable and the subject is general and hampers progression of pursuing art at higher levels of education. This move is likely to encourage study of arts subjects and will improve the quality and standards of creations showcased at the festival. Further the reforms will support study of the arts at higher education levels thus increasing the proffessionals in the field as well as provide skilled manpower for the creative and cultural sector.
The Kenya Music and Drama festivals is organized by a national organizing committee housed within the ministry of education. The Kenya Music and drama festivals involves music and drama performance by talented school and college students from different t zones within the county. These regions are created by the Ministry of Education for easy management of the festival competitions.
The Regional Drama and music Festivals involves a competition of performances from counties which is referred to as zonal festival which progresses to regional festival and then to the national festival. Currently there are 8 regions. The Lake Region covers some parts of western Kenya, largely around Lake Victoria including Kisumu, Siaya, Kisii and Homabay counties. Nzoia Region also includes some areas in the western part of Kenya including Busia, Kakamega, Mumias, Webuye, Bungoma, Trans Nzoia and West Pokot Counties. Mau Region includes Nakuru, Eldoret, Narok, Uasin Gishu, Elgeyo Marakwet, Nandi, Baringo, Laikipia, Turkana, Kericho, and Bomet counties. Metropolitan Region includes Nairobi, Kajiado, Makueni, and Machakos counties. Highlands Region constitutes Meru, Embu, Isiolo, Tharaka-Nithi, Kitui, Isiolo and Marsarbit Counties. Coast Region constitutes Mombasa, Kwale,Kilifi, Tana River, Lamu and Taita Taveta counties. Northern Region constitutes Garissa, Wajir and Mandera counties
The National Drama Festival involves winning performances from all the different regions in the country. This structure allows for as many learners as possible to participate in theatre and music competition. The festival is indeed the single biggest educational theatre event in Africa
– Mainsteaming of the arts within the Education System
– nurturing of young talents
– celebration of cultural diversity
– enhancenemnt of skills related to creative talents
– Awareness creation on the value of arts in society
– Creation of awareness on issues affecting society through arts
– Enjoyemnt of culture
The festival is funded by the government through the regular budgetary allocations to the ministry of education but it also attracts huge sponsorship from private cooporate
organizations
