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Get your groove on: After the countrywide tour the Groove awards winners are set to be crowned

Swimming
Groove awards
 The Groove tour glam

Many have their eyes on the drama-oriented duo of gospel stars Willy Paul and Bahati, who are battling it out in the Best Male category of the Groove Aawards, a category they have both won in the past. However, there is more to expect as over 50 gospel artistes lock horns this Sunday to decide who is the greatest among them this year.

Celebrating 10 years is no mean feat. For Groove Awards, led by Kevin Mulei in partnership with Safaricom, it has been a quest to transform the industry, raise stars and appreciate the movers and shakers who work tirelessly to keep the gospel industry in shape.

Soon after the Groove 2015 nominations were held last month, it was yet another season to unveil and crown new winners but before then, all the nominees were to go around the country staging concerts, meeting their fans and of course, soliciting for votes courtesy of the Groove Tour 2015.

“Aside from winning, I like that the tours grant us the chance to perform and meet our fans and audiences across different counties, which is a major boost and experience for us,” Benachi, one of the nominees, told Pulse.

From Kakamega, Eldoret, Nakuru, Karatina to Machakos counties, this year’s tour went round the country and the excitement was evident amongst the fans that came out in large numbers to watch their local celebrities turn up.

Forget the Nairobi crowds who often scatter at the slightest hint of rains in concerts... there were days when the rain poured down hard but the rain-drenched crowds seemed unmoved. At one of the concerts, Mateke hit singer Size 8 even convinced the crowds to keep praying for more rains because they were a blessing.

The Groove Awards owners seem to have made quite some progress, taking branding and convenience to a whole new level. Days when celebrities had to find their way to concerts are long gone thanks to the Groove Tour bus that artistes, DJs, hype men and organisers use during the shows.

Braced to impress,  most artistes performed in their branded merchandise, while some even brought along their dancers, and personal DJs. Gospel kid Bahati was one such artiste,  taking to the stage complete with a set of dancers and DJs who were all decked in his merchandise. While not many people will tag along their personal DJs, Bahati seemed to have a specific preference and while in Nakuru, DJ Ruff who was the day’s decks-master had to surrender the decks to Bahati’s crew.

Top DJs Sadic and Mo also did a great job at keeping the crowds dancing by playing the performance tracks. Impressively, they also had their mentee deejays in tow.

Ljay Maasai, who recently left his peers pleasantly shocked, thanks to his Olomaiyana collaboration with Tanzania’s Rose Muhando, was yet another stunner who brought fashion to performance. Before taking to the stage, Ljay Maasai and his crew changed their outfits and performed looking all fashionable and swagged up. Size 8 also pushed the fashion agenda a notch up taking to the stage in classy heels that would have left one wondering how well she would do her popular matekes.

This time round however, her matekes were less aggressive, perhaps choosing to focus on her performances alongside Willy Paul, which was quite dramatic and engaging to say the least. These two seem to have chemistry that not many artistes can pull off.

Besides his chemistry with the crowds, Willy Paul is currently the gospel king of stunts. Having pulled his first fog stunt at the Groove New Year party, he went ahead to perfect and make it his trademark. In most of his performances during the tour, his dancers often took to the stage first then he would came up from under the stage covered in smoky fog.

Vernacular artistes and nominees from the different counties also got the chance to flaunt their prowess and prove why they needed to win. While fans may not have sung to some new-school artistes and their songs or simply stood and stared during those complex performances, the likes of Loise Kim and Evaline Wanjiru got fans singing, word-for-word to their tunes, affirming that vernacular music is quite popular in the counties and for them there is no place like home.

It must have been for this patriotic reason that last Sunday’s Machakos tour featured most of the county’s celebrities including comedian Chipukizi who came through alongside Dr Ofweneke and MC Abel who were the tour’s MCs.

This year, most of the nominees are youthful artistes who seem to have taken over from stars who were celebrated when the event started 10 years ago.

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