Kakamega hosts national music festival

By GEORGE ORIDO

The annual Kenya Schools and Colleges Music Festival will open its doors on Monday in Kakamega.The town hosts the largest music jamboree in East and Central Africa for the first time in the festivals’ 89-year history.

This is as a result of change in policy five years ago to rotate the national festival that was hitherto a reserve of the country’s capital, Nairobi.According to the chairman of the festival committee Caleb Okumu of Maseno University’s Department of Creative and Performing Arts, the festival will end on August 15 with the finalists’ concert at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology and at Kakamega High School.

“We expect about 85,000 participants by the end of the festival ranging from nursery schools, primary, secondary, tertiary institutions, teacher training colleges and universities,” said Prof Okumu.

Rescheduled

The decision to include Kakamega High School as a venue was a last minute decision after the committee was forced to reschedule the festival’s date that was initially slated for August 6 due to the just-concluded referendum on the new constitution.
And this is a symbolic choice of a school and a province that has dominated music and drama festivals for years.

This year Mumias Sugar Company has come out to strongly support the festival by pumping Sh6 million in cash and services.“There are other sponsors who have come in to support what we are proud to declare as the greatest annual cultural event in Africa,” disclosed the chairman.
Teams started arriving in Western Province from yesterday and will be accommodated in more than 44 institutions in Kakamega, according to the organisers. During the fete, 13 venues will be used.

The winning teams will entertain the President at State House, Nairobi.