Music festival starts in high gear in Mombasa

Kisumu Kings and Queens Academy pupils perform an own composition Western singing. [PHOTO: GIDEON MAUNDU/STANDARD]

MOMBASA, KENYA: The 88th edition of the Kenya Music Festival started Monday with a presentation from Booker Academy pupils in which they plead that adults must give them time to play.

"Let me play and sing and dance, show me where the beads are, where is the ball and the rope so I may jump," went parts of the singing from Booker Academy.

Performing their hearts out, the little angels from kindergarten otherwise known as ECDs sang and danced to their rendition in English, Kiswahli as well as other ethnic languages in Kenya.

Booker Academy from Kakamega impressed with their Western style piece with well synchronised voices while in magnificent props and costumes.

The team also displayed good sequencing of the songs, managing the momentum in the process.

Manyatta Primary School from Kisumu was second followed by St Marys Primary Narok and Ongata Rongai Primary School.

In own creative movement class, Muhoroni Township proved that they were the indomitable team and scored 88 per cent in the category.

Other teams such as Muhoroni Factory, Don Bosco Primary School, and Magoso Primary School gave a good account of themselves.

Rangala Girls from Siaya County was in a class of its own in the local language singing category, with their superb presentation rich in the Luo idioms.

Their neighbours Sega Girls' floored all to emerge tops in the traditional dance from the rest of Africa when they rendered a Baganda traditional dance in the most authentic way.

One would have been forgiven to imagine they were at the Kabaka's Court itself in the heart of Buganda Kingdom.

Tana Day pupils were mathematical with their steps and movement as they danced formations in a synchronised fashion to win the unaccompanied set piece entitled the Riddle in the nursery school category.

Lions School from Nakuru and St Francis of Assisis were second and third respectively.

Adjudicator Prof Rose Ongati of Maseno University, while praising the teams for the energy and commitment on stage, urged teachers to pay attention to details for best results.

"If we have a group here dancing a Buganda dance and they are wearing hats with kenyan flag colours, then the message is really mixed up," she said.

Her counterpart Dr Everlyne Mushira commended the teams for high standard performances.

'At some stage, it was hard to really say who is the winner, save for some little mishaps here and there," she said.