Goethe’s party gave artists a growth platform
On Saturday the Goethe Institut’s Ten Cities Project landed in Nairobi, with an even bigger bang than the last one.
Ten Cities is a project all about urban space and club culture, it teams up about 50 DJs, producers and musicians from Berlin, Bristol, Johannesburg, Cairo, Kiev, Lagos, Lisbon, Luanda, Nairobi and Naples.
A selection of these artistes then go to one of the 10 cities where they will have the opportunity to produce music together (these tracks will eventually be compiled into an album) learn about the country’s club scene and throw one hell of a party!
The last Ten Cities event was in 2013 and it was going to be a hard one to beat – but this one was just as good.
The night was opened with an entertaining dance-off courtesy of volunteers from the audience, we really do have some gutsy and malleable people in this city! This was swiftly followed by live performances from Provoke, Fena Gitu and Wangechi – all showcasing the incredible talent Kenya has to offer.
The project’s artistes were Ade Oyedele (aka Afrologic – a name whose origins he can’t remember) from Lagos, Hermenegildo Mahapi (aka DJ Satelitte) from Luanda, Tshepang Ramoba (aka Trust the DJ) from Johannesburg and ‘Just a Band’ our local awesome group fronted by Blinky Bill from Nairobi.
Each of them from different backgrounds, with different influences, and although they didn’t play their own music, their unique sounds were apparent in the selections they made.
The event on the roof top of the Mall in Westlands, hosted 1,000 individuals from all races and backgrounds and the music was unforgiving in the sense that you couldn’t help but dance.
A big thumbs-up to Goethe Institut for bringing life into Nairobi’s nightlife and giving our artistes a platform for growth. I cannot wait for the next one.