We should fully exploit our local music talent
Last week Friday excitement reached fever pitch in Nairobi as residents prepared for the arrival of international DJ Diplo.
Nairobi has long been able to hold its own in attracting an interesting variety of international artistes, particularly DJs, but the buzz surrounding his arrival was contagious.
It was so contagious that even though I didn’t know who Diplo was, I was excited after I got my ticket that I started to eagerly search for all the information I could find on him.
For those who also don’t know; Diplo is an American DJ, music producer and songwriter whose genre tends to rotate around electronic dancehall.
The event, hosted at Treehouse, was organised by ‘Kenya Nights’ who say they are the “home of the underground Techno movement in Kenya dedicated to bringing in industry game-changers from the international circuit”.
The atmosphere was electric but at one point there were far too many people. This meant no space to move and being frisked by the opportunistic pick-pockets.
At one point there were so many people on the dance-floor that it started sagging into the toilets below and a portion of it was cordoned off to avoid a cave-in. But, despite all this, it was a brilliant night.
The music was good. Diplo was excellent but I have to say that our local DJs Moritz Kasper (Momo) and Sean Fraser, who were there at the start to warm things up, really held their own. In fact I remember when Sean took the decks and a kid next to me shouted ‘Go Diplo!’
I particularly liked it when some of our own home-grown tunes were dropped into the mixes by these talented two.
The musical talent we have in this country is so diverse that even though it is always great to have a fresh event on the Nairobi scene, there’s still a lot more digging that can be done at home.