mwafrika.com - The Village Festival (June 08)

The Village Festival (June 08)

June 5, Simba Saloon - An eight-course meal at a fancy restaurant would look something like this – soup, salad, fish course, sorbet, fowl course, meat course, dessert and fruit. Sound tempting? It should! Any formal dining full-course dinner should have a menu capable of delighting even the most unschooled of palates.

For the past few months, the now regular “Live @ the Village” concert has been trying out different recipes, tantalizing our taste buds in small yet thoroughly satisfying doses. Yet, as we are informed, the plan was never to tease in small measure. Live @ The Village was always intended to give birth to a fully-fledged and regionally recognized music festival, bringing together some of the region’s best talent for a series of one-off musical extravaganzas. Dig your teeth into that!

And during its June edition, revelers watched as the first installment of the Village Festival served up not one, not two, not three, but EIGHT first-class highly rated acts. Between them, these artists have stuffed their stats list with more accolades than your average NBA star. From Groove, Kisima and Kora nominations, to renowned jazz and afro-fusion acts, the whole musical smorgasbord was on full display. This time around, the Live @ The Village chefs threw in everything, including the kitchen sink.

Kora winner Neema got the show on the road with two sublime numbers, before SK Blue took to the stage to show why his new Kitenge act is quickly becoming a genuine afro-fusion contender. Sarah Mitaru’s Siweya and Tembea Nami soon got a dance train whirling its way around the Simba Saloon, before Aaron and Hellon, playing individual sets, proved beyond doubt why they are rated as two of this region’s finest jazz acts.

Chris Adwar, backed by The Villagers, confirmed why he may yet be this country’s top song-writer on hilariously entertaining cuts such as The Norfolk and Mercedes Benz. By this point, it was standing room only, as the crowd had emptied from their seats to the burgeoning dance floor. It was fitting that the prince of benga, Chizi, welcomed the evening’s host, Kanjii Mbugua, to take the event to a place where only he could. At this point the crowd was so revved up, Kanjii could have sung the phone book and they would have boogied all night – fortunately Kanjii had more sense, dishing up a high-energy set that included jams such as Aumbe and Everyday. There was even time for Chizi to drive the crowd bananas with his latest hit, Blackberry.

Trust us; this serving of the Village Festival was not one to be missed. Dig in to some of the pics.