Love at the Village might have been more serene than usual, but don’t be fooled, it was no less potent. With his last outing being the late 2008 album launch of his solo debut, Stories, this was a compelling return for the live phenom that is Kanjii Mbugua.
As has been the case with previous Live At The Village instalments, great guests joined in. Wyre The Lovechild, renown for his time with pioneering act Necessary Noize, brought the heat with some of the group’s more famous tracks, including Bless My Room and Kenyan Girl, Kenyan Boy. On the former, Wyre didn’t miss the opportunity to captivate his myriad of female fans, sensationally picking a rose and looking for a lady to serenade. And serenaded she was. Let's hope, as Kanjii later joked, her boyfriend was nowhere nearby. On the latter, Wyre introduced amazingly silly dances Showerdance and Zabobo – the crowd ate them up! Ten points for Wyre!
Neema, spotting a blonde punk-rock hairdo, joined in on a brilliant performance on Kanjii’s Aumbe, begging the question – “wouldn’t this version have been awesome on Kanjii’s album?” - A story for another day.
But being the Love edition, Kanjii switched things up by introducing the first ever Love @ the Village Sing-a-Thon. The eager audience was treated to snippets of some of the best love songs of the past couple of decades. Anyone for a serving of Brian McKnight’s Back At One? Or maybe Babface’s Everytime I Close My Eyes? The biggest cheer was reserved for Stevie Wonder’s I Just Called (To Say I Love You), with Kanjii’s Wonder impersonation spot-on. It wouldn’t have hurt if Kanjii learned the lyrics though, as opposed to reading them off a sheet of paper.
Songs such as Na Na Na, Just A Man and the very funny Still Waiting (also not on the album) were thrown in, with the hilariously silly Waiting Dance thrown in for good measure.
Adding Jimmie Gait to the program was a touch of genius - his current single, Muhadhara, is arguably the nation’s biggest single at the moment. Gait and Kanjii combined for all of twenty minutes or so on the song, maybe a tad bit too long, but with such an eager crowd on the dance floor, it was probably well worth it.
Check out our pictorial recap below (pics courtesy of Mwangi Kirubi & Ciku Mugwe).
 Wyre On The Prowl  He Finds His Target  Aaron Supports Wyre On keys  Wamai On Drums  Let The Crowd Join In  Kanjii On Na Na Na  Hey  Full House  Free Merchandise Always On Offer  Loving Neema's New Look  Anyone Know These Lyrics?  Kanjii...Wonder??  The Love Edition...  ...gets down...  ...then wild  The What?? Waiting Dance??  To The Side  Kanjii's Back-Up  One Of The Two Big Screens  Kanjii Does The Babyface  Jimmie Gait Gets Ready  The Look On His Face Tells The Story - Muhadhara  Jimmie & Kanjii  Mwendi Mbugua Quietly Enjoys  Full House On The Dance Floor » Post Comment
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1Comment
at Sunday, 08 February 2009 22:14
Kanjii, Wyre and Jimmie Gait...interesting mix.
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