Sept. 12 2009 - Carnivore Gardens - Talk about an epic event. The Mavuno Spread the Love Festival was all that it was billed to be, and then some. Headlined by none other than Kirk Franklin, and ably supported by East Africa's best Gospel talent, this was no ordinary event. And coming a day after Kirk Franklin's Uganda concert was hugely impacted by ongoing riots in Kampala, Kirk and his team must have been relieved to enjoy a healthy animated crowd genuinely throwing off restraint and getting down, on what was a beautiful sunshiny Nairobi day.
 The Festival, beamed live on Citizen TV, jumped off just after 11am, and the crowd was buzzing to the likes of Chit Chat, VUC, Mathree, and many others. From the Hip-Hop stylings of Rachel and Number 8's poetic flow, to rock heads UETA and Rock of Ages, the festival had a little of everything. Popular dance groups 3:16 and Saintz got into the action, as did the Mukorino sounds of Alan Aaron and his crew. Celebrated UK-based Sudanese rapper Emmanuel Jal made a rare Nairobi appearance, while Kanjii, Juliani and Lin joined forces on their socio-political themed single Mteja. Acts came from as far as Uganda and Congo to be a part of the festival.
By the time the likes of Rufftone and eventually Juliani did their thing, the stage was perfectly set. Rapturous applause welcomed the man of the hour, with a hyped up and animated Kirk jigging his way onto center stage, before breaking out into his popular Awesome God single.
The ultimate performer’s performer, Kirk’s boundless energy, clever crowd involvement and his ability to switch gears without losing the crowd make him appealing on many fronts. Not to mention his bevy of radio-friendly hit singles.
Without losing an iota of energy, he took the audience from uptempo jams such as Lovely Day and September to the chilled out My Life Is In Your Hands, Hold Me Now and Love. By the time Imagine Me rolled by, he had the audience eating out of the palm of his hand. The banging Hossana effortlessly led into a full no holes barred worship session, with popular choruses How Great Is Our God and Hallelujah taking over. As the tempo picked up again, all the hits were pulled out the top drawer. Brighter Day. Stomp. Revolution. And many more. Kirk even got random dancers from the audience to teach him Kenyan dances. And before anyone even noticed it, Kirk had performed almost 20 songs, and was heading off to the airport. Totally awesome!! Now one would have anticipated the crowd energy to dissipate after Kirk left. But in what is a fantastic endorsement of the growth and appreciation of the local Gospel industry, the crowd hardly budged. Even though 2009 has been a bumper year for Gospel, especially where international act are concerned (think Sherwin Gardiner, Damita & Marvin Winans Jr. at the recently concluded Recharge '09, we well as Jars of Clay, Ron Kenoly and Isaac Blackman), the fact that the energy even picked up towards the end can only say good things about Gospel music in Kenya.
Shortly after Kirk was MOG, whose Zing Zing and Let Them Go sent the place into a frenzy. Jimmie Gait is always a delight, and he was followed by the immensely popular duo of Holy Dave and Eko Dida of the Niko Na Reason fame. The hosts closed out the evening in fine style, with the Mavuno Worship Project supported by acts like Kanjii, Neema, Atemi and also Isaac Rucci of Limit X.
Hats off to the Mavuno Church and their team for engineering what is likely to be a crazy annual event. Did someone say "2nd Annual Mavuno Spread The Love Festival"?  Dance Winners 3:16
 Chit Chat's Astar & Dee
 VUC Ladies
 Bupe Had Crazy Energy
 DJ Moz Chills With The Ennovator
 Rigga Looking All...Gangstar
 Alan Aaron Joined By Gospel Fathers' Kera
 Number 8 Was Sublime
 He Probably Had A Better View Than Most
 Enters With A Jig
 Kirk Slows It Down
 All Jeff ...All The Time
 Mavuno's Pastor Muriithi Poses With His Wife Carol
 Gotta Love Juliani's Dreads
 Even Kirk's Keyboardist Wants A Piece Of The Action
 Kirk's Keyboardist
 Kanjii Did A Fab Job On MC Duties
 Packed House
 Mwafrika.com's George Poses With DJ Sanch
 Lesson One
 Lesson Two
 Event Maestros Pose Together
 Uganda's Ham-Kay
 Emmanuel Jal Jams On
 Kirk's Female BGV's
 ...and their male Counterparts
 Songbird Neema Poses With Sheba
 Kirk Fooling Around
 Heart n Soul's Crew
 Ni Muhadhara!
 Holy Dave's Got Swagger
 Eko D Has A Reason
 Loving The Action
 DJ Vic Represents On The Decks
 Talk About A Passionate Fan!!
 Mwafrika.com's Kuria Catches Up With LC
 MOG's Got Some Serious Zing
 Isaac Rucci of the Limit X Fame
 Rachel Get Down
 Rufftone Wants To Be Close To His Fans
 Anybody Recognise Their Hand?
 Kirk Sits At The Keyboard
 Talk About Spoiling Kids:-)
» Post Comment
» 8 Comments
1"dj"
at Monday, 14 September 2009 08:59
looked like an awesome day big ups to the organisers and to God , great to see gospel set the bar so high
2"powerful gig"
at Monday, 14 September 2009 14:44
kirk brought it down for sure
3Comment
at Tuesday, 15 September 2009 08:01
Kirk really came through.what a show!...Big up to Mavuno and all the sponsors.
4Comment
at Tuesday, 15 September 2009 15:23
I'm excited to see Gospel music grow and become so massive in Kenya. I have been out for many years and i always feel like there is alot of stuff i am missing out on. But i thank God very much. Gospel artists...keep on...be strong. God bless.
5"Ms"
at Wednesday, 16 September 2009 12:00
Was that an awesome gig or what. So proud to have been there!!
6Comment
at Friday, 18 September 2009 10:14
Haaaaaahahahahaha....All Jeff, all the time...Nice one...so glad it went well....
7"ms"
at Monday, 19 October 2009 23:08
I have looked at most of the pics ... I could have told that this was a christian event! It first appeared to me like maybe some confused disco in a confused part of the world!
8"Like it"
at Tuesday, 29 December 2009 14:15
So so powerful God received all the glory and honour.
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