“Music is a world within itself with a language we all understand with an equal opportunity for all to sing, dance and clap their hands” ~ Stevie Wonder
The Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) boasts of being Africa’s Premiere Events destination besides being an iconic landmark in Kenya. The convention Centre played host, not to a conference, but to the first ever choral event organised by the County Government of Nairobi and Governor Sakaja during Easter. While Kenya is known for hosting several cultural and music festivals, choral music festivals are not very common despite choral music having a large audience that cuts across generations and social backgrounds.
It’s Easter Sunday (9th April 2023) and 39 choirs make their way to KICC to participate in the inaugural choral music festival dubbed “Battle of the Choirs- Easter Festival.” These are the choirs that were shortlisted as having met the required standards, following a month-long vetting process by the technical team that received 90 entries from across Nairobi County.
The 39 choirs are drawn mostly from local churches of all denominations across 85 wards in Nairobi County- Baptist, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Catholic, Anglican, Seventh Day Adventists, Salvation Army and Legio Maria. They are also dynamic as they consist of youth choirs, street choirs, student choirs and mixed church choirs thus giving the festival a good representation of Nairobi’s choral diversity.
The festival is a brain child of Governor Sakaja that aims at promoting local choral music and onboarding local vocal talent, culture, and religion. This falls under City Culture, Arts and Tourism sub sector of the Inclusivity, Public Participation and Customer Service Sector of Nairobi County. The choice of church and gospel choirs is to share the energy of the music that is found within the church with Nairobi County residents during Easter. The festival will also be an avenue to showcase Nairobi as a cosmopolitan city and one that embraces people of all religions, races and tribes.
The festival was held over a two day period (9th & 10th April 2023) with the first day being the semi-finals and the second day the finals and crowning of the best choir in Nairobi County. Of the 39 choirs that participated in the semi-finals, only 17 made it to the finals. Some of the choirs that made it to the finals included: St. Augustine Catholic Church, Makadara, Salvation Army, Quarry Ward, Friends Church Langata, Seniors Methodist Church, Mathare North SDA Church, PCEA Kahawa Farmers Church, Lenana PAG, Legio Maria Fort Jesus, Kibera among others.
The 8-judge panel that consisted of seasoned musicians (Dr. Duncan Wambugu, Jackie, Humphrey, Luke Musambi, Prof.Ngala, Helen Mtawali, Daniel Matangala and Roy Smith Mwatia a.ka. Rufftone), selected the winners based on stage presence, choir tone quality, blend, unity, delivery, artistry, relevance of message and overall performance. Each choir was expected to sing an Easter piece, an original composition and an African sacred folk song.
The Cathedral Youth Choir emerged the winners, bagging the coveted Kes. 2Million prize money. Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) Kahawa Farmers choir and St Peter’s Clavers choir emerged second and third respectively and received Kes. 1Million and Kes. 500,000, respectively. The cash prizes were donated by Governor Sakaja. All the choirs that participated in the competition, received KSh. 100,000 and a Certificate of Participation.
The Choir Master of the winners – the Cathedral Youth Choir attributed their win to God’s doing, practice, good choice of songs and the synergy that they have as a choir. “This is a great achievement for the team. It’s a prayer answered. Our consistency, commitment, practices and sacrifice has been well rewarded by God. He deserves all the praise- we are only his instruments of His praise and Glory,” he said.
He further stated that the prize money will go a long way in expanding their ministry as a choir as well as supporting some of their members who do not have jobs. They also intend to buy a new set of uniform for the choir. He also shared feedback on their experience at the festival, stating that it was well organised considering it was the first time such an event was being held. He also proposed that the competition be held at the sub-county level first then the qualifying teams can compete at county level and expand it further to become and inter-county competition.
Battle of the Choirs – Easter Festival has set the stage for future editions of the competition, which will be held annually. It will contribute towards reclaiming Nairobi as a cultural hub. The festival has received support from the County Assembly that has accepted the governor’s request to allocate a budget for the subsequent annual events.
The festival was also attended by CS for Trade Hon. Moses Kuria, Senator of Nairobi Edwin Sifuna, Deputy Governor Njoroge Muchiri among other MCAs and County Officials.
