Performing Arts

Valentine’s events for music lovers

diamond

Diamond Platnumz. PHOTO | COURTESY

With just a week to Valentine’s Day, next Friday, there’s just about enough time to make plans for your entertainment over that weekend and music is high up the priority list for this annual celebration of romance. Here are two high profile music festivals that you cannot afford to miss over the Valentine’s weekend.

Koroga Festival

Tanzanian superstar Diamond Platnumz is the headline act at the festival dubbed the Naivasha Love Edition.

The 29th edition of the popular Koroga African music festival heads to Naivasha’s Hell’s Gate for a two-day event with a star studded line up of Kenyan and international acts.

Diamond (official name Nasibu Abdul Juma), who is celebrating a decade of his music career this year, will be performing with his band and the WCB dancers.

Through a combination of catchy Swahili songs and social media notoriety, he has grown into one of Africa’s biggest music stars and transformed Tanzanian pop music, Bongo Flavour, into an international brand. His repertoire contains anthems like “Number One” “Marry You” and ”African Beauty” (with US star Omarion).

He has also shown his business acumen by establishing his Wasafi stable, consisting of a record label and media outlets, to launch the careers of other popular artists like Harmonise, Rayvanny and Rich Mavoko.

Diamond’s performance in Kenya marks the beginning of a busy schedule with a European tour in March and April, taking him to Switzerland, Denmark, Finland and Germany and France.

That second day of the festival also features Kenyan Afropop trio H_art the Band, who are currently enjoying success with their 2019 album “Made In Streets” and popular one man guitarist Mike Rua, the self-proclaimed “King of Mugithi”.

The Koroga festival begins on Friday, Valentine’s Day, with performances by some of Kenya’s biggest contemporary artists. The fast-rising singer Nadia Mukami best known for her hit singles “Yule Yule” “African Lover” “Radio Love” and “Maombi is among the performers on that first day of the festival. The sweet voiced singer was one of the stars on the 2019 edition of the TV show Coke Studio when she was paired with Tanzanian R&B star Jux and Mozambican singer Shellsy Baronet.

“I always wanted to perform at Koroga and God has made a dream come true,” she posted on Twitter.

That opening day will also see a performance by a group at the cutting edge of the new wave of Kenyan urban music. Ochungolo Family, a trio from Langata Nairobi, are one of the leading exponents of what has been dubbed ‘gengetone’ which combines street slang, cutting edge beats and colourful videos.

Renowned rapper Khaligraph Jones, who has just released a new single “Yes Bana” (featuring Bien Aime of Sauti Sol) will also be a star performer on the first day of the festival.

The Naivasha Love Festival is a campaign to attract local and international visitors to the town that is famed for its floriculture and eco-tourism.

Valentine Jamboree Concert

Nigerian Afrobeats star Kizz Daniel (previously known as Kiss Daniel) will be the headline act for the inaugural edition of the festival that brings together a wide array of artists from around Africa on Saturday February 15 at the Uhuru Gardens, Nairobi.

Kizz Daniel is best known for hit singles like “Woju” “One Ticket” and “Yeba” and this will be the start of an African tour that takes him to various cities around the continent

The music career of the artist from Abeokuta, Ogun State, took off in 2013 after graduating from university with a degree in Water Engineering. He was signed by G Worldwide Entertainment label which released his first singles. However, after four years, he left the label and started his own outfit Fly Boy Inc under a new stage name following a contract dispute. His debut album “New Era was released in 2016 and the follow up “No Bad Songz” on his own label in December 2018.

Other artists on the bill for the festival include Slimcase, also from Nigeria, Bigtril from Uganda and Nandy from Tanzania

Kenyan rapper/poet King Kaka, will be staging his first major gig since he kicked off a national debate with his politically charged song “Wajinga Nyinyi”.

The Gengetone generation of performers is also represented with performances by hot youth groups, The Sailors and Ethic Entertainment