Skip to main content

Ayub Ogada Live at the Goethe-Institut, Nairobi


This past Saturday I got back to Nairobi all set and eager to see live on stage Ayub Ogada.
This, I understand, was his second performance in Kenya since he got back to country, a little over 2 years ago. It was going to be my first to see him perform live.

Ayub Ogada stands out as arguably the best known Kenyan musician internationally, though still very much unknown or celebrated in his very own backyard- Kenya.

On arrival at the venue, at the Goethe-Institut in downtown Nairobi, I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by an overflowing hall.  It was literally bursting at its seams, figuratively speaking, I could not get a sitting space let alone a place to stand I was by the side door poking my head to see and hear this world music legend.

And he certainly didn’t disappoint and more importantly the audience struck a chord with his unique sound and his mastery of the Nyatiti (a lyre-like stringed instrument). There was  group of young men (most likely college kids from the near-by University of Nairobi) singing along with him providing him with much needed back-up support considering he was doing a solo act.

He played, to the audience appreciation, tracks from his debut album, "En Mana Kuoyo". And the evening couldn't be complete without him playing the world-favorite "Kothbiro" track which was the highlight of the evening.

Ayub Ogada combination of sound (both of lyrical content and raw sounds) and of the Nyatiti produces a potent musical quality (much of it in his local language- Luo) that wow-ed the crowd in attendance and he is undoubtedly Kenya’s musical jewel.  

I’m looking forward to seeing more of him in the coming days and months in various local stages.

Welcome home Ayub and we love you and your music!
Labels:

Comments

  1. KarunaOctober 21, 2019 at 5:30 AM

    Nice blog thanks for sharing Re-decorate your messy lawn and fix up your boring old garden with Karuna Nursery Gardens. We offer speciality Garden maintenance services in Chennai. It’s time you made a difference to your backyard.
    plant nursery in chennai
    rental plants in chennai
    corporate gardening service in chennai

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jon HendoJune 1, 2021 at 3:42 PM

    virtual edge. 28 percent of the time that attendees spend exploring the platform before a virtual event is spent browsing exhibitors and 8 percent is spent looking at exhibitor products. thank you letter for a friend examples and find event sponsors

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Case of Local Jazz Concerts and ....The Future

There has been a lot of talk of why Kenya doesn’t attract top notch International Jazz Artists or even field a concert worth its name in terms of quality (staging, sponsorships) enough to entice fans and artists in their world tours. The same issue was also discussed recently in the weekly radio jazz show on Capital FM , Capital Jazz Club , by its presenter, Jack Ojiambo and a couple of other Jazz enthusiasts that were invited in the show. Is this a case of poor promotion, lack of local quorum i.e. a good number of Jazz fans ready to pay for such shows or put simply an issue of cost (to pay for the artists) or what really? And how come our neighbors, the Ugandans have been so successful in this? The fans, at least from the chatter that has been on going through a number of social networking sites, felt we have the capacity to host and field world class concerts worth rousing reviews. And I dare say not just for the promotion and appreciate of International artists but also the...
1 comment
Read more

Jazz 101 as written by TShaka Mayanja

I stumbled upon an article authored by one TShaka Mayanja (Bassist to the Band- BlackRoots Unlimited from Uganda) in the one of Uganda’s Dailies which in a sense validated some of the issues that I raised in a past blog. The article seeks to answer the following answers: Is Jazz music for the elite, “wannabe”, show-offs and the rich? What are the origins of the genre? What constitutes Jazz music? How is Jazz marketed in Uganda? TShaka (Pictured on the Left) kicks off by arguing that the high pricing of the various Jazz Concerts organized tend to attract only those that can afford (who are not necessarily Jazz fans) and there by marginalizing real Jazz fans that would love to attend but cannot afford. He then gives a short and enlightening history of Jazz. He defines the genre -Jazz music- or what constitutes Jazz music. He goes further and outlines the various sub-genres that are within the larger Jazz music. He also argues that a majority of the concerts or shows...
1 comment
Read more