Fashion trends, beautifully dressed women, guys with on-point
attire, delicacies, outdoor fun and activities – all these went down this week,
March 11 – 13 March at the United States International University (USIU)
Culture Week. Gates opened as early as 9am each day and exhibitors and sponsors
pitched tent all day. Each country’s tent aimed to outdo the next. The after
party saw music merge with fashion, great food and culture.
Thursday
night’s gala concert was the anticipated climax of the entire week. The glitz?
Check! The glamour? It was there in abundance. The cultural performances
astounded under the stars. The ceremony was everything you could wish for to
honor the university’s finest and diverse continental and international
cultures. Not even Daystar University’s Culture Week that was running the same
week was a match. USIU Culture Week went viral from day 1. “Selfie moments” of
the event on social media created the much-needed hype. The night’s host, radio
girl Lulu Saini and the Luo Omera Teddy
Eugene were on-point. Sure Lulu had a boo-moment from the crowd, but as the
night went by-she seemed to have won back the crowd’s love.
Performances by Michezo Africa, GBS crew and the acrobats only
spiced up the curtain raiser. On the decks, DJ No-ID of USIU 99.9FM and Joe
Mfalme kept the turbo charged crowd on their feet all night.
And when
Professor Buyu took the stage, he had a few words, “I declare culture week
officially opened!” the
same sentiments were shared by Mr Apidi, representing Coca-Cola who were also
sponsors of the event, “let the happiness continue!”
The judges panel consisting of Mr. Charles Mwakio, Professor
Scott, Mrs. Waturi and Mr Earnest were given the task and mandate to officially
declare the best cultural performance of the night. The performances were
amazing and the night had its fair share of surprises. For instance, the rain
came pouring hard but only made the crowd get even more excited as they waited
for the awards.
Both Tanzanian and Nigerian performances were well
choreographed, had high energy, and were bright and colorful. The Nigerians
flashed out their notes on stage in what seemed like a scene from a movie, as
the crowd pushed forward to try and pick up the notes.
India
bagged the Best Exhibition award for the week. With 144 points, 10 points less
than the 1st runners up, the 2nd runners
up award for the night went to a surprise and the underestimated Rwanda who
also seemed shocked to receive the award.
Tanzania
surprised, taking the 2nd runners up position and leaving two
giants, Kenya and Nigeria to battle for the number one. Well, Nigeria held the
bragging rights for the night as they were declared the overall winners for the
night after their spectacular performance that left the crowd yearning for me
and bowing to their performance shouting-“igwee! Igwee! Igwee!”
On
Nigeria’s performance, the judges had this to say-“their originality scared us! Their performance: made us forget
we were even judging! They had a fantastic performance and coordination.” Taking the trophy award,
the Nigerians gave the crowd a taste of their “skelewu dance” as
they celebrated.
The event’s sponsors, Kenya Buzz, CBA Bank, BuyMore Kenya,
Coca-Cola and the many others did a fantastic job and mad the event even more
memorable. For the fashion enthusiasts, the night was all colorful. Somalia
bagged the best dressed male award, taking it from Nigeria who won last year,
while Kenya’s Maasai lady bagged the best female dressed for the night.
So, to the organizing committee, Sonia, Nabil, T.J, Shazaan,
Natasha, Fionah and Nalia, you are definitely on the right track and you have
everyone’s attention now.
By Embukane Vincent Libosso.
Check out the pictures
here-https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.611687435575298.1073741925.440804702663573&type=3
No comments:
Post a Comment