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Tuesday, January 14, 2014

BLANKETS AND WINE AT 50 REVIEW


After an explosive first: a two-day Blankets & Wine (B&W) festival, held at the Carnivore grounds during the first weekend of January 2014, it’s now official – B&W is undoubtedly Nairobi’s number one monthly music festival and Kenya’s grandest. The first edition boasted over 10 live music acts (including countless DJs) from Kenya, Uganda and South Africa. They included big names like: The Villagers Band, Just a Band (JAB), Sauti Sol, Harry Kimani, Mi Casa Music and Mafikizolo among others.
B&W has earned its high-flying reputation and stood the test of time. The picnic-style music festival started in Nairobi, five years ago, is now adored by many (mostly music lovers and trend-setters) and has become a serious crowd puller. Their first event of 2014 was a celebration of 50 B&W events and Kenya’s 50thindependence anniversary. “We are very proud and satisfied at our two-day attempt. Nairobi now has a festival that we will work on till it gets to Glastonbury level. This is the direction in 2014,” asserted B&W Founder and CEO Muthoni Ndonga, adding, “The festival will be changing form and taking shape into becoming a world-renowned festival, and the idea of creating a bigger experience to focus on the African acts pushing boundaries and helping Africans come together.” B&W continues to impress and break boundaries. Since its inception, the festival has managed to expand to Uganda and Tanzania, and according to its CEO; this year intends to expand further into Tanzania and Rwanda, before venturing into other African countries like Zambia and Malawi.
She was speaking at a press conference attended by UP held at Mayfair Hotel, a day after the successful festival. During B&W Saturday fest, Mi Casa, Sarabi, JAB and Sauti Sol impressed with stellar and energetic live performances. On Sunday, the sweet-voiced Harry Kimani was the local breakout star. The former acclaimed “Haiya” singer, fell off the music scene recently following personal problems. He seems to have started off this year on the right foot, with his performance including the new single “Happiness”, backed by his angelic vocalists. The Villagers Band performed just before Mafikizolo, setting the pace for what would be a volatile and highly energetic performance (that included a choreographed dance show and crowd participation) from the South African duo, best known for their singles “Ndihamba Nawe” and “Khona”.

While at the press conference we caught up with Mi Casa Music, South African deep house band comprising members: JSomething (vocalist and guitarist), Dr. Duda (producer) and Mo – T (trumpeter). Just after completing a tour around 16 African countries including their host, South Africa, Mi Casa Music made a second return at B&W 50th edition. Their latest single “Jika” off their new album is currently riding high on international charts. The three and a half year-old band promises that they are together to stay. About their diverse sound – lead singer JSomething says, “Everything about Mi Casa is very natural and not planned. Our sounds will always be us. Our music goes a lot deeper than house. We try to use live elements in our deep house (more soulful house) music, using house genre as our foundation. It’s what we grew up to. Duda grew up on a gospel front, Mo grew up on the jazz front and I grew upon the soulful side. That’s how we come up with our stirred up music, and adds “You will be surprised that house music is way bigger than kwaito in South Africa. House music had a perception that you have these four chords and a tag line and you’re done. Now we are creating music within house. That’s that but we are bringing out the musicality to house. Thank God it’s working and now the majority of house music coming from South African is very different.”
With such a rousing first edition of B&W January, we await to see their next course of action and music acts lined up for 2014.
For more on B&W, visit blanketsandwine.com
By Anyiko Owoko.


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