On Friday Jimmy Dludlu performed at the Safarciom Jazz Concert at the Safaricom Kasarani Indoor stadium and brought the house down.
I was excited to be going for Jimmy Dludlu’s Safaricom Jazz concert a few reasons. One being that it was my 18+ birthday. The second being that I love music and I love to dance. I have listened to Jimmy Dludlu’s music before so I knew it was a good idea to put on my dancing shoes. I had also won VIP tickets from Hapa Kenya I was hyped up.
There was a lot of jam getting to Kasarani but we managed to get there before the show started. After grabbing some drinks we went in to the VIP area. The set up was great as you would expect from a Safaricom event.
The MC was Kavutha Mwanzio and she did a great job throughout the night.
First up was Swahili Jazz Band who did a great job as curtain raisers. I could see people nodding their heads to the music and they really did a splendid job in entertaining us. And getting us into the right mood to listen to the main act of the evening.
When Jimmy Dludlu came on after an intermission we were all buzzed up. Jimmy did not disappoint. He started off slowly building up his performance. The music got funkier as the night went on. It seemed people were shy to start dancing so Njeri (Kenyan poet) and I decided to stand up and dance. It seemed that that was the signal people were waiting for and after a few minutes other people got up to dance. It was an honour when Jimmy Dludlu came down from the stage and danced with us as he moved around the room.
By the time Jimmy went back to the stage people did not need an invitation to go to the front. We went to the front and danced for the rest of his performance. The show had energy and we stayed on our feet until the last song. The mood was so electric as people danced and cheered. There was even a point where people went up on stage to dance with Jimmy. At some point Aaron Rimbui and Jacob Asiyo had a showdown.
The climax of the show was when Jimmy and his band played the Kenyan national anthem perfectly. It was a very emotional moment and the crowd was very impressed. When the show ended people demanded more and Jimmy obliged by playing one more song. It was an amazing performance. Those of us who were there danced and sang along.
After the performance DJ D-lite took over and played us some great music.
I totally loved the energy of the crowd. Jimmy Dludlu was on fire and we really danced. The event was awesome and as great as we have come to expect from the Safaricom Jazz Series. I look forward to the next event.
On Thursday before the main event Villa Rosa Kempinski hosted renowned Jazz maestro Jimmy Dludlu during an exclusive meet and greet session. The session was during the Jazz night at the Balcony Bar. Bob Collymore, Safaricom CEO was among the guests that graced the occasion. Also in attendance was Jazz artist Aaron Rimbui, Jacob Asiyo, Tim Njiru, among others.
The money raised at the Nairobi show will go to the Korogocho–based Ghetto Classics Music program, which uses music education to instill life skills in youth from under privileged backgrounds.
