50 KENYAN ARTISTES PERFORM AT WORLD UNDER 18 VILLAGE

The World Under 18 Village was set up by the Ministry of Sports Culture and the Arts to showcase our Kenyan culture to the world and it was the perfect way to merge Kenya’s sporting clout with its rich culture. “The department of Culture and the Arts was set up 1 year 4 months ago and we made some pronouncements for the creatives in Kenya. We have managed to get this space for the creatives, we have the 50 top artistes who have been working closely with the Ministry.” Permanent Secretary, Joe Okudo, Department of Culture & the Arts.

The Village hosted 66 Maasai Market vendors under the Open spaces initiative. This is an initiative creates space for youth entrepreneurs in the arts industry and beneficiaries of the Youth and affirmative funds at Government sponsored events like the Uzalendo Festival held on December  12 and now the World Under 18 Village.

The Open Spaces initiative invites vendors to showcase their works to the public for free and have the opportunity to sell their art works to the crowds in order to make a living and boost the cultural arts industry.

In the same spirit of uplifting the youth, the Ministry through its organisers Ngoma Tucheze saw 50 artistes perform across the 5 days. Some of the artistes included Redsan, Nameless, Wahu, Le Band, Size 8, DJ Mo, FBI Dancers, Villagers Band, Timmy T Dat, Naiboy, MOG, CBK Band,Mercy Masika, DJ Sadic, Kriss Darling, Gravity Band, Kaligraph, Kristoff, Sanaipei Tande, Vivian, Avril, Amos & Josh, DJ Wijjie, Bahati, Roughtone, Frasha and Gabu among others.

Alongside these performances there was a DJ competition and a Dance Off. The DJ competition saw 70 deejays take part for a cash prize of Sh50,000. The winner DJ Velcro suffered from Cerebral Palsy that left him disabled in one hand. He spins using a special deck that allows him to schedule music and mix using only one hand.

The Bazokizo dancers who hail from Dandora, wowed the crowd through the different stages of the competition to emerge at the top. The second and third places were also taken by dance groups from Mjengo  and Korogocho respectively.

The Colour Festival team was on ground on Saturday to spread cheer and further engage the younger crowd in lots of fun and entertainment at the Village.

The event attracted local and international visitors who enjoyed the music, the acrobatic shows and the cultural village as a whole.

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