The first Nomadic Arts Festival was held successfully at the Oshwal Center

Content House Kenya’s first Nomadic Arts Festival took place at the Chandaria Auditorium, Visa Oshwal Center, in Westlands, Nairobi, on Friday, December 6, 2024. A lot of artists and entertainers from Northern Kenya and Nairobi came to the festival to celebrate different kinds of art and culture. They did this through strong music performances and storytelling sessions that were based on problems that people in Northern Kenya are facing.

The main acts, which included artists from Turkana Sessions (Jackson Nakuwa, Mourine Apuu, Jackson Ekori, Elizabeth Katiko, and Eddie Grey, a jazz musician from Nairobi who is also the music director for the festival), put on interesting shows that mixed traditional rhythms with modern beats and jazz music. Together with the passionate Swahili singer Sanaipei Tande and Nairobi’s HVMND Orchestra (also known as the Turkana Sessions Orchestra), the artists sang songs and medleys.

Nectar Boy, Catherine Natiir, Lemarti, and Akidah were some other Northern Kenyan artists who performed at the event. They worked with Dylan-S, a DJ and music composer from Ewaso Records. Some of Nairobi’s best Afro-House DJs, like Dylan-S, Euggy, and MGM, played at the festival’s after-party at Geco Central (Sarakasi Dome). They played tribal music mash-ups to great reviews from the crowd, along with Mosse drummer, a talented drummer from Nairobi.

Jackie Lebo, Festival Director and CEO of Content House Kenya, said, “Our goal was to give artists from Northern Kenya a place to show off their work and rich cultural heritage to people who had never seen it before, and we did a beautiful job of that.” It was great to show a music extravaganza from one of our own cultures while also incorporating modern elements at the fair.

The Nomadic Arts Festival will happen every year after its first great year. Jackie says, “Yes, it will be bigger next year, with more artists and a livelier market.” We haven’t even scratched the surface of what’s possible in terms of neighborhood diversity, working together, and making great art. It could even be somewhere you wouldn’t expect. Watch this space for more information!”

The festival also had a small marketplace where local artists and businesses could show off their regalia and goods while promoting the good things about Northern Kenya. The goal was to create economic chances through art.

The Nomadic Arts Festival is the first of its kind. It will continue to bring together artists from other parts of Northern Kenya with acts from Nairobi and other places to celebrate different ways of expressing yourself. The goal is to preserve and promote art forms from the area and build cultural connections through music and art.