Cathedral Youth wins first Nairobi Battle of the Choirs

Cathedral Youth Choir was named winner and took home Ksh2m (about $15 000), with Presbyterian Church of East Africa Kahawa Farmers Choir coming second and St Peter’s Clavers securing the third position to earn Ksh1m and Ksh500 000, respectively. All participating choirs were awarded Ksh100 000 each.

The event, held at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in the Kenyan capital over Easter Weekend, was organised by the Nairobi City County government.

After auditions in March, 38 choir groups drawn from across the county were selected to showcase their unique choral qualities.

“The aim of this event was to promote local choral music and on-board local vocal talent, culture and togetherness,” Nairobi governor Johnson Sakaja said. “We also used this event to market Nairobi as a cosmopolitan city and one that embraces people of all religions and ethnicities.”

Sakaja said the competition would become an annual affair. “We will ensure this event is used to place Nairobi on the world map. Cities have festivals, so should Nairobi. These events are used to not only bring people together but also to positively market cities. Nairobi has today raised the bar in so far as city events are concerned. Together with my friends, we raised the money for the first event, but from next year, Battle of the Choirs will be in the Nairobi County budget.”

Investment, Trade and Industry cabinet secretary Moses Kuria, who was in attendance at the finals, pledged to support the county government to establish a Ksh250m recreation, arts and culture centre where creative talents could be discovered and nurtured.

“We have been talking about coffee, tea and avocado and yet there is a lot of artistic talent in Nairobi that is currently untapped. I have told governor Sakaja, we will build the centre, which will ensure that 60% of the country’s GDP comes from Nairobi,” Kuria said.