Boiler Room makes East African debut

Boiler Room has featured more than 4 000 performances by 5 000 artists in 150 cities since its inception in 2010. Deriving its name from its original webcast, the platform has grown from its premises at an abandoned boiler room in London to the global force it is today. At the time, CEO and founder Blaise Bellville had been running an online blog from an abandoned warehouse. He saw the need to highlight the emerging music scene in London via an unadulterated platform, away from the mainstream. On an absolute whim, he invited a few of his friends, set up a webcam in a 1930s era boiler room next to his office and shot the first episode. To his surprise the online stream got major traffic and Boiler Room started streaming every Tuesday. In 2011, the media, sponsors, and pretty much the whole world, started paying attention. The rest, as they say, is history.

Boiler Room was established as a counterculture in the face celebrity culture – where the who is more important than the what. It's music at its purest, featuring a DJ on the decks surrounded by revellers with nothing but great music and great vibes. This raw ethos has made it a resounding success. According to The Guardian, Boiler Room has streamed more than 3.5 billion minutes of music since it started out, with audiences of up to 400 000 tuning in to watch. A record 10.6 million are said to have watched British DJ Carl Cox’s legendary set at Ibiza. Originally focusing on house, techno and dub, Boiler Room quickly expanded to include grime, hip hop, classical and jazz.

The Nairobi session, dubbed True Music Kenya, is a part of the larger True Music Africa series. It has previously featured Ture Music Cameroon, which introduced Locko, Magasco, Askia, Boy Tag and DJ Labastille Premier to international audiences. True Music Africa has also gone to South Africa.

The recent Nairobi edition featured rapper and showbiz entrepreneur Muthoni Drummer Queen, Nairobi-based DJ Coco-EM, electro heavyweight DJ Suraj, former Camp Mulla member Taio and creative collective EA Wave.

“Being part of the first-ever Boiler Room in East Africa was a special moment," Suraj told Music in Africa. "Been a huge follower of the brand for the longest time. It's such a milestone for Boiler Room to come to Nairobi. It verifies us within so many different musical pockets. The Boiler Room stamp just shows that our scene is valued and has talent good enough to compete with the rest of the world."

Watch Coco-EM's set below: