Kenya jazz fest to raise money for slum kids

The charity festival donates its proceeds to Ghetto Classics, a community-based organisation that uses music to unfetter the youth of Nairobi’s Korogocho slum from the cycle of poverty, drugs and crime.

While this will be guitarist Norman Brown’s maiden visit to Kenya, Grammy Award winners saxophonist Kirk Whalum and trumpeter Rick Braun performed alongside Gerald Albright and Sheléa Frazier at Safaricom Jazz Lounge events in Nairobi and Mombasa in December 2016.

BWB is well known for its 2013 Human Nature album, a smooth jazz offering that adapts and rearranges some of Michael Jackson’s greatest hits including ‘Billie Jean’, ‘Man in the Mirror’, ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’ and the title track, ‘Human Nature’, among others.

“This edition of Safaricom International Jazz Festival has a special place in our hearts for many reasons,” the brains behind the festival and Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore said.

“Not only are we celebrating five years of great live jazz performances from world-renowned and locally admired musicians, we are also celebrating the social impact we’ve created through funds raised from the festival.”

Speaking to Music In Africa, the project manager of Ghetto Classics, Simon Kariuki, enumerated the gains that the music programme had made over the last five years. He said the telco’s funding enabled the organisation to teach children how to play classical music and hire them once they graduated to teach others. Though there are many projects in Korogocho, Kariuki contends that none have impacted the community quite as much as Ghetto Classics.

“Even the gangs in the slum don’t rob our kids any more,” he said. “When we started they would snatch their instruments and harass tutors who would visit the community. With time, however, the programme has transformed the community and turned many away from crime. Gang members actually act as security when we have dignitaries and visitors from all over the world.”

Safaricom has to date donated more than 37 million Kenyan shillings ($365 000) from festival proceeds to Ghetto Classics. More than 1 400 boys and girls under 18 years are benefitting from the programme, which uses the funds to purchase musical instruments, provide training, and finance basic needs such as school fees and shelter for the children and their families.

This year, the jazz festival hopes to raise a further 20 million shillings for Ghetto Classics. Additionally, beneficiaries of the programme will be performing alongside Jimek, a Polish composer and music producer known for his wildly popular ‘History of Hip Hop’ composition. Fans can also expect electric performances from Kenyan favorites Mambo Tribe and Limericks, as well as The Betty Bears (Israel), Lean (Belgium), Joya Wendt (Germany) and Gloria Bosman (South Africa).

“The whole idea of the festival is to make jazz music more accessible and inclusive, and to use this to break down barriers and create opportunities for talented Kenyan artistes to play alongside international stars and appeal to a larger local audience,” Collymore said.