Kwani?

By Nwasante Khasiani (Writer) on May 10, 2012

So, if you are a creative, a poet or you just love seeing creatives do their thing creatively, Why weren’t you at Kwani?

Kwani hosted their monthly open mic event on Tuesday@ Club Sound and the show was graced by acts such as Anto Neosoul, Man Njoro, Checkmate (who was the headline act), Cindy Ogana and Kenneth B.

For starters, Cindy was an awesome MC as she was always thinking on her feet (seriously, nothing caught her off-guard) and her wit was razor sharp. She opened the event with an impromptu piece for her friend Winnie Nkunda of the Boomba Girls fame. *side note* Why don’t people in the entertainment industry age? Winnie hasn’t aged a day since we saw her in Nonini’s video “Manzi wa Nairobi”!

Anto Neosoul then came on stage and 1st dedicated the pieces he’d be doing to Maya Angelou then to all the mothers and indeed women in attendance. He did pieces by Maya but he owned them, putting alot of himself into the pieces to make them relatable and more organic. I have to make note of how eclectic oi think the lad is and versatile too seeing as he made Maya Angelou sound like she were a Kenyan Poet/Writer writing about Kenyan situations. Goodstuff!

Man Njoro was next on stage and he did his signature piece 1st (to sate public demand) then went into pieces that were newer& fresher and that had me wondering why we bemoan lack of talent in our entertainment industry. Maybe the problem is that said talent isn’t mainstream. All things said& done, this guy can spit mad flame! He did a beatboxing piece with Checkmate called “Streetfight’ that was simply a madness!

Kenneth was next on stage and he did a funny yet sublime piece on a girl cheating on her college-kid boyfriend that had me chuckling under my breath all through his performance. Real funny dude but you have to have an IQ way above average and a good understanding of Sheng (street lingo) to get the humour. Luckily these 2 requirements were in abundance in the audience.

Jemedari was next on stage and i have to admit that at 1st his demure demeanour& pressed suit (more like a shirt& dress pants) were out of place &i was apprehensive at 1st about what he’d do but when he took the mic, it was like he was touched by Apollo himself! He did a revolutionary piece that stirred the inner soldier in everyone in the audience which even the most hardcore hater must admit is no mean feat!

then came the feature artist Checkmate and he did some poetry, starting with a piece he did when he first started out: nostalgia it seems caught up with this lad. he then rapped some of his pieces, freestyled, beatboxed and even did a piece he’d written on the fly off his phone which suprisingly was the best piece of all. The one word that describes this lad is multitalented! I personally feel we need more poets in the rap game to put an end to the mind numbing drivel alot of artists put out under the guise of music.

A certain lad from Uganda came on stage next and *conspiratory whisper* I suspect he did a piece for the benefit of my colleague Kone but those are my thoughts& they do not represent Ghafla’s. But it was still funny as hell watching Kone uncomfortably shift in his seat which had turned into a hot seat.

Anto came back on stage and did his thing shortly before Miss Kenya-America Wambui came and did a piece on a lass from South Africa who had bleached herself and was proudly parading herself on the Drum issue of (i forget when). The thing i liked about this final piece is that it didn’t castigate the folly of this lass which admittedly i’d have done but rather it sought to understand her actions. Unique perspective.

Anyway, here are some of the sights from Kwani which you should make a point to attend!

CINDY OGANA MC