Hey guys, Happy New Year! I hope it started off well for you. Welcome back to the blog, I am back from the Christmas break and looking forward to a great year of travel and blogging.

This past weekend I attended the Blankets & Wine music festival. Blankets & Wine is a monthly picnic-style family friendly music festival showcasing emerging genres of Urban-African music. It was their 50^th edition and to mark the milestone they held a two day event at the Canivore grounds Nairobi, Kenya. Best believe this girl was so excited that she bought her tickets last year. The last time I posted about Blankets and Wine was almost 1yr ago, you can take a look at the post here.

Day one, which was on Saturday was going to be having Sarabi (Kenya), Maurice Kirya (Uganda), Muthoni (Kenya), Just A Band (Kenya)  Mi Casa (South Africa) and Sauti Sol (Kenya) on stage. Thanks to my friends African timing  I only got to watch  2 minutes of of Sarabi’s performance. SARABI, is an 8 member Afro-Fusion band formed in 2005. I have had the chance to watch them once before and their energy on stage is amazing.

The event began at two but we got there at around half past three – still early enough to get a good spot in the shade close to the stage.

 

 

Next on stage was Maurice Kirya,he prefers to call his style of music “Mwooyo” or Soul. Maurice got on stage about an hour late but the DJ did a pretty good job in keeping us occupied during the duration.

 

 

 

By now the crowds were building up

 

 

After Maurice’s performance there was another interlude, I decided to wander off to take more pictures. I bumped into some of my friends at the Cutty Skark tent.

Here is one of my friend’s caricature, an artist at the tent drawing them for free. I had mine done too.

 

Next on stage was Muthoni the Drummer Queen who was joined by Octopizzo for part of her performance.

 

 

Octopizzo

 

This couple asked me to take their photo; they expect to see it on Facebook, if anyone knows them feel free to share.

Now my favorite performance of the day… Just a Band. Just a Band is a Kenyanhouse/funk/disco band whose members are Bill “Blinky” Sellanga, Dan Muli, Mbithi Masya

 

 

 

 

Just ABand killed it! I was up at the very front letting them know how much I love them. I recorded their performance  ‘Probably for Lovers’ ; see below or check it at our YouTube channel .

Performance by Just A Band

Next on stage was the main act of the day, South Africa’s Mi Casa. Micasa Music  is a house band based in Johannesburg, South Africa and consisting of 3 members, Dr. Duda (producer and pianist), Jsomething (vocalist and guitarist), and Mo-T (trumpeter).

 

 

 

 

I love their outfits! They really put some thought into them. I especially love Mo-T’s t-shirt.

Lastly was Sauti Sol. Sauti Sol is a Kenyan Afro-pop band from Nairobi comprising members; Bien Aime Baraza (vocals & guitar), Polycarp Otieno (guitar), Willis Austin Chimano (vocals, saxophone & guitar) and Delvin Mudigi (vocals, percussion & drums).

By now I was exhausted. I took a break and sat down to rest towards the end of Mi Casa’s performance. I got briefly to take pictures of Sauti Sol on stage but I did not have the energy to fight with that crowd. Luckily someone else was willing to brave the crowds, thank you Kevin for taking the pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

Part two of this post should be up later this week.

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Linked to Our World Tuesdays.