Last year’s Sawa Sawa Festival 2007 surpassed all expectations by revelers and organizers alike since Sawa Sawa 2007 brought together a grand collection of artistes from all over the world like Burning Spear, Hugh Masekela, Dutch Reggae Luie Hond alongside pianist Mike Del Ferro and Kenya’s very own Eric Wainaina, Harry Kimani, Ayub Ogada, Cheche, Bad Man Kollege and of course the Sarakasi Dancers and Acrobats.
The festival attracted the biggest gatherings a musical event has ever attracted in Kenya with over 7,000 people and 60,000 people in attendance at Arboretum and Kasarani Stadium respectively. The event also raised the bar a few important notches in event organization and security coordination. Sarakasi is proud to announce the return of Celtel Sawa Sawa 2008.
This year Black Uhuru (Jamaica), Youssou N’Dour (Senegal), Mahotella Queens (South Africa), body percussionists Percus Normades (Benin), Habana Sax (Cuba) and Beef (Netherlands), Rajeswari Sainath (India) alongside Kenyan stars will give revelers a thrilling performance of its kind ever witnessed in Kenya and the region.
The Celtel Sawa Sawa Festival is put together by Sarakasi Trust, the Royal Netherlands Embassy and Celtel in an effort to bring quality entertainment to all Kenyans indiscriminative while at the same time celebrating the diversity of culture. The weekend long event enjoys massive support from local and international partners and donors among them The Royal Netherlands Embassy, Celtel, Mundial Productions, Double 2, KBC/ Metro, Stadia Management, KLM , the Usa Embassy, The Indian high Commission and the Ministry Of Culture.
This year the festival has been divided in to three concerts. The first will be the VIP dinner concert (by invitation only) at the Sarakasi Dome on Friday 30th May. This will be an extra ordinary event that will see Sarakasi officially launch the Sarakasi Dome and Base (at former Shan Cinema/ House on Ngara Road). The premises will officially become home to Sarakasi Trust complete with office space, vibrant performance venue, an auditorium, rehearsals spaces, exchange workshop space/ information resource facilities and a restaurant.
Saturday’s event(31st May) at the Nairobi Arboretum will be a family day of Afro modern entertainment that is open to the public. Youssou N’Dour, Mahotella Queens and Percus Nomades along with some of Kenya’s renowned artists like Kanji, Makadem and the Sarakasi Artistes will give the audience a sterling performance. To accommodate all this action will be 3 stages; The main stage, The Acrobatic/ Dance Stage and the Youth/ Open Mic Stage.
The Afro roots event will be on Sunday 1st June and will take place at Kasarani Stadium. It is open to all the Reggae Roots lovers for a thrilling performance by reggae bands Black Uhuru and Beef among other local and regional artistes namely Hart & Soul, General Oryx and The Warriors.
Both days (Saturday and Sunday) are FREE to the public!
A lot of emphasis will be put on Security and thorough event coordination (incl food court, children activities and a vending area) as is synonymous with all Sarakasi events. There will also be opportunities for exchange Programs between local and visiting artistes.
You may contact Sarakasi on any of the following numbers:
Office : (020) 559757
Rahim : 0724747769
Marion : 0722 811926/ 0734 811926
Sheba : 0724 894106
Ojay : 0720991148
Info courtesy of www.Sarakasi.org