Lights, Camera, Action. The mood of the party was activated by Nyashinski last week and together with his band they truly brought the house down. For more than one hour they had all hands on deck from the looks of the room that they were performing in, the piano, the drum set, guitar and not forgetting Cedo the producer who was part of the band, show-stopping with an audience in the tens of thousands last Wednesday night.
The Stream Come True event was one of the most well-orchestrated events the entertainment industry hasn’t seen before. The mission behind the live event that took place on Wednesday night was to release the much-anticipated album Lucky You, and this was done on the same day as Nyashinski’s birthday. Earlier he had taken to his Instagram page to prepare the fans;
“On Wednesday, 8th April 2020 at 9:30pm (EAT) the chief returns with a live performance that will be featuring some of the classics you know and love and a preview of some of the music off the upcoming album ‘Lucky You’ … Join the four-count band and I, from the comfort of your living room, as we deliver these fresh jams Live via my digital pages: YouTube, Facebook and Instagram”.
The Kenyan rapper went ahead and decided to entertain his fans on social media, his YouTube channel had over 10,000 viewers, Facebook recorded the highest number of over 30,000 views and Instagram had close to 7,800 fans who were locked in streaming watching the best performance that has never been seen before.
True to his word he brought his A-game to the table making him one of the people trending on Twitter. However, with all the hype and the excitement of the album Pre-release, Nyashinski stated that his album is not going to be out for commercial success but that it was something meant to entertain his fans, having won the valued endorsement of corporates like Samsung and marketed by Safaricom.
The performance was well-received by his fans and he later took to social media to appreciate his fans for joining in his performance.
“Thank you so much for the love!” he wrote. The Lucky You album is expected to be out today.
Even with Nyashinski easily chairing the event of the month, some of the celebrities such as KRG the Don, MC Jesse, Sauti Sol and also internationally Chris Brown decided to throw a party, right on the face of Covid-19.
With social distancing, ban on gatherings and closure of entertainment spots, performers have turned their social media spaces into ‘clubs’ and performance ‘venues’.
Facebook pages like ‘254 Diaspora DJs Live on the Mix’ have emerged, providing round-the-clock entertainment, of all genres, by Kenyan turntablists based here and abroad. So diverse is the music on this page that over the weekend they had a session of music from the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA), with fans and adherents pleasantly surprised since churches too have been stopped from congregating. Alongside the veterans, new talents like ZJ Avex, who had little more than a laptop and phone, are emerging. By the end of his impressive session, he had received offers of equipment from his peers.
Azziad Nasenya could perhaps also thank social media and an audience at home that shared her video ravenously, in the welcome absence of the usual humdrum of political news and happenings.
Seasoned artistes like Muthoni Drummer Queen have given performances on their socials too and KRG The Don did not disappoint at his live event party on Instagram. His gig had girls joining him dressed in fashionable bikinis and some in bodysuits twerking and wining like never before.
It was all lively as he incorporated his fans to share their views and also have a live chat with him.
“Great way to entertain your fans…I hope other musicians follow suit…”. hyped one of his fans.
However, according to KRG, one of the biggest challenges they continue to face as artistes is, most of their fans are not being able to join live streaming due to lack of access to the Internet. He says, before entertainment was fun and easy as people would stream live from social places like clubs and places of work which is opposed to now where people buy bundles in order to get access to stream live.
The comical MC Jessy also went live on his Instagram page, throwing in a joke or two and even teasing some of his followers. Perhaps missing the energy of a live audience, Jessy looked calm and collected as opposed to the vibrant Jessy that we all know of.
“Welcome to Sol Liftoff”, read a note pinned at the bottom right corner of the SautiSol’s Instagram page during a live band performance hosted by band member and drummer Savara.
The atmosphere and the mood at the beginning of the live performance was idyllic and the song cycle was well orchestrated with a stunning one-hour show that even had fans chiming in with comments during the performance.
Savara incorporated a guest who is also a nurse that sent a special message to the audience urging them to stay home, get quarantined and enjoy the virtual entertainment by the artistes.
The Showcase Wednesday, a show that provides a small intimate setting for singers, musicians, music and poetry collaborations had prepared something for their fans online. The one-hour showcase live performance that went down at Alliance Française in Nairobi was all about spreading the message of peace love and hope during this period of Covid-19. The show featured Fariji Napa, a Nairobi-based Congolese musician inspired by the music to share African culture with international audiences.
During his live performance on his Facebook page, Fariji Napa served his fans with great soulful music with profound and inspiring messages on how to stay safe during this difficult moment.
Kenyan gospel musician Jabidii explains that the pandemic has reshuffled everything back to square one. He has been forced to cancel a lot of shows that he usually gets during the month of March and April.
“The music business is usually our main source of income, and we get that through as a result of our songs being played in various functions, and therefore it is so unfortunate,” he says adding the virtual concerts that they carry out on social media does not really bring back any profit but only increase engagement. Online platforms, he reiterates, is the only way to go, with the DJ’s doing an Instagram concert and playing their songs but as far as the doing videos for an online content is concerned he feels like they are disadvantaged.
“As an artist, I have to be very selective with the type of music I release, that means if everyone is relating with corona right now, then you might as well walk in that direction”.
DJ Sadic, on the other hand, has been a consistent entertainer on the socials ever since the pandemic happened, and without a doubt, there has been a massive engagement with the netizens. He confesses that business is still bad and the only reason they are doing Instagram concerts is to entertain their fans, nothing more nothing less. He is part of the decks masters that are doing hour-long sets for the ‘254 Diaspora DJs Live on the Mix’ Facebook page.
“We have adopted this method of entertainment just to entertain our fans but if one wants to tip the DJ, then well and good- nothing can ever replace what we do on the ground with social media,” he insists.
The use of social media to keep the beat going seems to be, perhaps only, way to go even internationally with artists like Chris Brown together with his fellow colleague Tyga Breezy. Brown has discovered more new ways of exploring virtual entertainment by making Tik Tok videos in a bid to entertain his fans.
In his latest Tik Tok video, Chris Brown is seen to be joined by Tyga Breezy for a rap challenge themed ‘Rona Raps’. A challenge that has seen other artistes such as Guap dad 4,000 joining in the fun.
An even bigger event is the ‘One World Together at Home’ live broadcast scheduled for tomorrow with the World Health Organisation teaming up with the A-listers of entertainment for a TV broadcast.
The show, whose local listings are available on globalcitizen.org/togetherathome, will bring together artists ranging from greats like Andrea Bocelli, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Ellen Degeneres, Paul McCartney; the veterans like Alicia Keys, Celine Dion, Idris Elba, LL Cool J, J-Lo, Pharrell Williams, Usher, Taylor Swift; heavy-hitters like Burna Boy, Billie Eilish, Kerry Washington, Lizzo, Priyanka Chopra, Camila Cabello, Awkwafina, and our very own Lupita Nyong’o. the show’s hosts will be Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert.
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