Rhythm dominates as music fest concludes

The two month district and provincial music festival concluded with the rhythms of the students from Herman Gmeiner Secondary School Eldoret creating the mood at Kericho Teacher College, the venue of the competition. This year the music club was eclectic in the choice of items for presentation during the festivals. This was boosted by great participation of the new students that were admitted in first term. The numbers were large enough to enable us participate in a variety of items from set verses to instrumentals. Emma Makoha, the music club patron at the Hermann Gmeiner School in Eldoret gives an eye witness account.

At the district level, the club presented 9 items. These included four instrumentals, four set verses and one traditional dance from the Luhya community. The set verses were presented by Patricia Ngina, Christine Mwende, Brenda Akinyi and Faith Wariara, all from SOS Children’s Village. Six students qualified for the regional competition. Notably, the dance and all the instrumentals were placed first. Faith Wariara’s was placed at position two.

In the regional level we met schools from Uasin Gishu Marakwet and Keiyo district. Competition was stiff. The dance took position 2 out of the six dances presented. The stringed, wind and percussion instrumental, African and Western instrumental ensemble, percussion band, all took position one. Solomon Chege of Eldoret children's village played the marimba and came second. Faith Wariara, also from Eldoret village was placed at the third position. The provincials were scheduled to be held in Kericho from 1st July 2007 to 5th July 2007.

The team left for Kericho on 2nd July 2008 in the wee hours of the morning. We arrived at 10.00 am and we only had twenty minutes to present on stage the string, wing, and percussion instrumental ensemble. We were placed at position 5 out of the 12 schools that presented.

The second day, the team presented a percussion band (own choice) and was placed third of 12 teams. There was a difference of half a mark between the second team and our team. The team did not lose hope.

On the third day we had two items to present – African and Western instruments ensemble and barred or spoken instrument solo of own choice. Both of them were placed fourth out of twelve.

Our major item was performed on the final day. The Luhya traditional dance troupe was composed of children from the three Kenyan children's villages of Nairobi, Eldoret and Mombasa. Competition was very stiff compared to other classes because the class included dances from the Luo community. Schools from Nakuru, Trans-Nzoia and Nandi South were presenting dances under this class. Out of the fifteen dances that were presented, we were positioned fourth. The students showed a lot of gusto. It was a great achievement considering that this was the first time we were presenting such items during Music Festivals.

The club would like to thank the school administration and the entire SOS community Eldoret for the support it received from them. It was crystal clear that we have talent that we need to nurture. The team would also want to appreciate the extra energy and team work displayed by all those students who participated during this year’s Music festivals. This activity was an eye opener. It dawned on us that preparations should commence early and that to gain an edge, the club should envisage broadening its instrument capacity.