Dance galore as students question treatment of donkeys at music fete

Angel Joy of Umoja P.A.G School perform in an Oriental dance Naghada Sangdor at the 96th edition of the annual Kenya Music Festival at Moi Girls Eldoret on August 05, 2024. [George Orido, Standard]

Resonate School Busia brought the roof down with their well-rehearsed and executed performance in the African and Western instrument ensemble at the ongoing Kenya Music Festival in Eldoret.

The programme had saved the best for last when the school appeared as the very last item in the class after a dozen worthy presentations.

They played a medley of African tunes mainly Rhumba including the evergreen Charoni Chazi originally by Kenya Commandos Jazz Band.

The sheer beauty of blended melody tunes from the Orutu and Marimba and a harmony of Western brass instruments including the trumpet and the Saxophone was a moment to behold.

In fact, the traditional restricted and conservative audience couldn’t help as they got on their feet to dance to the beautiful rhythm coming from the young talents.

Well, the defending champions had their work cut for them and they were cut above the rest with adjudicators Philip Mbinji and David Isindu giving flattering accolades to the team trained by Maurice Makuni, Emily Gunna, Nelson Ochieng and Ernest Omaye.

“As you have all witnessed, the team has done extremely well with interpreting the class and performing with zeal but with abundant subtility,” said Mr Isindu.

Mr Mbinji noted that the class was one of the unique ones that produce real musicians ready for the public performance upon leaving school.

Incidentally, the school has mainly orphans and extremely needy students and even comparing their costumes to some teams, there’s was an element of modesty.

The day that was full of action also saw Oriental Classes being executed in Hall 11 very well managed by Dr Charles Kurgat.

Umoja PAG School was exceptional with their Indian dance Naghada Sangdor, performed to celebrate love combining agile dance moves depicting victory.

Similarly, Manyatta Primary School came to the stage for nothing but the best clad in silky blue attire, they wowed the audience with the Bollywood dance. The dance is performed by both male and female in all happy occasions including weddings and birthdays.

St Mary’s Nambale Primary School gave a good account of themselves as they rendered a Gujarati rendition of a celebration dance.

It was something to behold as parents accompanied their children for this class including a mixed-race marriage of a Kenyan woman and an Indian man.

At Hall Eight, teams battled it out with choral verses on the protection of donkeys in a class supported by Brook, an organization that defends the rights of donkeys.

Most items gave the donkey a human persona raising the domestic animal to the level of a guest, a friend as well as a helper. The economic benefits that come with the donkey are innumerable including transportation, ploughing, water resource management among others.

The CEO and Executive Director of the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development Prof Charles Ong’ondo noted that the festival is a good showcase of what the Competency Based Curriculum entails.

KICD established an exhibition tent where children engaged in other artistic and creative work including computer coding and drawing.