Gospel group Maverick City Music and, award-winning gospel artist Kirk Franklin will be in Kenya this August as part of their Kingdom World Tour covering Africa, Europe and Asia.
Kicking off in Africa, the tour is slated for nine cities namely; Cape Town, Johannesburg, Lilongwe, Lusaka, Dar Es Salaam, Kampala, Nairobi and Mombasa between August 8 and August 18.
Tickets range from as low as $20 for pre-sale regular to $100 for Meet and Greet.
As a gospel collective, Maverick City Music was launched in 2018 in Atlanta, US, by songwriters Tony Brown and Jonathan Jay.
It has since grown into a Grammy award-winning gospel group with over 10 albums and 100 songs. Famous singers who have worked with and been part of Maverick city include Chandler Moore, Naomie Raine, Tasha Cobbs, Aaron Moses among others.
Their most loved songs in Kenya include Jireh, Kingdom and Promises and many more. More recently, the group, which consists of different artists, has collaborated with Zimbabwean gospel singer Annatoriah to release an afrobeat version of their song In The Room.
American gospel singer, songwriter, and producer Kirk Franklin is well known for changing the gospel music scene when he came out with Stomp in 1997, paving way for many black contemporary gospel acts with a more youthful sound.
He has numerous accolades including 16 Grammy Awards. Franklin was last in Kenya in 2020 and this will be the first Kenyan tour date for Maverick City even though their song Jireh is popular with Kenyans of all ages — including Gen Z.
According to a recent Spotify report, Gospel music has risen in popularity with the most unlikely age bracket in Kenya. Spotify data reveals that Gen Z's Christian Gospel music streams increased by 365 per cent between 2022 and 2024.
Their consumption of faith based podcast content also increased by 69 per cent between 2022 and 2024. Gen Z are considered as the driving force behind the resurgence of gospel music on the platform with over 70,000 user generated playlists.