National Music Festival kicks off in Meru

The 97th edition of Kenya National Music Festival has kicked off at three venues in Meru (Meru School, Kaaga Girls and Meru Teachers College. [Phares Mutembei, Standard]

Meru Governor Isaac Mutuma yesterday opened the 97th edition of the Kenya National Music Festival being staged in three venues.

Mutuma said it was both an honor and a privilege for Meru County to host the music extravaganza being staged at Meru School, Kaaga Girls and Meru Teachers College.

He described the festival a “celebration of rich culture, creativity, and youthful brilliance.”

“Today, the grounds of Kaaga come alive with the sounds of our national soul, the beat of tradition, the vibrancy of youth, and the spirit of unity,” he said.

The county chief said hosting this year’s festival was not merely a matter of location.

“Kaaga itself holds a sacred place in our history. It was here in the early 1900s that the Methodist missionaries arrived and planted the first seeds of formal education and organised religion in Meru,” he said.

The governor said the festival is a fitting platform for performers to showcase their talents.

“This festival is enhancing the creative economy through artistic expression for sustainable development. Today, creativity is no longer an extracurricular afterthought. It is essential to national growth, cohesion, innovation, and identity. Through music, we nurture unity and shared citizenship,” he said.

He added: “When students from Turkana perform alongside those from Kwale, when a Kamba song echoes in Kisumu, or a Luo beat flows in Isiolo, we see the Kenya not as a map of regions but as a family of shared dreams.

This festival is not only preserving our cultures, it is breathing new life into them. Our oral traditions, folk dances, and ancestral melodies are not museum relics. They are the living heartbeats of who we are.”

Director General of Education Elyas Abdi Jillaow applauded the organisers of the festival.

Job creation

He said the theme ‘Enhancing the Creative Economy through Artistic Expression for Sustainable Development’ spoke to the future of education, culture, and development. 

“This theme reminds us that artistic expression through music, elocution, dance, and drama is not merely for entertainment, but a powerful vehicle for innovation, job creation, and community building, and national identities. And we have seen it,” said Jillaow.

Abdi added that education should promote national unity, integration, and patriotism.

Former Education Cabinet Secretary Prof  Jacob Kaimenyi said at the festival, students present the best music from every corner of the country.

“Through music and dance, we are able to appreciate the concerns of our citizens. It is not enough to appreciate. We must be seen to act on them, so that our Motherland can move forward the needle of our socio- economic development,” said Kaimenyi, who is now the chairman of Ameru Cultural Stakeholders Association.