The July edition of Blankets & Wine took place this past weekend and featured performances by founder Muthoni the Drummer Queen, the soulful Sage, Jarel, an artist who first came into the limelight through The Nest Collective, and the darling beauty from West London, Grammy Award Winner Estelle.
The event was slated to start at 11:00AM and end at 10:00PM. Well, you’d think that you’d run out of things to do in between the acts, right? Lies! There was a show within the show. Why, you ask?
On the very day we were eagerly waiting for Estelle to perform in Nairobi, Kampala hosted a Blankets and Wine event concurrently with the Kenyan one with Micasa from South Africa headlining the show. All of the action was live streamed from Kampala to Nairobi.
Jarel blew the crowd up with his rendition of Sema’s (Kenya Coca-Cola popstars) Mwewe. His soulful voice commands such emotion and while he performed earlier in the day, his presence was undeniably stellar.
Sage, one of Kenya’s celebrated vocal and songwriting virtuosos, got the crowd singing along with her performance of beautiful tunes from her recently released album ‘So Alive’.
When it comes to the matters of queendoms, you know that MDQ will never disappoint. Her stage presence is always magnificent with intricate lyrical interpretations in her power-filled songs! This Blankets and Wine was no different, and she is definitely an unforgettable performer. The blend of artistry between Sage, Jarel and MDQ was beyond perfection and only heightened the crowds readiness for Ms Swaray.
Around 7:30PM, two men popped up on stage each with an instrument in hand…as a woman, my first thought was how hot they were! Chiseled bodies, caramel skin tone….mmmmm! Then Estelle walked, no, strutted her way to the front of the stage and the crowd went wild. There was so much cheer and jeer all the voices in unison like there was a pre-Blankets fan rehearsal that some of us weren’t invited to. ‘American Boy’ was performed. Well, at least she started singing before the crowd took over!
Estelle performed Conqueror, Come Over among others, and when she attempted to flee the stage for a few minutes…. let’s just say the ‘one-more-song’ chant pulled her back out.
There was a silent disco day party that K1 (Kevin Maina) hosted. He and Blinky Bill also gave the revelers an awesome energy filled after party following Estelle’s performance.
Aside from the musical revelry Blankets and Wine together with The Foundry, used the event to launch a wine collection with bottles going for 1,000 KES. What caught my eye way the catchy phrases they had on the Red, White and Rosé wine bottles — my favorite being ‘Rosé the day away’! Cheers to that!
Mama Rocks, The Curragh and The Good Food Company prepared scrumptious snacks and meals.
Adele De Jak, Sandstorm Kenya, Embody Accessories, Republi.ke, BongoSawa as well as Design by Evelyn had pop up shops around the waterfront grounds giving many revellers an opportunity to shop. MDQ also had a pop up stall with her black and white Tees going on sale.
There was a black and white fashion show in collaboration with Nivea’s invisible deodorant. It involved fashion houses like Wambui Mukenyi and Vivor Activewear.
The flower-power collective that is Maua Jua allowed revellers to create their own flower crowns, something that has been a popular activity at previous Blankets and Wine events. Men wore their crowns on bald heads and pricked white fillers in their beards. As for the ladies, the crowns definitely accentuated their beauty.
Overall, Blankets and Wine is no hackneyed party/event idea! The lighting, the stage, sound, the ticketing system by Mookh, the crowd that it attracts…BnW has once again delivered beyond expectations. We can only look forward to more.
I had no negatives for this event, well apart from Gin and Tonics running out later in the night but that’s only because there were so many happy people toasting to the good times!
Images: Kamau Wainaina
