We Played B&W and Loved Every Minute
Butterflies tumble and turn in my stomach as my band members shout that we have five minutes before we get on stage. Vereso has opened the music stage with a charming performance and we are determined to bring the heat. Our planned set list flows like poetry (at least to us,) and we are ready though nervous.
Yellow Light Machine is a band of emotional misfits; we feed off of each other’s energy and this includes the jittery energy. We smile nervously at the sight of it in each other’s eyes. Sam (the drummer), Wairimu (keys) and Ricky (guitarist) are standing close to the rest of the band near the stage anxiously waiting.
The solution to all future worrisome butterflies came one practice session when Sam (the bassist) started a fat funky bass and the song ‘Hips’ was born. The high energy and hip shaking groove of the song shatters all nervous energy turning it to something primal and exciting; very important when faced with the vibrant colours and beauty of the Blankets and Wine crowd. It’s the first song we perform on stage and it never fails.
There is a carpet of green separating the audience from the stage (who are sitting when we start), and though we feel distant we know they can hear us, and the grins on the bands faces show pleasure at hearing our sound echo off the Carnivore grounds.
When the spoken word part of a song we wrote in Fisherman’s Camp called ‘Today’ comes up, I venture into the crowd. It’s interesting how many people look my way and smile, and how many ignore me shyly as though afraid I will grab them and pull them back to stage with me. But they swoon when Ngare Mukiria (guitarist) ends the song in an epic solo.
Eventually a crowd of people join us a bit closer to the stage. We are all elated when a song begins and the assembled crowd screams with recognition. They know the dance move I accidentally came up with a couple of performances ago for Mlevi Chakari/Hey Buddy, and join in immediately. The song ends with a Lingala dance rhythm that Mo (vocalist) and I attempt to dance to but the wonderful crowd outdoes us.
There’s a certain high that comes with being on stage. It’s not so much the crowd or the recognition but the amplified manifestation of something that not too long ago was a seed in our minds and a sensation at the tips of our voices and fingers.
YLM compositions come from such a unique place we weren’t sure people would understand or accept us the way we are, let alone enjoy our sound. To be invited to and to play at such a beautiful space with such great artists is a privilege and an honour that will never fade. We take pleasure from making and presenting our music, and through events like Blankets and Wine we hope to grow and develop into something never seen before anywhere on earth.
Karun comes after us showing us how to pull a crowd. Her colour and vibrancy and dynamism joined by the lyricism of Taio, Benoit Shappa Man and the beats of Kagwe Mungai drives the crowd dancing and wild.
Taking time, like MDQ tells the crowd, to sample all the stages at B&W I feel privileged to experience what it has become. I drop by the Kwani? Stage when I feel brave enough to wade through the growing crowd and sample some beautiful poetry by Tear Drops and a captivating book reading. I play foosball later in the night and almost consider dancing at the party stage where DJs are tearing it up. I see people playing chess, people chilling, people posing for pictures, people eating, laughing, drinking and dancing.
Night comes much too soon and with it the final music act, Sage, undoubtedly my favourite performance that magnificent Sunday. Her comfort on stage, her connection to the crowd, her electrifying music, her winning smile… What can I say. When I grow up I want to be just like her.
