UP Event Review: Mungo’s Hi Fi Nairobi Concert- A Musical Pilgrimage!

With Nairobi’s growing dub scene, the team behind Bad Mambo productions pulled together a sweet catalogue of artist and deejays on Friday, 9th October - putting up one hell of a show at The Mall’s rooftop in Westlands.

Asili Dub would set the ball rolling on this chilly night, warming the stage - and the crowd too - with a performance that got the adrenaline pumping.

Am.Used eco-lighting designs amazed many as they used Nairobi’s waste plastic materials and converted them into luminous bottle chandeliers that illuminated the event.

The DJ line up read as a who’s-who of Nairobi talent, from Dread Steppa, to Heartical, Skaface to Lasta and add the mash-up between Uganda’s Blessed San and Lavosti - the music stylistically switched with every act and with an added tempo that got the crowd even more charged up.

In between the MC’s versions of hip-hop, dancehall and reggae, combative and conscious lyrics seemed to be the chosen path for the night making it the ultimate Rastafarian jam session.

Shoeshine Band, Nazizi and Binti Afrika’s performances also stood out as high points of the night’s lineup. In the wee hours of the morning, Doug Paine (Mungo’s Hi Fi founder) and Charlie P (the rising star) took to the mic for an extravaganza rarely witnessed in the Capital.

There are very few who could do justice to a perfectly curated dub night and the Scottish duo proved equal to the task - the proof was definitely in the pudding when the crowd demanded an encore from Charlie P before he begged to leave the stage.

 

If the founders of dub would awake today, DJs U-Roy and King Tubby would find Mungo’s HI Fi ready to dine with the dub kings.