Following the end of Christmas and New Year festivities, KSB’s management takes this opportunity to welcome readers back to business at the blog site. Every year has its high and low points and 2011 was no exception. There were good times and bad times, easy moments and very tough moments. News erupted without notice, scandals exploded unexpectedly while wars were also fought at different fronts. At times, people laughed at ceremonies but at other times people cried at funerals.
In the Republic of Kenya-Stockholm, we lost three senior citizens who arrived in Sweden when some Kenyans were still suckling while others had not been born. The first to join the ancestors was Mzee Patrick Kimondo who passed away in February following a long illness. A memorial service was held for Kimondo by the family in Stockholm before the late Kenyan’s remains were interred.
Towards the end of the year, the bodies of both Dr. Charles Njonjo and Boniface Gacheru, two Kenya Stockholmers, were discovered in their apartments. The two incidents surprised many Kenyans because it was the first time that the bodies of Kenyans were discovered after they had apparently died without any member of the community knowing what may have happened to them. Both Dr. Njonjo and Mr. Gacheru were buried in Stockholm with members of their families having travelled from Kenya to attend the funerals.
Just after summer, the Kenyan community was struck by a huge tragedy when a Kenyan mother murdered her two children in Sigtuna. Once again, this was a surprising development because it was the first time that a Kenyan mother had killed her own children in Stockholm. What was shocking was that at the time of the double murder, the Kenyan mother had not displayed any signs of mental illness or intentions to kill her own children.
Many Kenyans continued to view her as a responsible mother who loved her children and who could never kill them. After bouts of soul-searching, hot debate and analysis about what may have happened, the two boys were buried in Stockholm with the funeral having been attended by many Kenyans including the parents of the children’s mother who had both travelled from Kenya to bury their grandchildren. Apart from the bad news, some good news and moments of joy also abounded.
At the political scene, Mr. Martin Ngatia, the Chairman of the Kenya Red Alliance (KRA) remained the most active, having produced several videos addressing many political topics in Kenya. It is very ironic that Kenyans who have previously been active politically appear to have hang their boots since President Mwai Kibaki came to power in January 2003.
Entertainment
At the entertainment level, several Kenyan and African artists came to Stockholm to entertain their fans. Berry Black from Tanzania was among the first to jet in during the beginning of the year, having been contracted by the Network for Africans Unity. Berry was quickly followed by Fally Ipupa who came in March to feed his fans with pleasure. Soon after, Jay Dee appeared at the Spring Break boogie that was organized by Sound of Blackness, an active group that takes credit for having brought in many artists from Africa and other parts of the world.
At the religious level, Lisa Muraya released her gospel songs on Youtube while she was also a candidate at the Africa Gospel Music Awards which was held in the UK. In April, the Black Sensation Cruise organized by the Ritz Society was held at Siljaline in the Baltic Sea and when fun lovers returned to base in Stockholm, Kidum had been lined up by Aamon Promotions to entertain his fans.
Once Kidum left, the biggest event which followed was the Miss Africa Crown International beauty pageant that was held at the Vikingline in October. Top VJs Frank and Safi entertained the crowd during a 24 hour cruise across the Baltic. The Miss Africa Crown was lifted by Jessle from Uganda. On December 2nd, Kidum returned to Stockholm due to great public demand and entertained his fans at a gig in Alvik.
As Kenyans digested the July Kidum show, the annual Grand Nyama Choma Festival was up at Fitja beach. It was organized by Sound of Blackness who later brought in Diamond Platinum from Tanzania and DJ Otieno-V from the United States to entertain the growing Sound of Blackness crowd. In fact, Sound of Blackness emerged as the Entertainment group of the year, having brought in the biggest number of artists. Another big name that was brought by Sound of Blackness was Lady Jay Dee from Tanzania who entertained the crowd at Sätra base.
The artist line-up continued to dominate the entertainment scene when Aamon Promotions brought in Amani to rock the crowd. Just as Amani boarded her jet back to Kenya, Mofaya, a new group, brought in Jua Kali, one of the most popular Kenyan artists who has also been in the business for a very long time. In a well attended show at Alvik, Jua Kali thrilled his fans well into the early hours of the morning. When he eventually left Stockholm for another gig in Denmark, the organizers of the event could only congratulate themselves for a work well done.
Afrojam has now established itself as one of the most resilient entertainment groups. The group’s biggest scoop in 2011 was Kanda Bongoman who was in Stockholm for the first time. Afrojam also did organize a lot of gigs across Stockholm with Pablo Machine taking the lead.
When it comes to the number of live performances, Vumbi Dekula takes the prize for having been on the scene almost on a weekly basis. When he was not at “Little Nairobi”, Vumbi was outside Stockholm entertaining fans at the invitation of different groups. “Ngoma ya Kilo” has now taken root especially in Kenya-Stockholm and fans can only hope that Vumbi and his group will continue with the same spirit in 2012.
Another group which surfaced last year to show-case its model of entertainment was the Zion Heights Entertainment group led by DJ Wadada of the “Dream-Team” mystic. Specializing in entertaining the younger generation below 30 years, Zion Heights set up a web site packed with different music genres loved by Kenyans and the site has been doing quite well.
A major event that was organized by the group was the Basketball Summer chill, a unique idea which involved the playing of basketball in the field during day time followed by an all-night party. Immediately thereafter, Zion Heights organized the Halloween bash but as the year came to a close, the group appears to have retreated, probably to lay new strategies for 2012.
Another force that emerged with a unique style was the Magic Nice Gonga which came up with the idea of “White Party” that involved revelers being encouraged to dress in white. A series of similar parties featuring different colours were subsequently organized in Stockholm.
Maison Africa, an entertainment group in Märsta also remained very active, having organized a series of week-end parties, all in Märsta. Their final parties were registered during Christmas and New Year.
Still on the entrainment scene, there were a lot of activities in the department of sports where the Kenya-Stockholm Football team reached semi-finals of the African Challenge Cup that was organized by the Sports Association of Afro-Scandinavians (SAAS). After thrashing several opponents, the Kenyans were beaten by the Tanzanians who lifted the trophy for the second time running.
Miscellaneous
At least, one religious Conference was organized by the RCCG Solution Centre while two leading preachers were also invited by different church groups to come to Stockholm and preach the gospel. Dr. Lai and Dr. David Owuor, evangelists from Kenya, had their time in Stockholm where they met their followers. Just in passing, there were two public weddings and at least three private ones during the year. Jackie, a Kenyan lady and Francis from Liberia fused in holy matrimony on 2nd July while in August, Joyce from Kenya and Robert from Sweden fixed their holy union on 27th August.
There were also several scandals that were registered in Kenya-Stockholm during the year. Apart from the usual “scandaleros”, it was unfortunate that at least three Kenyans were deported to Kenya because of problems with the Immigration department with one deportation having involved a Kenyan woman and her two year-old baby.
In 2012, KSB will continue to report the news as events happen. We take this opportunity to thank all KSB agents who worked tirelessly to ensure that the storos hit the blog site on time. In the same token, we wish all our readers a happy and prosperous New Year.
Okoth Osewe
Photo: Diamond Platinum (in green) in Stockholm.
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