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The 4th edition of the Safaricom International Jazz Festival will be held on Sunday 26th February 2017 at the Kasarani Stadium. This year we have various talented artists from across the globe who are guaranteed to delight all jazz lovers.

David Sanborn, world renowned saxophonist from the USA will be the headlining performer at the festival this year. He will be accompanied by a star studded line up who will be performing with him during the show.

The Hazelnuts, a unique musical phenomenon from Israel, TaxiWars from Belgium and British-Asian clarinetist, composer and music educator Arun Gosh are also slated to dazzle us with their unique sounds.

The Bokani Dyer Trio, who performed at the annual Jazz ahead showcase in Bremen, Germany in April 2016, and Ray Lema from the Democratic Republic of Congo are the African acts also scheduled to perform at the festival.

Local artists lined up for the festival include home grown Nairobi Horns Project, Shamsi Music and the amazing Mwai and The Truth Band.

Music lovers can expect to enjoy a selection of pure jazz as well as a mix of jazz fusions with influences from around the world.

All proceeds from the event will go towards supporting the Ghetto Classics, a non-profit programme that teaches music skills to the youth from underprivileged backgrounds. To date we have successfully raised over 19million towards this programme to uplift the lives of many youth by way of providing musical instruments, classes, and much more.

Main act

David Sanborn

David Sanborn has released 24 albums, won 6 Grammy Awards and has had eight Gold albums and one Platinum album in his career spanning three and a half decades. Dave has dabbled in different genres which typically blend instrumental pop, R&B and more traditional jazz.He continues to be one of th...

supporting acts

Mwai & The Truth

Mwai & The Truth are a captivating group of musicians comprising of a quartet of highly entertaining and skilled performers. The group is led by Mwai on piano and Tuji on guitar, Caleb on bass and David on the drums.

supporting acts

Nairobi Horns Project

The Nairobi Horns Project (NHP) begun as a commercial for-hire horn section working on TV shows, concerts, recordings and tours. The horns are Mackinlay Mutsembi on the trumpet, Mokua Rabai who plays the saxophone and Victor Kinama on the Trombone.The members of NHP have appeared on several maj...

supporting acts

Shamsi Music

Shamsi Music is a recording and performing afro-jazz fusion band from Kenya that was formed in 2014 by pianist, composer and musical director Paul Mbithi who leads the ensemble and is assisted by Samwel ‘Laka’ Waithaka, a veteran saxophonist. The other members of the band are Michael Munene, Immanu...

supporting acts

Ray Lema

Ray Lema is an accomplished musician, composer, arranger and singer, born in Congo and currently residing in France. Over the years he has played with bands of Tabu Ley Rochereau, Joseph Kabasele and Franco, and his own band, Ya Tupas won the French Maracas d’Or award in 1978. He has published ...

supporting acts

Bokani Dyer

Bokani Dyer is a multi-award winning Motswana – South African pianist, composer and producer. He has recorded 3 albums under his own name and was awarded the esteemed Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Jazz in 2011.His most recent offering, World Music (2015) has received international acclai...

supporting acts

Arun Ghosh

Arun Ghosh is a British-Asian clarinetist, composer and music educator who was named as the Jazz Instrumentalist of the year 2014 in the APPJA/Parliamentary Jazz UK Awards. He is a renowned innovator of the modern IndoJazz style as his music is an infusion of the music he loves, together with jazz,...

supporting acts

The Hazelnuts

The Hazelnuts are popularly known for sweeping large and varied audiences off and on their feet with the swing fever. The band’s tight vocal harmony is greatly inspired by the American close-harmony-singing trios of the 1930s. They are accompanied by their vintage band and take us on a journey back...

supporting acts

TaxiWars

TaxiWars have done dozens of shows across Europe, performing in intimate clubs, jazz festivals to big scale rock gatherings.The group comprises of vocalist Tom Barman who is best known for his energetic shows with the rock band dEUS.Robin Verheyen plays the saxophone is reputed to be one of...

event details

Date: Sunday 26th February 2017.

Venue: Kasarani Training Grounds

Entry Charges: Ksh. 2000 for adults and Ksh. 500 for students (proof of ID must be provided)

Tickets: Available at select Safaricom shops, Michael Joseph Centre and via m-Ticketing by dialing 1511.

Gates open at 10 AM show starts at 12 PM.

past events