In August our Chelezo High School students had an opportunity to participate in the Kenya National Music Festivals Competition. The annual Kenya Music Festival is a major cultural attraction in Kenya. It features children’s traditional singing games, traditional cultural group dances, traditional folk songs, traditional, classical and modern instrumental music, as well as elocution in vernacular languages, Kiswahili, English, German, French and Arabic. Students from across the country in primary, high school and colleges participate in the festival. In the Music Festivals, participating students progress through adjudicated performances from zonal to national levels across the different age groups. With over 70 distinct ethnic groups in Kenya, ranging in size from the largest, roughly 7 million Kikuyu, to the smallest, roughly 500 El Molo people, as well as Indian, Arabic and British peoples regional influence on Kenyan culture, the multicultural displays of the Music Festivals always prove to be a fun, eye opening, educational experience for those who participate. The Kenya National Music Festivals took a two year break following the outbreak of COVID in 2020. Therefore, our students and students all over the country were especially excited to participate in this year's competition, eager to connect with other high school students from diverse backgrounds.

Our school presented nine items at the sub-county level where six performances emerged in first place in their category and proceeded to the county level competitions. At the county level, two performances ended up placing first - the Alto Solo - Secondary Schools category, which will be performed by Esther Makori, and the African Traditional Dance category, in which an ensemble of our students are doing a traditional Baganda dance. These performances will be proceeding to the regional level of competition in the neighboring Kitui county between September 9th - 11th.  We hope that our students will continue to do their best and qualify for the national level of the Kenya National Music Festivals, where they will have the opportunity to meet the best in the country in competition, while also being exposed to a wide variety of cultural performances and talent.

And whatever you do whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17 NIV