Preparations for the 95th edition of the National Music Festivals which kickoff in Nyeri next month have started.
This year’s annual festivals are set to take place at the Dedan Kimathi University of Science and Technology between August 11 and 21 under the theme Nurturing Talent for Innovation and Development.
During a visit to Nyeri County, the Kenya National Music Festivals organizing committee confirmed that more than 130,000 students from public and private schools as well as Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) centres will be taking part in the annual event.
“The participants who will qualify in the regional festivals which are currently ongoing will arrive in the county on August 11. The presentations will start on August 12 and run through to August 22 when we will have the Gala. The State concert which is the closing event will be held on August 23,” said the Central Region Director of Education, Sabina Aroni.
On his part Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga assured the organizing committee of his government’s full support and ensure that the event is successful.
The Governor said the county would deploy adequate traffic marshals to help reduce the expected traffic congestion expected due to the large number of participants who will be thronging the county for the two weeks.
At the same time, curtains for the central region Music Festivals which are currently taking place at the Nyahururu Boys Secondary school in Nyandarua County will close on Sunday. This year’s regional festivals attracted 40,000 participants from the five counties of Kiambu, Kirinyaga, Murang’a, Nyandarua and Nyeri.
According to Aroni, the primary school category wound up their presentations on Wednesday this week while the last presentations from the secondary school category will be made over the weekend.
“The schools that qualified at the county level are the ones who have been battling it out at the regional level. The adjudicators in the different categories have been judging their presentations since Sunday this week. The last batch of presentations will be judged on Sunday when the regional level competition comes to an end,” said Aroni.
By Wangari Mwangi
