Khaligraph and Ayra Starr to perform at Nairobi’s Shoke Shoke festival
Kenyan rapper Khaligraph Jones and Nigeria’s Ayra Starr are set to headline the Shoke Shoke festival that will take place on March 3 and 4 at the Kenyatta International Convention Center in Nairobi.
Shoke Shoke is a slang inverted wordplay on the Swahili word ‘kesho’ which means tomorrow in English.
In a press statement, the Mwanaume Ni Effort initiative, which is organizing the concert, said the sustainable music festival will be the first of its kind in Nairobi with the aim of educating the youth on the importance of going green; and to drive behaviour change among its target audience for a sustainable environment.
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“We are passionate about both entertainment and the environment. We also believe that the best way to reach Gen Z’s and millennials with the message of sustainability is through music and entertainment. The environment is our home and the more we destroy our home, the more we will suffer the consequences of our actions. Responsible environmental behaviour is our duty as citizens of mother earth. Shoke Shoke aims to move the needle in matters sustainability,” said Baraza Mwabe, the Shoke Shoke Festival Director.
Mr Baraza Mwabe added that the entertainment industry as a whole damages the environment during festivals but assured that Shoke Shoke festival’s focus will be ensuring they trigger the entertainment industry to have a conversation about sustainability, set the agenda for these conversations and lead the way in ensuring that entertainment festivals in Kenya go green.
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At the festival, there will be no single use plastics and there will be recycling points while 10,000 trees will be planted in partnership with Miti Alliance and the Kenya Forest Services to contribute to the government’s Jaza Miti Campaign.
A 2021 research by MasterCard found that sustainability issues are of interest to the Kenyan youth and millennials and 65 per cent of them being more conscious about how their actions impact the environment and were willing to take personal action to combat sustainability issues.