This December, Good Times Africa will cement its reputation as the festival of choice in East Africa as it hosts the beloved Blankets & Wine festival in Nairobi on 10th December and in Kampala and Kigali simultaneously on 17th December.
East Africa is in for a real treat with the star-studded line up of performers including headliners Shekinah (South Africa), Niniola (Nigeria), Sauti Sol (KE), Charly & Nina (RW), Rabadaba (UG)
and Kelissa (JA). Other notable performances will be by Maia & the Big Sky, Benon and Vampos, AKA Dope Band, Izaya & Friends, Bero, Mwiza, Moiyze, Kiki Toure, Methusela, Eli Nihloxica, Odinerah Bingwa, Barak Jaccuzzi, Vallerie Muthoni, Dave Ndegwa and Berracah.
Notably, the 80 minute long artist development showcase dubbed “Nu-Nairobi” that was established at the Nairobi series in April 2017 to specifically highlight emerging talent has already borne significant fruit with Tetu Shani, one of the artists from the April showcase playing the “international flavor” set in Kigali, thus making good on Blankets & Wine promise of investing resources in building emerging
artists into international brands.
Founded in Nairobi in 2008, Blankets & Wine remains true to its core vision which is to showcase outstanding emerging and established African musicians and to create a platform where creators of
cultural products such as fashion, food and art can connect with audiences.
As Muthoni Ndonga – the Creative Director of Good Times Africa explains “Blankets & Wine was always imagined as a
pan-african music and lifestyle experience and we are excited to be making it easier for musicians and creators of culture within the East African region to access the audiences they need to move to the next level of their respective craft.” With approximately 7000 revelers anticipated to attend the three events, some of whom will be coming in from neighboring countries such as Tanzania, Malawi, Burundi and the DRC, Muthoni also notes that “this influx of visitors benefits our cross cultural engagements in the region and we are excited to be driving the agenda of a culturally integrated East African region”
In keeping with the vision of building more festival professionals in East Africa, Blankets & Wine has in 2017 built partnerships with Nyege Nyege Festival (Uganda) and Kilifi NYE Festival
(Kenya) and will feature artists from both festivals as part of the December programming. This is in an addition to the ongoing peer -to- peer training of festival producers and artistic programmers
already underway, with the first phase having been successfully completed at NyegeNyege 2017 through a partnership with the British Council’s East African Arts Festival Management program.
December will also be the first time that East Africa Breweries (EABL) works with festival in all three countries to increase the experience of attendees through its leading brands Tusker Lite, Tusker Malt, Ciroc and Uganda Waragi. Other notable contributions to making the B&W experience are from Concord Hotels & Suites, Club Soda, Fiesta, Black Rhino, Africa Yoga Project, and Ofgen Solar in Kenya. Silk Events, Roke Telkom, Capital Fm, NTV and Golden Tulip in Uganda.
Blankets & Wine runs from 12:00 noon to 10:00pm at Uhuru Gardens in Nairobi And tickets are available at www.blanketsandwine.com
