Story

One of the most anticipated, if not THE MOST anticipated, album launches in Kenya, Juliani's Pulpit Kwa Street happened this past Sunday along one of Nairobi’s streets – Nairobi City Hall Way!

Juliani shut down the street, literally speaking but legally also, to make this epic event a reality.

The setup was well under way hours before the time for the event to kick off, which was at 5PM EAT. It was no surprise, therefore that passersby were caught off-guard by the goings on at the location. Whether that was an issue of lack of communication over the blocking off of the street or a matter of the people not being in touch with current affairs is anyone’s guess!

The crowd was a diverse one – from the uptown to the ‘ghetto’, hip hop fans to dancehall et al fans, Gospel music faithful to lovers of good music. All were there to witness one of Kenya’s best & undoubtedly THE BEST live performer in Kenya!

The MCs, Kalekye & Mbusii one would say come from completely different worlds. Kalekye probably representing the uptown and Mbusii, the ghetto. This could have been by design & appropriately so given that Juliani appeals to both worlds so to speak.

Juliani stepped on stage some minutes after 7PM, which according to a source close to the event organizers was the plan. This made sense as the set up included a large screen on to which was projected live images of both the crowd & the performance on stage, and for this to work, the “lights” have to be turned off which in this case meant, darkness had to check in!

Juliani stepped on stage with his RGB gear, accompanied by a team in similar RGB hoods. First song, naturally was RGB, from the album. The performance also featured the only feature in the event, Yung Nnoiz who did a verse and backed up Juliani with some impressive beat boxing!

One line from Yung Nnoiz's verse, “Napenda the Holy Holy Holy, niite fan wa Triple H!” [paraphrase] .. Translation for our distant relatives “I love the Holy Holy Holy, call me a fan of Triple H!” He’s one to watch!

From here, Nanjira the supastar, graced the stage to “backup” Juliani through the event. It must be said, Nanjira did her bit quite impressively that to say she was backing up Juliani feels like an injustice. Her vocal prowess can NOT be questioned, her energy.. well, let’s just say she kept up with Juliani's, which is not easy to do! In what was one of the best performances of the evening, Bahasha Ya Ocampo (which could just as well be due to the amazing crowd response to it),Nanjira made it her own! Note that, Jaya did the original hook for the song.

Bahasha Ya Ocampo performance was good, really good but Exponential Potential seemed to spew more energy than all the rest! And the fact that it was done live made it all the more incredible!

That said, the live band working alongside DJ Sadic on the decks, gave the show something extra! One could hardly tell that it was live – everything was seamless! KUDOS to the live band!

So as far as Juliani's performance, accompanied by Nanjira, the band & DJ Sadic, goes… all was as expected – GREAT SHOW!

You might be wondering what happened between 5PM, scheduled time for the event to start till the time Juliani stepped on stage at 7PM..

Well… Nothing really happened. No curtain raisers! Some of those present had come to the location more than an hour before 5PM only to be kept waiting till 7PM and they were visibly getting frustrated! But once Juliani stepped on stage, it felt like it was worth the wait!

BUT…

1. Time: Event was to start at 5PM but it was up until well past 6PM that the MCs started to show glimpses of activity. Time has always been a problem for most Kenyan events. The one event that deserves respect in this area has to be Kwani? Open mic- always on time to start! Some have argued that, like in this case, stating 5PM as the start time was an allowance and I ask, since many drive drunk (a dangerous vice), do we then open “How to drive drunk” driving schools? No! Same with time. This is a trend that has to stop!
2. This was Juliani's sophomore album, Pulpit Kwa Street, launch but little to no mention of where to get the album was made! As far as many were concerned, this was just another concert!!
3. The sound was great, until it was not. That would have passed by unnoticed had it not chosen to happen at the worst time… when Juliani stepped on stage. The reasons for this will only be speculation at this point.
VERDICT:
Juliani has most definitely set a bar in music, performance and influence!

This launch is one for the history books as far as Kenya is Kenya is concerned. The only way from here is high up which is an astronomical task in itself.

The small nots aside, the launch goes down as a success as no one can say, Juliani disappointed!

We look forward to greater things from Juliani , starting with the Exponential Potential video which rumor has it will be the next video off the Pulpit Kwa Street album.

Go get this project and find out more for yourself!
IT’S AVAILABLE IN ALL MAJOR STORES & ONLINE AT KENYAN DOWNLOADS

Check out the Capital FM Event review for more and & view more photos.

Check out The Kifalme “Pulpit Kwa Street Album Review” Juliani's Pulpit Kwa Street Album Review

JULIANI ONLINE:
TWITTER: JulianiKenya
FACEBOOK PAGE: JULIANI
FACEBOOK PAGE: JULIANI QUOTES
GOOGLE+: Juliani Musik
FLICKR: Julianimusic
YOUTUBE: Julianimusic
WEBSITE: http://www.julianionline.com

666 day(s) ago by kifalme