Music festival glorifies teachers as role models

Various items presented at the ongoing Metropolitan Region Music Festival at Wote Township Primary School in Makueni on Wednesday portrayed teachers as role models for children.

This was in a Kiswahili verse, Daktari, presented by Kiambani DEB Primary School in a category sponsored by the Teachers Service Commission.

In the poem, a rural teacher mobilises parents to take their children to school. The ignorant villagers are not very keen on the idea, but when they finally send their children to school, one of them ends up becoming a medical doctor. It is this doctor who comes to the rescue of the village when it is hit by an epidemic.

The verse shows how teachers of the past were role models respected by the whole society. However, present day teachers do not enjoy the same status, the poem says.

The verse urges people to recognise the role of teachers in moulding children and future leaders. It also exhorts the government to honour them by according them decent pay and allowances. The verse starred Sarah Munyao and Mutanu Kioko, among others.

Other schools that presented items in the category were Mbilili Primary of Machakos, Laini Saba from Nairobi and KBA School, also from Nairobi.

KBA has excelled in the festival, winning awards in all the categories they participated in. The school is trained by Felix Kariuki and Anastasia Kigondu.

In the Kipsigis Folk Song category, Uhuru Primary won followed by Twiddle Pips Junior School.

This is the first time the school is participating in the festival and qualifying for the Kenya National Music Festival.

“We are very excited to qualify for the national music festival to be held in Nairobi,’’ said Purity Mwinyijuma, the director of the school.

THRILLING FOLK SONG

In the Baganda Folk Song category, Fadhili Junior School’s featured their winning thrilling folk song choreographed by Isabellah Madegwa. They were followed by Magoso Primary, while St Michael’s Academy finished third.

Wote township is a beehive of activity, with all hotels booked and transport services pushed to the maximum. Wednesday marked the end of performances by primary schools. Secondary schools present their items from Thursday to Saturday.

(READ: Nairobi schools prevail at regional music fete)

On Wednesday, schools also performed Gusii folk dances. Kenvic School from Nairobi presented Riehesa, a dance that is performed by men and women to celebrate a rich harvest.

Westlands Primary School from Nairobi presented Little Kendi, a verse about children trafficking and slavery. In the verse, a mother entices her innocent girl to engage in an illicit relationship with a rich man, in exchange for money.

The girl, Kendi, is traumatised as a result. The verse seeks to expose parents who take advantage of their children’s innocence to benefit from their naivety. Westlands also presented ‘’Letter of contention’’, a poem on terrorism and how tame radicalism.
ACK Wote, MABE Academy from Nairobi and KBA School all presented winning Swahili verses. Among other categories represented in the festival on Wednesday was community policing, where students urged Kenyans to take charge of their own security in order to make work for government authorities easier.

The category’s theme this year is ‘See say, hear say’.  It urges people to expose the rotten apples in their communities.
Festival Regional Secretary Pius Mutinda told Daily Nation that starting Thursday, secondary schools take to the stage at Mwaani Girls High School.