Choma na Ngoma Festival 2023 is set to take place in Nakuru at Rift Valley Sports Club over the weekend.

The event posters dropped names as big as Otile Brown, Nvirii, Nadia Mukami, Khaligraph, Bensoul, Ssaru and Fathermoh who are set to headline the event.

Much to the event organizers' shock, the posters and announcements ended up leaving a sour taste in the mouths of Nakuru youth and artists, with a couple taking to their social media handles to rant.

Nakuru artists lamented that none of the musicians and MCs in Nakuru were included in the event line up.

Photo credit: COURTESY

Many of the social media posts and comments reflected anger and disappointment over the irony of holding an event in Nakuru County, while leaving out the Nakuru artists.

One of the people who vocally echoed their disappointment on social media was Nakuru's very own household name, Hush BK.

The artist and MC shared, "This is about the 26th Choma na Ngoma Show. I believe it's very unfair for you guys to come to our town and not include any artist or MC. On this I MUST TALK!!!!"

Alongside a photo with the caption 'Buy Nakuru Build Nakuru', Hush BK additionally noted, "We will show them the unity we have as Nakuru artists. We call upon all our fans not to attend that Choma na Ngoma show, for them to feel the pinch of not including the home ground artist."

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These sentiments were echoed by Nakuru-based event planner, Sammy Gito who shared, "Nakuru Artist wanakandamizwa..."

Gito additionally noted that the problem is not Nakuru's artists, but rather their representatives who don’t offer them support during events such as the Safari Rally after-party, which also failed to involve Nakuru artists and MCs.

These comments garnered a lot of attention with Hush BK proceeding to tag Nakuru artists, gossip pages and the event organizers.

While speaking exclusively to Mtaa Wangu, Hush BK shares that his social media post seemed to have made enough noise since he got a call from the event organizers in less than 24 hours.

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"Hours after my post, I got a call from one of the event organizers over the post. Sure enough, a couple of hours later, they called with a list of five Nakuru artists among them Jussmusic and Terefah."

When asked whether he'll also be performing at the event he replies, "No I won't since I'll be having another gig on the same weekend, but I had to make some noise for my fellow Nakuru artists to get a seat at the table and I would gladly do it again."

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Nakuru artists threaten to stop the music at Choma na Ngoma event

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Diligence Odongo