By Iminza Keboge
Published September 21, 2016
A group of five musicians whose journey into entertainment began when they met as students at Nairobi’s United States International University are set to launch their debut album on September 24, 2016.
The rock band, known as Rash, shall launch the album, titled Only a Few Survivors, at Alliance Francaise in the heart of Nairobi CBD. The group, that fuses African rhythms with metal music and combines English and Kiswahili in their lyrics, calls its music Swahili Rock.
The themes in Rash’s songs touch on contemporary cultures, bringing out what could be described as the good and bad the habits of the times.
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The band that comprises lead guitarist Maximiliano Filardi (Max), lead singer Samuel Warui (Sam), drummer Samuel Gakungu (Gakosh), bassist Maina Makundu and rhythm guitarist Abed Kariuki, has performed in several festivals in Kenya and Uganda, including OktoberFest, Rift Valley Festival, Sondeka Festival and Nyege Nyege Festival in Jinja.
Rash has been featured in two documentaries: UN MONDE DE METAL by Olivier Richard for France Télévision and MY AFRICA IS by Nosa Garrick that it says seeks to “changes the world’s view of the African continent by highlighting young people living and thriving in various African capitals.”
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Meanwhile, Royal Dutch Airline, better known as KLM, has introduced what it calls ‘Dream Deals’. Travellers are offered a 30% discount on many of the destinations KLM flies to in Europe and North America.
The special fares are available till September 30, 2016 for travel by December 31, 2016.
The KLM offer comes at a time when analysts say air travel is on the upswing in black Africa, with Kenya (14.9%) being ahead of the pack: Mauritius (11.6%), South Africa (11.4%),Tanzania (10.6%), and Ethiopia (9.6%) during the first eight months of 2016.
ForwardKeys, a company that predicts future travel patterns not only refers to East Africa’s air travel growth as ‘exceptional performance’, but that it has surpassed the continental growth rate of 5.6%, with North African countries like Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia seeing little growth or even a decline.
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Olivier Jager, CEO of ForwardKeys, says, “We are seeing a tale of two Africas, with North African countries suffering from political instability and terror activities and Sub Saharan African countries powering ahead.”
