Ghana's Victor Dey Jr to headline Afrolect Fest in Nairobi

Currently based in Ghana's capital Accra, the 'Counter Attack' composer has shared the stage with various international jazz acts such as Gyedu Blay, Ebo Taylor, Marcus Wyatt, Hugh Masekela, Mike Phillips, Stevie Wonder, Nicolas Genest and Courtney Pine.

Also billed for Afrolect Festival are Gravitti, Bensoul, Dan Aceda and the Nairobi Horns Project (NHP).

The festival is organised by HiSynergy, an events, media and entertainment company based in Nairobi. It says it seeks to showcase a vibrant array of unique artists and continually offer a platform to Kenyan performers who want to grow globally recognised music and brands.

"The idea is to have a live music-driven festival as opposed to a genre-specific showcase in order to put on stage acts you would not see together," HiSynergy CEO and NHP member Mackinlay said. "So in this edition, we are presenting reggae, benga and jazz, which are genres that are not ordinarily on the same buffet table.

"We are working towards finding musical acts beyond Nairobi. In the East African region, Nairobi is a comparatively active jazz scene in terms of performances and artists, though the volume of material coming from here could be better."

Asked what could be done to improve the jazz scene in Kenya, Mackinlay said the country should try to emulate South Africa where there was "more "infrastructure and education, and this gives them an upper hand to develop more, have more festivals and have the global spotlight on them."

The first edition of Afrolect Festival was held in January 2018 and featured NHP, Kato Change, Idd Aziz and Tetu Shani.

For more information about Afrolect Festival, click here.