By Njoroman
Published February 12, 2023
902street is an artists’ collective base in Kikuyu. It was founded by Wambui wa Marefeta and her partner Oneguy who is the M.D of Wanjuhi Wangai advocates. The collective was brought together with a view of creating a community for artists to nature their talents and get resources e.g a showcasing gallery, and a performance hall. The open mics started off a weekly Friday event that brought together multiple artists. These open mic sadly stagnated after Mic Mcall left the collective to pursue his passion for music with his band Fort seven. By good chance, Oneguy and Mimo came together and curated an open mic with 254brewery.
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The show at the 254brewerries taproom kickstarted in early January and this was the fourth edition. The show started with an introduction from Mimo who is the host of the show. Her energy is just on point and her vocals are completely angelic, she is a very gracious host who will accompany most musical acts as a backup vocalist. The in-house DJ is DJ Westii he serves all the performers with their acoustics and keeps the crowd entertained during performance breaks. Breaks of which almost never happen coz of the number of performers that show up.
902street Open mic is a clear example of what could be done to increase opportunities for artists. By enabling artists to perform on a stage with an actual crowd, the artists are able to horn and perfect their acts. Also, the artist is able to work on aspects of stage presence, crowd control, and voice projection among others. Skills can only be advanced by continued consistent practice, this enables the artist to find their own unique showmanship. The show is also an amazing platform that allows the crowd to experience and interact with the artist and hence can give criticism that will enable the artist to improve.
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Open mics by 902street are like no other, -diversity- is the best way to explain it. All performances are welcome from enthusiastic Mcees the likes of Mikel ( who was the international act of the night hailing all the way from Jamaica) who gave us a heart throbbing performance of his hit single ‘This is my house ‘. All the way to cover singers and original composers like Neal and even comedy from Njoroman. The featured act was Nicky Cyclops who is a hip-hop artist also based in Kikuyu. The band ‘ngemi Kenda’ was properly represented by the performance by Mimo and Oneguy. There was a freestyle session that was performed by Sanaa City and bonti bonto.