Nairobi Nights: Drumming Under the Stars and Dodgy Matatus
the first thing i noticed when i landed in nairobi was the smell of roasted coffee mixed with exhaust fumes and something sweet i couldn't place. maybe it was the jacaranda trees blooming along the highways, or maybe it was just my brain trying to make sense of the chaos.
i'm a touring session drummer, so i travel light but loud. my snare fits in the overhead bin, but my cymbals? they get their own seat. always. nairobi's music scene is buzzing, and i had a gig at a tiny club called the *savannah lounge on kirinyaga road. someone told me that the sound guy there is a legend, but also a bit of a diva. "he'll mute your snare if you look at him wrong," a local drummer warned me over a warm tusker beer.
the weather was a surprise. i just checked and it's 26.71°C there right now, feels like 26.94°C, hope you like that kind of thing. the humidity was low, the air crisp, and the sunsets? chef's kiss. if you get bored, mombasa and nakuru are just a short drive away, though i heard the matatus there are wilder than the ones in town.
nairobi's neighborhoods are like different drum kits-each with its own tone. karen is smooth jazz, westlands is heavy metal, and downtown? pure afrobeat chaos. i stayed in a little guesthouse in kileleshwa, where the birds wake you up at 5am and the chai is strong enough to fuel a two-hour soundcheck.
overheard gossip at the gig: "don't trust the guy selling djembe drums near uhuru park. he'll tune them to sound perfect in the shop, then they'll go flat the second you walk away." i believed it. nairobi teaches you to listen closely, not just to the music but to the stories people tell between beats.
if you're ever in nairobi and need a late-night jam, hit up the k1 klubhouse* in westlands. just don't expect to sleep before 3am. and bring earplugs. the snare drums here hit harder than the traffic.
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