Nairobi, Reggae Capital of the World?

Awarding winning Jamaican producer Gareth Cobran has been ‘googling’ the streets of Nairobi, on a fact finding mission with results that will definitely be interesting to see.

The film maker and producer is on a mission… he wants to find out whether Nairobi, and Kenya are indeed the ‘Reggae Capital of the World’.

On his twitter page he wrote about dancehall:

‘We make it in #the876 (Jamaica) and it comes all the way to #the254 (Kenya)’

It is no doubt that reggae, ragga and dancehall have steadily grown in recent years to become massive genres in Kenya. With hugely successful and dedicated reggae radio stations such as Uptown Radio, together with special shows such as the Reggae Segway on Homeboyz Radio and  A.I.R Goteana and Rewind BA4 on Ghetto radio, it is no secret that the genre just drives Kenyans crazy.

As far as international performing artiste arrivals in Kenya are concerned, reggae and dancehall artistes from the caribbean most definitely top the list. We’ve had the likes of Cecile, Alaine, Chris Martin and most recently Konshens performing at packed-to-capacity venues.

Cobran’s documentary seeks to explore this unique connection, Jamaica to Africa, and will include interviews with entertainment industry big wigs, radio stations and scores of other media personalities.

Gareth Cobran has worked on videos with well known musicians such as Konshens and Chris Martin, but he is primarily interested in journalistic documentaries. Have a look at some of his work below, in Chris Martin’s video ‘Paper Loving’.