2026 Music Festival: Western Giants Dominate High-Stakes Live Band ‘Zilizopendwa’

Vihiga Boys High School was crowned the national champion of Class 493, Zilizopendwa with Live Instrumental Accompaniment, at the 2026 Music Festival held at Kibabii University.

The school won over the judges with a technically precise and emotive rendition of Tabu Ley’s Amilo, a classic rumba song about heartbreak, mastering the delicate integration of human voices and live brass.

Senende Boys came in second with an arrangement of Beniko’s viral soukous hit Asinata while defending champions Ugenya High School took third place, drawing massive crowd reactions with their rendition of Franco Luambo Makiadi’s Tangawizi.

Ugenya merged the classic rhumba track with modern Kenyan street choreography, seamlessly incorporating the viral Anguka Nayo, Odi dance, and Kuduro styles into their routine.

For the pieces brought to the stage, Congolese rhumba and French-language songs dominated the repertoire. The works of legends such as Franco Luambo Makiadi, Madilu System, Tabu Ley Rochereau, and Tshala Muana formed the backbone of the competition.

Lenana pays Special tribute to Franco

Lenana School paid tribute to Franco with a theatrical performance of Mario, earning praise for inclusion by successfully integrating two students in wheelchairs into the core of their choreography.

Female choirs were equally competitive. Butere Girls presented Tshala Muana’s Dezo Dezo, utilizing a sharp trumpet section to deliver a critique of excess, while Kipsigis Girls traded rhumba for South African pop to perform Yvonne Chaka Chaka’s Motherland.

Athi River Senior School, competing as a mixed ensemble, performed Samba Mapangala’s classic hit Vunja Mifupa.

Other notable entries included Mangu High School’s tribute to Madilu System’s Djaffar, Pumwani Boys’ take on Malawian artist Onesimus Muzik’s Kalibo, and Taru Boys’ performance of Ombi la kuishi maisha mema.

However, securing a top three finish required navigating a strict marking scheme.

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The adjudicators noted that many fan-favourite choirs failed to balance their live bands with their vocalists, heavily penalizing schools that overloaded their stages with redundant brass instruments that drowned out the singers or failed to properly notate their submitted music scores.

This strict adherence to technical execution extended beyond the instrumental stages. Earlier in the festival, adjudicators evaluating the choral verse categories financed by Equity Bank warned trainers against poor script interpretation, monotonous renditions, and rushing through scripts.

“We evaluated renditions that are strictly choral. We did not want to see over-dramatized lines, exaggerated facial expressions, or voices so loud that they overpower this small hall. There is a clear difference between proper voice projection and simply shouting,” the adjudicator said.

Why Equity is Rewarding Teachers in 2026 Music Festivals

The categories under Equity were anchored on its sub-theme: Sustainable Transformation for a Resilient Future: Protecting Our Environment, Empowering Our Communities for Wealth Creation.

Speaking during the awarding ceremony for these categories, Collins Wanyonyi, Equity Bank’s Director of SME Banking, highlighted why the institution is pouring cash prizes directly into the teachers behind the winning performances.

“When Equity decides to reward our teachers, it is a deliberate move to celebrate exceptional talent. Today, we are seeing a growing number of educators producing top-tier performances, and it is important that we recognize their efforts,” Wanyonyi explained.

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He further urged institutions to deepen their commercial relationships with the bank to sustain the multi-million-shilling sponsorships and ecosystem investments.

“We have invested heavily to support the entire education ecosystem, from kindergartens to universities, through solarization projects, school fee collections, and extending teacher financing up to 141 months. To help us expand these sponsorships next year, I encourage all institutions to partner with us through our commercial banking services,” Wanyonyi added.

Beyond the stage, the bank utilized the massive national gathering at Kibabii University to integrate the education sector with local businesses. “I would rate our engagement here as a 90 percent success. We have successfully interacted with teachers, private school directors, suppliers, and the numerous SMEs that came to trade, provide catering, and sell merchandise,” noted Edwin Wanyonyi, Equity Bank’s Busia Branch Manager.

A core component of the bank’s sub-theme focuses on environmental protection, an initiative that Edwin noted has gained massive traction among the participating institutions. “Our tree-planting drive has surpassed its target, which included planting more than 15,000 trees at a single university. Our core message to these institutions is to actively nurture these seedlings to maturity so we can collectively achieve our sustainability goals,” he revealed.