Mount Kenya University (MKU)’s winning streak in the national music festivals was evident this year as the fete closed on Saturday with top performers showcasing their prowess to President William Ruto, First Lady Rachel Ruto and top government officials at Sagana State Lodge.
The 2025 Kenya Music Festival were held in Meru County, with the main venues being Meru School, Kaaga Girls High School, and Meru Teachers Training College. The festival ran from August 3rd to 16th. The theme for this year’s festival was “Enhancing the Creative Economy through Artistic Expression for Sustainable Development”.
MKU Head of Sports, Film and Creative arts activities Mr. William Luta could not hide his joy at the outstanding performance exhibited by its students.
The MKU team had 17 wins, were ranked runners-up on 10 categories and took position three number in eight competitions.
“I am proud of these young souls. What makes me happier is that as a university, we maximize and limit our performance only to current and active students, we train and groom the students to be performers and when we see them perform well, the satisfaction is fulfilling,” Luta said.
But the results the university fell short of the overall win, finishing second to Kenyatta University. Other institutions of higher learning that made a big impact on the national stage included the University of Nairobi, with Daystar University making serious inroads at the fete.
“However, we have learnt on areas that need improvement and we will be working towards that as we prepare for the 98th edition come 2026,” Luta vowed.
MKU’s University Students Welfare Principal, Mr Peter Waweru, praised the group’s performance, acknowledging that the good results were due to the support the institution gives its students and staff members. He assured the team that this support can only be improved and increased to ensure the team is comfortable and have all instruments needed at their disposal,” he said.
The MKU team had much prominence in instrumentation classes both African and western instrumentation assemble winning – African wind instrument, African solo drum, African and western instrumental assemble, African string fiddle and brass solo. In the verse category the verses group were the giants in their own category scoping eight wins, and more than 10 podium finishes in other classes.
Other winning items emanated from university choir’s winning arrangement for boys and a sponsored song ODPC on safe use of data on online platforms. The institution’s winning cultural dances were the Meru folk song and Meru cultural dances.
MKU’s choral verse at the event stirred public debate after confronting what it described as a “moral crisis” in schools and universities.
The performance blended poetry, rhythm and drama to warn of rising immorality, lesbianism and homosexuality among students, urging urgent action.
“It is time to expose the ills maovu tuyakemee, ishindwe, hayo ni mapepo. We should come out and say what is bedeviling our institutions so that we can get ourselves from this danger,” the group recited.
Kenyatta University took home more than 30 wins at the just-concluded 97th edition of the Kenya Music Festival. With over 56 entries, the institution, a bedrock of creativity for years, established itself as the team to beat at the fete that attracted 26 universities, up from eight last years. For the last five years, KU has maintained its consistency of starring at the music despite the stiff and growing competition.
The 12-day festival, which showcased the best in music, dance and elocution, attracted nearly 150,000 participants, with female learners dominating the event. National chairperson Prof. Frederick Ngala raised concern over the gender disparity, noting that female participants far outnumbered their male counterparts.
“We must make concerted effort to help the boy child participate at the festival after we had over 95,000 females against 45,000 male participants recorded this year,” he said during the winners’ Gala at Meru School on Friday.
Higher Education Principal Secretary Beatrice Inyangala said the festival offers a platform for shaping national discourse. “Art is more than entertainment it is persuasion, expression and healing. Music and performance can tell the story of climate change in a way data alone cannot. They can speak against gender-based violence more powerfully than policy documents, and they can call us to unity when the nation is under strain,” noted Inyangala.
She encouraged young people to see creativity as a career path, noting that the government is committed to supporting learners “from the classroom to the stage and into the market.”
After the event at State Lodge Sagana, the winners will head to Kampala, Uganda for the East Africa Music, Dance and Drama Festival, alongside winners from the Drama and Theatre Festival. The East African festival will run from August 17 to August 25.
