Music Festival Reclaims Glory as Worcester Tops All

Rev. Mercy Maina leads members of the saint John' church of Worcester after winning the overall best team trophy during the 3rd Annual Kenyan churches music festival that took place on July 25, in Attleboro, Mass. H.Maina/Ajabu

By Harrison Maina, Ajabu Africa News, posted August 7

The 3rd Annual Kenyan churches music festival reclaimed the glory it lost last year when adjudicators annulled the entire results, declaring new winners after a reported tallying error.

This year, however, the annual event ended with a superb show during a performance held last Sunday at the Saint James Anglican church in Attleboro, with Saint John’s Anglican Church from Worcester emerging the best overall winners.

Worcester led the pack with a 76% score according to the judges. Second time contestant, Saint Stephen’s church from Lowell, emerged the runners over all with 71.75%, followed by All Saint’s Quincy with 70%.

Saint Paul’s Lawrence came in the fourth position with 62.75%, while the host, Saint James Attleboro followed closely with 68%.

Saint Stephens’ Lynn, who hosted the first event two years ago, took the sixth and last position in this category.

The colorful event was organized by six Kenyan community churches as a way to bring together their faithful and pass on the legacy of worship to their young generation.

The six churches competed fiercely on several categories which saw different teams score points, hoping to outdo one another.

In the hotly contested folk song category, All Saints Quincy took the top position followed by St. John’s Worcester with Saint Stephens Lynn taking the third position.

Saint Stephen's church , Lowell, during a gospel folk song presentation

And during the inaugural competition in 2008, St. John’s Worcester was back again at the podium to claim the trophy in the set piece category, followed by close rivals, All Saints Quincy.

All Saints Quincy was back at the podium to claim the trophy for the best costume category while Saint John’s Worcester took the top position in the set piece category, followed by All Saints Quincy.

In the own composition category, the spoils were taken by James Mwangi of Saint Stephens church in Lowell, with Saint James Attleboro taking both memory verse trophy and the Sunday school category .

However, every competing team received a token of appreciations for attending the annual music extravaganza that has now reclaimed its allure.
 
While the judges’ actions last year riled many contestants and fans, which arguably may have cost this year’s event a good number of fans, a trio of Judges at this year’s competition remained hawk - eyed throughout the competition, taking even more time to tally their scores in an effort to avoid a repeat of last year’s hullabaloo.

For a few moments after the competitive part of the event was over, speeches were finished and worshippers started loosing focus of the DJ gospel music entrainment as they endlessly waited for the winner’s announcements, several organizers circled around the judges table with abated breadths, to ensure that nothing went wrong.

All Saints Quincy celebrates their great performance

The judges did not flinch an inch. They held their cool and tallied the score as it should. Finally, the lead adjudicator, Felix Mwangi of 12th Note productions, a music production commonly based in Boston quickly jumped onto the stage and signaled they had that they were ready to announce the winners.

Mwangi invited his other two judges, Eric Kamau from and Isaac M Kang'ethe, both from Worcester, and well experienced in the music circles to give their comments before the final announcement.

Kang'ethe, who was one of the founding members of the Muungano choir in Kenya, congratulated the participants for their effort to practice and sing. “You have done a very good job, but you also have more room for improvement.”

Muungano choir was a very popular choir performing at various high profiles political ceremonies in Kenya.
 
Speaking briefly during the event, a visiting pastor from Kenya, Bishop Joseph Mule of the Anglican church of Kenya, Diocese of Kitui,  praised the organizers of the event for bringing together Kenyans from different churches to compete in a Christian way.

Bishop Joseph Mule

When the judges finally revealed the winners, loud cheers rocked the hall as Saint John’s Worcester celebrated the long awaited win.

Having learned from their past errors which saw them loose narrowly in the initial competition two years ago at Lynn, and holding the last position last year, Worcester rebounded into the champion’s slot that they always believed to belong to them.

Other Top Ajabu News
First Ever Ajabu African Awards attracts hundreds
Overcoming Challenges, Kenyan in Leominster Releases Powerful CD






Photo Gallery

AjabuTV

Back to Home page