Kulture returns with new honours platform celebrating Kenya’s urban music pioneers

Kulture is set to return for its third edition in Nairobi with a new recognition platform aimed at celebrating the people and institutions that helped shape Kenya’s urban music and entertainment industry.

The live experience, dubbed ‘Kulture: Celebrating The Icons & The Soundtrack of a Generation,’ will be held on October 10, 2026, at the Tsavo Ballroom, KICC.

The event will introduce Kulture Honors, a recognition format that organisers say will depart from the conventional awards model by having no nominees, public voting or competitive categories.

Instead, the honours will recognise individuals, collectives and institutions based on their contribution to the development of Kenya’s urban entertainment culture.

The inaugural collection will recognise contributions across the different forces that helped establish, enable, redefine, represent, connect, sustain and elevate Kenya’s urban music and entertainment scene.

Organisers say the recognitions will form part of the evening’s storytelling, with music, archival material, performances and personal memories used to place the contributions within the wider cultural story of the period.

Kulture’s third edition will focus particularly on the period between 1995 and 2015, when Kenya’s entertainment landscape underwent significant changes, including the expansion of private FM radio and television, the rise of Kenyan artists as mainstream stars, and the growing influence of music videos, youth programming, nightlife, fashion and advertising.

Founding curator Fakii Liwali said the organisers wanted to broaden the story beyond the artists whose songs defined the era.

“We realised that when we celebrate the soundtrack of our generation, we are also celebrating an ecosystem,” Liwali said, noting the role played by producers, DJs, broadcasters, media personalities, entrepreneurs, platforms and institutions in developing Kenyan entertainment.

The first recipients of Kulture Honors will be announced separately.

Despite the new recognition component, organisers say Kulture will remain primarily a live entertainment experience, featuring curated musical performances, storytelling, comedy, archival material and collaborations drawn from the cultural memory of the 1995–2015 period.

The event will begin with a red carpet and cocktails at 4pm, followed by the main show from 8pm to midnight and an after-party.

The performers and storytellers are expected to be announced in the coming days.

The event will be hosted by improv-comedy collective Because You Said So! (BYSS), featuring Jason Runo, Mugambi Nthiga, June Gachui, Kevin “K1” Maina, Patricia Kihoro, Yafesi Musoke, Elsaphan Njora and Justin Karunguru.