Muthoni - a Nairobi born and raised singer-songwriter and social entrepreneur - sings about Nairobi in her wonderful new reggae-soul-jazz hit Cool Waters. Indeed, in 1899, Mile 327 of the East African Railway was established on a patch of papyrus bog known as Uaso Nyrobi (Maasai for ‘place of cold waters’), the last area of flat land where the engineers camped to figure out their ascent up the eastern shoulder of the Great Rift Valley.
Over the years, Nairobi has been referred to by different nicknames, including the following:- Nairobi
- Nyrobi (referring to the Maasai word mentioned above)
- City in the Sun
- Green City in the Sun
- Safari Capital of the World
- Nairobbery (referring to the insecurity situation in Nairobi)
Is this list complete or do you know any other names for Nairobi? And which is your favourite one?
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10 very exciting comments:
Some time when city council was at it's worst, people started calling it City in the Garbage. That is certainly not a favourite Lol.
But thankfully that name did not last or catch on a such. I guess the city fathers pulled up their socks.
Shiko: OMG, what a filthy name! I just heard another interesting one: Naerobics (referring to the growing number of gyms/health clubs in the city I guess).
Back in the village young tucks used to call it Binairo by the way. just a corruption of the word Nairobi not that it had any meaning. grandpas called it Nyairobi.
There was also Gichuka. And also Matawa-ini which can be loosely translated to mean city of lights. From the village you can only think of the lights Lol.
Muthoni's song is really good...the vocals, the lyrics and the slideshow video. very creative, inspiring, refreshing!
We need more songs like that.
Cool waters!!!!
georgeqs: I also like her song very much. It is even better when you see her perform it live. She has performance quite often, so make sure to check her out whenever you have an opportunity.
We have a lot of good music here in Kenya, sometimes it is just a bit hard to find it between all the urban vibes and hip-hop.
rafiki: i would love to hear her live. where does she perform? alliance francais??
georgeqs: Yes, she was at alliance last month. Am not sure about her current schedule, but I believe she has a contact form on her website.
georgeqs: Muthoni will be performing soon, I will post on that in the next few days.
rafiki: there is a jazz group called Pentamony performing today at the junction...at 7pm
georgeqs: Thanks for sharing. Looks good, I hope they won't start at 7 pm... traffic is like hell around that time.
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