Lamu Old Town is a unique and rare historical living heritage with more than 700 years of continuous settlement. In 2001, it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Since then the Lamu Cultural Promotion Group, a community based group, has been organizing an annual cultural festival to promote and preserve the unique Swahili heritage of the Lamu Archipelago.

The three day festival will showcase traditional dances (ngomas) which will include:

- Uta: A Bantu origin dance, performed by men, and mainly danced during harvest time

- Goma la Siu: Started as a battle training dance and is danced with swords to songs narrated in praise of heroes

- Goma la Barani and Kirumbizi: festive dances for wedding & circumcision ceremonies, Maulidi festival

- Chama cha Matondoni: celebrates Arabian swordsmanship and the pomp of Army corps, it is highly stylized requiring agility, poise and adroit sword-handling skills

- Maulidi ya Rama: a religious dance performed to purge the community of the sins that have provoked illness or other kinds of misfortune

There will also be displays of traditional handicraft, henna painting, Swahili bridal ceremonies and a Swahili food bazaar.

This year’s festival will also feature a renowned lute player from Morocco adding a touch of Arab-North African Islamic influence, a modern taarab group from Zanzibar ‘East African Melody’, the popular Juma Bhallo from Mombasa, and the young Kuruka Maisha dancers/acrobats.

For more info please contact Harsita Waters, Arts and Culture Coordinator at the Nairobi Alliance Française on cultural@alliancefrnairobi.org