Fred Obachi Machoka marks 50 years on air this Saturday with a noon-to-midnight concert at Ulinzi Sports Complex in Nairobi. The Machoka At 50 concert is built around the music he has played for half a century. Congolese rumba bandleader Koffi Olomide will headline the event. Mbilia Bel, the voice behind “Nakei Nairobi,” is also on the card, as is Cameroonian makossa veteran Sam Fan Thomas and Congolese singer Alicios Theluji.
The Kenyan side is composed of the old rhumba circuit Les Wanyika, Them Mushrooms, Veterans X-comm Band, TBM Band, Freshly Mwamburi and Dola Kabarry.
Alicios Theluji landed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Wednesday, flying in from Sweden, and was received by Machoka himself. She told reporters Kenyans should expect fireworks at the concert.
Ride-hailing firm Weego is handling transport and logistics for the artists and guests.
Tickets are sold only through Viutickets. The page is viutickets.viusasa.com/events/music/fred-obachi-machoka-at50
How To Attend And Follow Machoka At 50 Concert
Buyers can also dial 48727# and pay by M-Pesa. Early published prices were Regular at KSh 5,000, VIP at KSh 15,000, VVIP at KSh 25,000 and a table for six at KSh 140,000. By Friday the live page had moved: Regular at KSh 8,000, on sale until 9 October; VIP at KSh 20,000; and a corporate table for six at KSh 170,000, both on sale until the day of the show.
Anyone still buying should check the page before paying. Prices have shifted more than once since August, and the remaining Regular and VIP stock is thinning.
Machoka is known to listeners as Uncle Fred and the host of Roga Roga on Radio Citizen, is marking 50 years in the industry. The Media Council of Kenya has already honoured him for that span. Earlier this week his wife, Sophie Machoka, led a delegation of veteran journalists to the Senate for the same milestone.
Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna used the visit to joke that he might miss the show because the government had “gone after my sponsors” and he could not stretch to the KSh 25,000 VVIP ticket. That tier is now closed anyway.
Gates open at midday and the programme runs to midnight.
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