Eric Omondi: East african comedy has Taken giant strides

The last time Eric Omondi was in Dar on May 1, he had come as a guest of celebrity couple Diamond and Zari at the All White Party, as expected he left revellers in fits of laughter.

Last weekend he was at it again at the East African Vibe Concert, an event that featured artistes from across the region.

There was almost every form of art for everyone from comedy, traditional dance, poetry to soothing sounds.

Kicking off the proceedings was a dance troupe called Ubungo TSE who warmed up the stage with their creative dance before the audience started enjoying poems from young poets Neema and Kezia.

Afro Pop queen Grace Matata then took the stage, serenading her fans with some of her soothing sound including the fans’ favourite‘Free Soul.’

The 25-year-old artiste then gave rendition of Maria Carey’s 1996 song ‘Always Be My Baby’.

Leo Mkanyia with his Swahili Blues Band performed a number of songs before the Sarabi Band took the revellers on a journey into Kenyan music.

However, it seemed this was all as the enthusiastic audience sat anxiously waiting for something special.

And that couldn’t be anyone else but stand up comedian Eric Omondi.

Just like on his last appearance he was ushered on stage with his a rendition of Diamond’s Nasema Nawe.

He took the hundreds in attendance through a comical trip whom he left in fits of laughter all through.

Despite this being his second performance in Dar es Salaam, the big crowd that turned up was testimony of how the Kenyan rib-breaker has become a household name around. The number was not only a pleasant sight for the show organisers but even to the comedian himself.

According to Omondi it was a sign that comedy was finally being appreciated especially with the rise of talented comedians such as Anne Kansiime from Uganda, Mc Pilipili, Bukuku who are doing a great job. “People now understand comedy across the region; I never had any doubts coming here because I knew that people would turn up. Although Kenya and Uganda started earlier doing stand up comedy, Tanzanians have also joined the race they seem to be enjoying it more,” says Eric. Though there has been much talk on the differences between comedy in Tanzania and his native Kenya, Eric says he doesn’t see much of that in any way.

“In Kenya comedians most of the time use English whereas in Tanzania it is Kiswahili and I don’t think that is a difference in any way because the content is what matters,” he says.

He sees a bright future in comedy given the strides that the industry has made in recent years. “When I look at us, I see a bright future, our market is growing because the entertainment industry need us to make things happen, a good example is how I had to come to this show and I am really proud to be part of this,” he adds. Even with such regional success something seems to worry Eric; the lack of unity amongst comedians is a major hurdle to their success. According to him, he would like to see comedians across East Africa collaborate at professional level because this is the only way they can grow.

“ It would be a good thing to see comedians from Burundi, Kenya, Uganda ,Sudan and Tanzania collaborate, Sudanese coming to Kenya and Tanzanians working closely with Ugandan comedians; this would be great,” says Eric.

On his remixing of ‘Nasema Nawe,’ Eric says he got official permission from Diamond.

“When the song was released I loved it instantly. I called Diamond and told him of my desire to remix the song with my ‘Nasema Nawe’ lyrics,” says Eric.

His main advice to aspiring artistes is to work their way up diligently instead of nurturing the desire to achieve overnight fame through short cuts.

His performance was a great pull to most of those who came for the show such as Matilda Kaisi.

“I am not really a great fun of traditional dances but when it was announced that Eric Omondi was going to perform here I called my friends and it turned out to be such a great night, I learnt a lot here,” she says.

The event was organised by Culture and Development East Africa (CDEA) whose representative Mandoline Kahindi was equally elated by the performance.

He says it gave them the opportunity to bring people together to witness the talent variety from across East Africa.

“One of our roles is to place culture at the centre of development in East Africa that’s why we believe that we have so much to share and learn from each other as East Africans,” says Kahindi.

He says that their choice of taking on the less popular Nafasi Art Space for the event was due to the fact that they wanted a venue that resonated with the theme of the show.

“We had amazing sponsors and we feel it was a huge success; this gives us the desire to host the event again next year and for years to come and hoping that more artists from across East African will participate,” he concludes.