Presenting Strictly Silk: Our First Dance Party!
Since the start of our Sweet and Sawa DJ and music project, we’ve been thinking about how we would do gigs. We want people to steep in happiness, fun and laughter at our parties. We want people to start ludicrous, interesting conversations with others who are curious, open and excited. We want diverse populations to feel affirmed, safe and brave. We want people to meet new lovers and new comrades at our gigs, find lovely ways to reconnect with old friends, and get together with their squads, helped out by good music, electric mixes and great atmospheres!
Strictly Silk—our first gig featuring our all-female DJ lineup: our own Ziggie and DJ Ca$hy, together with our friends DJ Coco.Em, Shishi, Miss Ray and DJ Vidza—is dedicated exclusively to women, and is going down on Friday 14th December from 5pm - 11pm at 910 James Gichuru Road. Many times, women have to measure how they express themselves, how they dress, and who they are when they go out to have fun, and we wondered whether having women alone in a space dedicated exclusively to their joy, freedom and safety could create some rest and create a new energy of freedom. We are designing Strictly Silk to create a space in which diverse women—cis or trans, of all ages (above 21, this time round!), tribes, sectors of interest, sexual orientations, religions etc.—can meet each other, connect and have an absolutely glorious time!
We also wondered if women could throw a party just for women and do all of the heavy lifting to make it happen. So for Strictly Silk, the women of the Nest have run point with all the event production and planning (the Nest men have provided advisory and support). They have ensured that all services—from security to décor to catering and the bar—are provided by women! This edition of Strictly Silk will therefore feature an all-female vendors list, with the businesses represented being either led or founded by women. These include Terra Cold Pressed Juice (fresh juice), Fresh & More (catering), Naddya of Sunflower Pictures (live illustrations), Lindsay of ah_this (body painting), Olive & Annie (jewelry), Gspot Kenya (pleasure merchants and advocates) and ZAZI Bar (cocktails and bar).
Their media partner for the event will be ZUMI, a multimedia brand for the fierce and fashionable woman which focuses on lifestyle, hair, beauty and love. Strictly Silk is also excited to welcome Uber on board as part of an exploration of safer ride-hailing for Kenyan women. Uber will be offering sponsorship via discount codes for use by party goers.
With this event, we also wanted to support one of the strongest, bravest women we know, Jahmby “Fyah Mummah” Koikai, whom we first worked with on the Tuko Macho webseries (one of the most incredible experiences we’ve been through as a collective). She had the starring role of Mwarabu. For years, Jahmby has been dealing with thoracic endometriosis, a little known illness which has been debilitating to so many women across the globe. She’s been undergoing several difficult treatments, and now needs KES 1.1 million to complete the final phase of her treatment. We salute Jahmby, one of Kenya’s #EndoWarriors, and are humbled and privileged to be able to donate all our ticket proceeds from Strictly Silk to help offset her health cost.
Tickets cost KES 500, and you can get them in advance here, or at the gate. There will also be opportunities to donate to Jahmby’s fund during the event. If you want to contribute directly to Jahmby’s healthcare costs, send your donation to:
MPesa Paybill – 490681
Account Number – Jahmby Koikai Fund
Follow her on Instagram or Facebook for more details about her ongoing treatment.
We’re going to be throwing several more parties over the next few months, and have many more experiments about how to get people together via different themes, dress codes, activities and vibes. We look forward to having all of you join us—the Nest community, friends, guests, squads, lovers, partners, relatives, and strangers looking for somewhere to enjoy themselves and feel welcome—everyone! Here’s to many more fun times in 2019 and beyond.