Today, Kenyans across the country honor the heroes who played an important role in the struggle to achieve the country’s liberation. They are celebrating those who fought to achieve Kenyan independence and who have positively contributed to post-independence Kenya.
However, for the second year in a row, Mashujaa Day celebrations will not look the same as they have before. The new Covid-19 reality has meant that Kenyans are unable to truly come together and commemorate the national holiday side by side with their countrymen as celebrations outside of the official event in Kirinyaga County have been banned.
Since the dawn of time, music has played an important role in communicating with others and in celebrating our cultural identity and heritage. Today, technology allows us to share music with each other and connect to people across any distance, decade, background, or age group.
The first tier to getting to know is Spotify Free, with an incredible range of must-use features that include Assisted Playlisting, where users can start making their own playlists with a just title, a few chosen tracks, and Spotify will recommend songs to add at the tap of a button based on artists in the playlist and a user’s taste profile.
In addition, users can enjoy On-demand Playlists, based on their initial Taste Onboarding when signing up to a Spotify account and choosing five or more artists that they like – showcasing the power of collaboration between Spotify’s algorithms and a user’s personalized preferences.
Spotify’s amazing features!
Since launching in Kenya the audio streaming service has provided a number of new ways for people to connect through music and enjoy the sounds of local Kenyan artistes like Octopizzo, King Kaka, Maandy, Sauti Sol, Karun, Otile Brown, and Khaligraph Jones with their friends and loved ones.
With Group Session, for example, groups of two to five Spotify Premium users are able to tune into the same playlist at the same time on their own devices — whether six feet apart or a thousand miles away — by simply sharing a “join” link via messaging apps or social media.
Meanwhile, Spotify’s Blend feature provides both free and premium users the ability to bond with a friend or loved one (or potential loved one!) over their favorite shared music through a unique and personalized playlist created by matching two users’ listening preferences.
Additionally, Spotify listeners are able to team up and create the ultimate playlist together by making any playlist collaborative, allowing friends to add, remove, and reorder tracks.
Anyone can discover, manage and share over 70 million tracks (including more than 2.9 million podcast titles) for free. If you’re on Spotify Premium, you’ll have access to exclusive features for music — including improved sound quality and an on-demand offline ad-free listening experience.
Both Spotify Free and Premium subscribers have access to a vast range of features that will give them full control over what they listen to and how they listen to it. Spotify offers a free tier and four premium options for users to choose from including:
Spotify Free: with zero subscription costs, this tier offers the Data Saver Mode – a simple toggle that optimizes the listening experience to use lower rates of mobile data when listening to music. Personalized Liking and Hiding where one can use the ‘like’ and ‘hide’ buttons for songs, artists, albums, and playlists buttons to get recommendations tailored just for them – personalizing their Spotify experience even more.
Mini: at 49 Ksh per week which allows one account to listen to music ad-free, download 30 songs on one device, and gives access to the Group Session feature
Individual: at 299 Ksh per month for one account with all the features of Mini as well as on-demand playback and the ability to play music offline.
Duo: at 389 Ksh per month for two accounts for two people living under the same roof and offers all the same features as Individual along with Duo Mix — a playlist for two regularly updated with music that both enjoy.
Family: at 479 Ksh per month, this Premium subscription allows users to create up to six accounts for family members living under one roof and offers access to the same features as Individual including Family Mix: a playlist for the whole family, regularly updated with music that all members enjoy, as well as the ability to block explicit music.
So this Mashujaa Day — or in fact any day where you want to reach out — there are still ways you can connect with your friends and family, even if it’s not physically.
