Spotify opened the official Greasy Tunes Café Kitchen in Nairobi in partnership with The BAG, marking the start of a 12-day pop-up that brings together food, music and the creative communities shaping the city’s culture.
The Nairobi edition marks the third iteration of Greasy Tunes, following its launch in Johannesburg in 2023 and its move to Lagos in 2025. Now, it is Nairobi’s turn, with a programme rooted in the city’s street food culture, music scenes and community-led creative energy.
The opening night set the tone for Greasy Tunes: a space built around how young Nairobians already gather around food, sound, conversation and community. The BAG is a Nairobi events and nightlife platform known for high-energy music-led experiences, DJ sets, lifestyle events and strong crowds. As one of the communities featured in the Greasy Tunes programme, The BAG helped launch the café kitchen with an opening night that placed Nairobi’s social and street food culture at the centre of the experience.
The Greasy Tunes Café Kitchen has been created in partnership with Jikoni Studio Nairobi, with a menu closely developed alongside local Kenyan chefs. The food offering pays homage to Kenyan culture and street food, bringing familiar flavours into a space designed for music discovery, community programming and cultural exchange.
Running from 15 to 26 July at Heltz House, Greasy Tunes brings together communities across music, fashion, sport, comedy, podcasts and creative culture. The 12-day programme features Studio 18, The BAG, BluePrint, Fishermans Experience, Bambika TV, Assembly, Ongeza Volume, Standup Collective, Nakili Session and Strictly Soul, including two live podcast recordings from Mic Cheque Podcast and 30 Percent Podcast.
At the heart of the programme is a simple idea: Nairobi’s dinner table has a soundtrack.
Spotify listening data from June 2026 shows that for Nairobi listeners aged 18 to 24, the dinner-adjacent window between 6pm and 9pm is the largest food-related listening period in the dataset, accounting for 20.9% of all daily Gen Z music listening in the city.
The tracks young Nairobians listen to during those hours reflect a city that is both proudly local and globally connected. Kenyan artists appear on seven of the top ten tracks streamed by Nairobi’s 18–24 listeners during the dinner window, led by Ywaya Tajiri, Wakadinali, Mutoriah, Toxic Lyrikali, Sauti Sol and Njerae. East African collaboration also comes through Alikiba and Bien, while international names including Dave feat. Tems and Drake sit naturally in the same mix.
The top tracks during Nairobi’s dinner-adjacent listening window are:
- Ywaya Tajiri — Chai ya saa kumi
- Dave feat. Tems — Raindance
- Wakadinali — LAST DANCE
- Alikiba and Bien — Finale
- Mutoriah — Beta
- Toxic Lyrikali — Hate
- Drake — Janice STFU
- Drake — Shabang
- Sauti Sol — Feel My Love
- Njerae — Aki Sioni
“What stands out in this data is not just that Kenyan artists dominate the dinner playlist, but that they sit naturally alongside names like Dave, Tems and Drake. That tells you something about how young Nairobians experience music. They are not choosing between local and global. They are moving between both in the same evening, and Kenyan artists are holding their own in that mix. For anyone working with East African talent, that is a powerful signal,” said Agnes Opondo, Artist and Label Partnerships, East Africa, Spotify.
Over 12 days, Spotify is working with 12 communities and partners to host 20 events — from food and music to podcasts, comedy, sport, fashion and live cultural programming. Together, they turn Greasy Tunes into more than a pop-up: a meeting point for the people shaping Nairobi’s creative scene.
For Nairobi’s young listeners, the connection between food and music is already part of everyday life. Greasy Tunes gives it a home
Continue the listening experience with Spotify’s Made in Kenya playlist featuring some of the country’s artists.
