THE TWO day annual KigaliUp festival will not be forgotten anytime soon.  The festival that kicked off on Saturday at Amahoro Stadium attracted musicians from various countries, including Senegal, Kenya and USA.

This year’s festival had two stages; one for live performances and the other for Djs to spin their discs. This helped revelers decide on which side to be as some wanted to watch performances and others simply wanted to dance.

There was a wide display of artistic pieces at the entrance of the stadium while tents with food and empty glasses of beer and plates littered the place.  

The event started with Ngoma Nshya, Christopher and Riziki performing as other artists attended a workshop which was categorised according to the artiste’s genre of music.

Didier Awadi, Senegal’s hip hop star, led the hip hop group in the workshop that had artistes like Young Grace, Niko, Paccy, Sami, True D and Riderman. 

Joey Blake headed the R&B group that had artistes like Patrick Nyamitari, Solange Ingabire, Big Mike, Ange Umutoni, Gabby and Semi.

And the traditional workshop, headed by Ben Ngabo, had artistes like Ras Kayaga, Focus, Mani Martin and Ruremire among others. Rhoda Benin headed the gospel and soul workshop.

Didier Awadi said the workshop aimed at sharing experiences with fellow artistes.

"Whenever we have such workshops, we learn a lot from each other and this helps some artistes avoid the fear of doing what they are supposed to do,” he said.

On Sunday, despite the bad weather that almost disorganised the event, the turn up was good.

Being the climax of the festival, the artistes gave it their all. Didier Awadi staged a good performance that left the crowd asking for more. Rhoda Benin and Joey Blake also got the crowd wild.

Africa Calabash Crew were given a warm welcome. Holly Jah doves, Francois Ngarambe, Mani Martin, Ras Kayaga, Jay Polly, Serge Iyakaremye, Ben Kayiranga, Ange Umutoni, Benny Black, Horary and Serge Eyamuremye did not disappoint either.

As the artistes entertained the crowd, DJs Pang, Afshon, Toxxyk, Nano, Infinity and Africano also did their thing before the show ended at 11:00pm.

According to Mighty Popo, one of the organisers, the turn up was encouraging.

All photos by Plasir Muzogeye.