Unlike previous editions that have always been scheduled over the weekend (Friday-Sunday), this year’s KigaliUp music festival kicks off on Thursday, July 26, at Amahoro National Stadium and runs till Sunday, July 28.

This may prove to be good and bad. The bad part is that a Thursday launch date may not be as favourable as Friday, when many people are breaking off for the weekend, and therefore in the mood to party.

But the good part about it is that the festival’s climax will fall on Saturday night as opposed to Sunday, thus allowing festival goers to party until the wee hours without having to worry about work the next day.

This time organisers opted for the Amahoro National Stadium, away from last year’s venue, the IPRC Kicukiro playground.

As usual, authentic live music acts from across the continent and beyond will grace the festival stage. This year, all the musical action will go down on a single stage, whereas last year there was a second stage to cater specifically for a Kids’ festival that ran parallel to the main festival.

However, the presence of two music stages with competing sound and performances was a slight blot on last year’s festival, as the sound from each stage occasionally overlapped to the other.

Similarly, some of the local acts that had been lined up for the main stage later ended up being assigned to the Kids’ stage. A single stage at this year’s festival should eliminate all this.

Like last year, the most anticipated performer this year is the globe-trotting Ivorian reggae icon Alpha Blondy, who will be holding his maiden musical performance in Rwanda.

Blondy was drafted into this year’s lineup of performers to make up for his no-show last year, and it’s perhaps the best reward from organisers to those that had hoped to catch a glimpse of the artist last year.

Blondy is the most high profile among the performers lined up. In a career spanning over 35 years, he has released 17 studio albums and toured in all corners of the world.

Other foreign names at the concert are; Ugandan traditional folk musician Annet Nandujja, who will perform with her The Planets band, German singer Kenny Wesley, who will perform with his three piece live band, Joey Blake, a US performing artiste and associate professor of music at the Berkeley College of Music in the US, Scottish singer Lulu, and American rock band Third Eye.

Local acts lined up include Andy Bumuntu, Danny Nanone, Active, Phionah Mbabazi, Alyn Sano, and Jodi Phibi, among others.

According to organisers, entrance is Rwf5,000 per festival day, with free entrance for the second day, July 27.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw