After another successful edition of Kigali Jazz Junction, the organisers are not resting on their laurels and have already announced yet another interesting line up for the October edition.
The jazz junction will next month stage one of its highlight performances of the year when it hosts Zimbabwean music icon Oliver Mtukudzi, best known for the song, Todi. It will be Mtukudzi’s first performance on Rwandan soil.
Remmy Lubega, the brain behind Kigali Jazz Junction, announced the duo to grace the October show at the end of the September edition last Friday which featured Rwandan folk music icon Jean Marie Muyango and Nigerian songbird Waje.
The October edition is likely to be arguably the best by far considering that Mtukudzi is one of Africa’s greatest music icons on the continent and Bruce Melody is with no doubt the most popular artiste in Rwanda at the moment.
Waje and Neptunez band, delivered an electrifying performance.
Kigali Jazz Junction proved yet again that it is becoming as popular as ever, with Kigali’s middle class and expatriate community embracing it in equal measure.
Waje was performing in Rwanda for the first time while Muyango has not had a show since his return from Belgium a couple of years ago. The pairing of the duo brought the best of Rwandan folk music and Nigerian pop together.
Muyango was the first to assume the stage after some curtain-raising by the resident band, Neptunez. The night did not feature many curtain raising acts like some previous editions, leaving each of the headline acts with ample time on stage.
Clad in traditional Rwandan garb and flanked by a bevy of energetic dancers, Muyango took show goers down memory lane with Gakondo sounds for which he is considered among the legends.
Many in the crowd were either seeing him for the first time, or in a very long time, although it was obvious from the sing-along sessions that his music is close in their hearts.
Before Muyango came to stage, there was a singing tribute to American soul music icon Aretha Louise Franklin, who passed away on August 16.
There was a slide show of the singer’s pictures taken at different points in her illustrious music career, while some of the Neptunez Band’s female vocalists belted off some of her better known songs.
After Muyango, it was time for Waje to showcase the "strength and power” in her vocals like she had promised in the press conference a day earlier.
She kicked off her performance with the song that started it all; the 2008 P-Square mega hit, Do me, on which Waje is featured.
She went ahead to sing her more recent releases, most of which are collaborations with continental stars like Diamond Platnumz, Patoranking, Tiwa Savage, Yemi Alade and Timaya.
Folk music icon Jean Marie Muyango sings to a glitter-induced crowd alongside his backup singers.
Crowd turn up was average, and perhaps it had something to do with the choice of headline performers: Waje, for one, is most recognizable for her cameo role in the P-square song, Do me. But that was way back in 2008, and the boy group has long since parted ways musically.
Organisers also revealed that, starting next year, Rwanda will join the rest of the world in celebrating the International Jazz Day, with a first time staging of an International Jazz Day Festival in Kigali in April next year.
International Jazz Day is an International Day created by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2011 to highlight the jazz music genre and the role it has played in uniting people of diverse cultures in all corners of the world. It is marked every April 30th in all UNESCO member states.
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