Throwback music festival comes to Kigali 
Tuesday, May 03, 2022
Former boy band Urban Boys in old school attire. A new music festival to reminisce the old times will be held on May 27. Photo / courtesy

CELEBRATED DJS from both today and old generations are bracing for the highly-anticipated music festiva,l during which they look forward to bringing old memories back to how partying life was like during the past two to three decades.

Dubbed ‘Oldies Music Festival’, the new concept is an event that brings memories of 80s ,90s and early 2000 (2000-2010) music played around the world. The event will feature MCs and DJs who lived the entertainment moments of the three decades.

The festival, slated for May 27, at Juru Park in Rebero, is being organised by Impano Creative and seeks to bring together people from the old generation and reawaken their memories of when partying was their thing with old school music being the music code of the festival.

Household DJs in town are now on organisers’ radar alongside a small number of guest DJs who were on the decks in their prime time two decades ago, for them to deliver good music and make the show relevant.

"We selected a number of DJs who at the time were behind the entertainment in Kigali’s renowned clubs during the past two decades. We are also looking at those who have experience in mixing oldies,” Basile Uwimana, one of the organisers, told The New Times.

Uwimana said that some renowned figures back in the days will make surprise performances on stage to invoke people's memories about the music vibes they were accustomed to from the 80s to the 2000s.

People have fond memories of these oldies because they had enjoyed old good times with this kind of music. People of this generation feel like they are isolated because no events are organised to help them get back to their old times,” he claims.

"That’s why we organised this event to help them remember how the then entertainment lifestyle was back in the days. We trust the DJs on the decks will be able to play the finest music mix of the 80s, 90s and 2000s to ensure the audience feel like they are back to their life two to three decades ago,” he added.

According to organisers, the festival is exclusively not open to young music enthusiasts aged below 18 years to avoid anything that could spoil the right revelers’ joy and entertainment.

"This is a concept which excludes young people because we want to let people of the times share their throwbacks of what their lifestyle was like during their old times. We want to give them time to hang out, unwind and remind each how club life was like,” he explained.

Fashion will be one of the elements that could make the festival even more colorful, with music revelers expected to show up in various fashion trends that used to make headlines during the old times.

"We would like to see people turn up in their favorite party fashion outfits that were at the top at the time. All we want is to bring a different color to what music events nowadays look like,” he said.