Jungle Party goes wild

With Africa‘s best artists, the Jungle Party at Lake Kivu Hotel Serena was the place to be on Friday night, thanks to FESPAD. One would say Kigali was practically devoid and left empty, judging from the traffic jam along the Musaze - Rubavu highway. Party animals cruised in a hurry to Gisenyi town lest they missed the long anticipated Jungle Party kickoff. Although the show started at midnight—much later than the 9:00 p.m expected time party revelers danced to DJ Pius’s music mix and laughed at Uncle Austin’s jokes, the MC of the night. Dr. Claude was the only local artist who performed. He was the curtain raiser followed by Ugandan dancehall king KS Alpha. Sexy Cindy (former Blu 3 songbird) with her ‘Ayokyayokya’ song hypnotised the crowd and left them craving for more. Grace Nakimera the Kawonawo singer was not an exception; with her queen dancers she left men gaping—however her performance was over shadowed with fantastic fireworks courtesy of Rwanda Development Board (RDB), the official FESPAD organisers. The Goodlyfe duo Radio and Weasel were greatly treasured, as the exhilarated crowd sung along each song throughout their performance. During The New Times interview with Radio and Weasel, the superstars said: “We are grateful for FESPAD because it’s an avenue for artists to come together and share different aspects of culture; we all come from different parts of Africa and this is a step towards unity.” Kenya’s Nameless also MTV’s 2009 ‘Best East African Male Artist’ was left speechless and mesmerised after inviting a female reveler on stage—she was so hot that he was shockingly disturbed by her adorning beauty. “I’m impressed with the way Rwanda handles and respects the music industry since music is food for the soul,” Nameless later appreciated in an interview after his performance. At the climax of the night, Nigeria’s D’banj also, MTV 2009 ‘Africa’s Artist of the Year’ drove the party wild with his ‘fall in love’ song. The ‘Koko Master’ lined up over 10 Rwandan beauties to select his sweet potato but was left confused. Whoever said Rwandan beauties couldn’t dance, lied—D’banj’s dilemma was eventually settled when he opted for the best-dancer voted by the crowd. DJ Stylz spun his discs till six in the morning when the party animals retired from the Jungle. All photos by D. Umutesi dorau20@yahoo.co.uk

Leisure

Jungle Party goes wild