Bayimba festivals three-day climax
Members of Kenya’s Sarabi Band perform. Photos by Abubaker Lubowa and Edgar R. Batte
What you need to know:
Finals. After regional festivals in different parts of the country, the Bayimba festivals grand finale was held at the National Theatre.
The very first ever edition of Bayimba International Festival of the Arts at Kyadondo rugby grounds in 2008 registered just about 60 revellers. However, this did not demoralise the organisers and they continued organising the annual art fete. Today, Bayimba is the most anticipated event on the Ugandan arts calendar. The seventh edition of the festival took place from September 19 - 21, at Uganda National Cultural Centre (National Theatre). The three-day event climaxed the other regional tours. This year, the regionals were held in Mbale, Jinja, Kabarole and Gulu.
The entire National Theatre was put in use as several activities took place at the same time. Some of the activities included musical performances, visual art exhibitions, modeling, contemporary dance, drama, silent disco, comedy, among others. This gave revellers a wide choice on where they could be.
There were two music stages; the main stage and another stage in the gardens. The open ground was used for different exhibitions, the crafts village to sell crafts, and the theatre auditorium had drama and comedy.
Day one
Friday, which was the opening day, saw different bands perform like the Jinja-based Sifa Kelele led by Sandra Namulindwa, Nehoreka from Zimbabwe and Dr Bone from South Africa. The best was saved for last and the night was climaxed by Ugandan musician Haruna Mubiru, who sang his popular love songs such as Binyuma, and Ekitooke Kifa Nsalila, among others, leaving the audience in loud cheers.
Day two
The second day (Saturday), turned out to be one of the best. The acts on the main stage turned out to be the crowd’s favourite as they cheered on every performer.
Kenyan Sarabi Band, which comprises eight youthful instrumentalists, owned the night. They were performing in Uganda for the second time this year, the first being at DOADOA earlier in the year.
Rapper Ruyonga gave an energetic performance that left many chanting for more before setting pace for Zawuka Band and Angella Kalule’s Kagie Band.
Day Three
On the last day of the festival, everyone was looking forward to the legendary reggae artiste Maddox Ssematimba (Pictured right). He did not disappoint as he showed up to close this year’s festival. Maddox engaged the crowd, not drawing boundaries for the young and the old as everyone sang to almost all his songs, which included Ndabirawa, Namagembe, Abato and Dembe, among others.
