Blankets and Wine: It was amazing times while it lasted

On Monday, news broke that the organisers of Blankets and Wine Kampala would not be in position to organise what would have been the next edition of the festival and those that would be taking place later in the year.

To understand the story of Blankets and Wine Kampala, you have to understand the sister festival, Blankets and Wine Nairobi. The festival was started in 2008 as a platform for the promotion, celebration, and exposure of emerging live Kenyan music. One of the most well-known events in East Africa is the festival, which rapper and businessman Muthoni Ndoga, also known as MDQ or Muthoni Drummer Queen, founded.

House of DJs, a marketing company that would later expand into experiences with bias around food and music, introduced the Blankets and Wine concept to Uganda.

The beginning

In 2012, Blankets and Wine Kampala made its debut in Uganda, bringing the same vision of promoting and celebrating local music. Since then, the festival grew in popularity, attracting both local and international artistes to perform on its stage. With its unique blend of live music, food vendors and a relaxed picnic atmosphere, Blankets and Wine Kampala became a must-attend event for music lovers in East Africa.

The early editions of Blankets and Wine took place at Seven Trees Kololo and Kyadondo Rugby Grounds before moving to the Uganda Museum.

These editions, unlike the recent ones, were family gatherings, people came with their families to enjoy the day and later left in the evening.

Of course this had a lot to do with the schedule; performances started as early as 2pm and by 8pm, the headliner was completing their act.

Very few people may remember the Blankets and Wine editions at Kyadondo; in fact, very many people got to learn about the shows at the Uganda Museum, with artistes such as Joel Sebunjo, Maurice Kirya, Jackie Akello, Tamba, and Janzi Band, among others. These talented artistes helped establish Blankets and Wine Kampala as a premier festival with a diverse audience and above all, one showcasing the ‘other’ African kind of music.

In fact, the headlining acts for the first edition were Lilian Mbabazi and the Sundowners, Qwela, Allan Tonix, and Kidum from Burundi.

But the lineup was never the big deal; the experience was – the idea of having a picnic where people carried shukas and their own liquor was fresh but also a hard sell. However, it was great that people still showed up and seemed to have a great time.

With more editions that took place, the festival continued to position itself as the ‘to be’ event. The artistes programmed, especially the South Africans such as Freshly Ground, Zahara, or Liquideep were exotic, and not many people understood them, but associating with the crowd was amazing.

With a headlining sponsor secured, Blankets and Wine launched the Uganda Museum grounds onto the events circuit. But above it all, they created a culture and trends.

The trends

Of course, the event became the most anticipated one over the years. The headlining acts went from being niche artistes to heavy hitters. For instance, much as many Ugandans at the first edition only knew Kidum for a song he collaborated with Juliana Kanyomozi, it was a different case with the artistes that graced the stage later.

The late singer Zahara, for instance, was a bonafide successful South African artiste by the time she came for Blankets and Wine in 2015. Songs such as Loliwe and Phendula were already a staple with cover bands across the city.

The people that used to show up for the events made it a point to impress them by dressing for the event. Being a picnic kind, there were many opportunities to impress, from strange to outstladish, both men and women dressed to impress.

Fashion started defining the event, and soon, it was no longer about the blankets, wine, or shukas. In 2015, for instance, the edition had only a person with a blanket; you should have seen how the media rushed to take his pictures when he was setting up.

When the festival moved to Lugogo Cricket Oval in 2016, there were more changes to the programming. There were many hospitality tents, and each of them had its own experience.

Unlike the past editions, where being at the festival was prestigious enough, at the cricket oval, one needed to be in a tent to have a better experience of the festival.

The show schedule had drastically changed; the programme had been stretched to accommodate more artistes. The shows even started ending late.

The end

At the time, the organisers of Blankets and Wine announced that it was the end of the festival; it had only been a month since they hosted one of their most successful and controversial editions.

Held on December 17, the edition was headlined by Jamaican artiste Konshens. It was highly anticipated, although most of the people who attended found the experience lacking.

On X, formerly known as Twitter, people panned the edition for being a concert as opposed to a festival, making matters worse because it had rained heavily and thus people were dancing in the mud.

Then last week, ShoNaLe happened at Lugogo Hockey Grounds, headlined by Ric Hassani. The festival, whose concept is around people wearing shorts and Lesus is not very different from Blankets and Wine.

Much as ShoNaLe was not a massive success with the turn up, it was a success with delivering an experience.

The reviews from the event had many patrons drawing parallels between the two events and what Blankets and Wine needs to get back to.

Unfortunately, the message announcing Blankets and Wine’s end was released.

At the moment, it is not clear if another marketing or entertainment company will take over the brand Blankets and Wine, so it could be goodbye for now.

Stars of Blankets & Wine

Deedan Muyira: The dedicated host of Blankets and Wine is synonymous with the event. Very many Ugandans are used to Deedan hosting the party that even before a line up for the shows is released, she is one of the few people we are certain will be at the event.

Uncle Mo: Moses Kiboneka or Uncle Mo has never performed or hosted Blankets and Wine, but he is one of the people whose big break, at least the first break was because Blankets and Wine existed. He used to write reviews of the show and publish them on Facebook titled Uncle Mo’s Notes. These became a thing that many waited for on Monday.

Joram Muzira: Joram and his queens are some of the people that rechanneled the focus of the festival to fashion. He is always fashion forward that every time Joram and his queens showed up, the cameras were ready.

A Ka Dope Band: The first time AKa Dope Band performed at Blankets and Wine was in 2017. Then a few members of the band, Pelinda, Essie and Josh had been booked to perform. They would carry on performing with visiting artistes and the relationship between them and the organisers has been intact. 

Stars of Blankets & Wine

Deedan Muyira: The dedicated host of Blankets and Wine is synonymous with the event. Very many Ugandans are used to Deedan hosting the party that even before a line up for the shows is released, she is one of the few people we are certain will be at the event.

Uncle Mo: Moses Kiboneka or Uncle Mo has never performed or hosted Blankets and Wine, but he is one of the people whose big break, at least the first break was because Blankets and Wine existed. He used to write reviews of the show and publish them on Facebook titled Uncle Mo’s Notes. These became a thing that many waited for on Monday.

Joram Muzira: Joram and his queens are some of the people that rechanneled the focus of the festival to fashion. He is always fashion forward that every time Joram and his queens showed up, the cameras were ready.

A Ka Dope Band: The first time AKa Dope Band performed at Blankets and Wine was in 2017. Then a few members of the band, Pelinda, Essie and Josh had been booked to perform. They would carry on performing with visiting artistes and the relationship between them and the organisers has been intact.