Bayimba Festival turns 9 in style

The weekend was something of a spectacle at the National theatre as the annual Bayimba festival returned for the 9th year in a row.

The three-day event kicked off on Friday with sets by Ugandan DJs dubbed Collective Femme Electronic, a female duo experimenting with the fusion of East Africa folklore and electronic sounds.

The Bayimba Festival is an event organized annually at the National Theatre that serves as a platform for artists from different parts of the world to collaborate and show off their best works across music, dance, theatre, film and fashion.

A major highlight of the festival was the revival of Kadongo Kamu, Uganda's oldest mainstream music genre which had died out due to emergence of popular genres such as Hip Hop, RnB and Afro pop. One may argue that this success can be attributed to the cash injection by new sponsor, Bell Lager.

The line-up included artists from both the local and international scene. On the local scene, Mathias Walukaga, Ronald Mayinja, Willy Mukabya and Chris Evans who ensured that Uganda's oldest music genre, Kadogo Kamu took center stage at the festival as compared to past years.

Mo Roots, who is currently Uganda's best female Afro-soul saxophonist hit the stage with some of her best work such as Kings and Queens, Omuka, Don't Try to change me and Muluyimba were some of the songs that crowds could not get enough of. Iryn Namubiru pulled crowds as soon as she arrived on stage with a powerful performance of some of her songs like Birowoozo, Ndi kaliba and Kyadaaki.

Others that left crowds chanting for more were Exodus, one of Uganda's best gospel artists, Akua Naru (USA), Dr. Bone (South Africa), Winyo (Nairobi), Gravitti Band (Nairobi) and Tribute Birdie Mboweni.  

In addition to the celebrations, Bell Lager brought along the ongoing Tubbaale promotion, giving chance to many, to walk away with lots of goodies such as free beer, head phones, power banks, T-shirts, and airtime.

Oh the fun that was in that place!