Jackie, new artists rock City Beat party

Jun 23, 2011

EACH year, there are artists who break loose from that acronym of “upcoming”. City Beat and Club Beer recognise their achievement and new found status. In that honour, there is a party where artists meet with the magazine’s readers and their fans.

By Emmanuel Ssejjengo

EACH year, there are artists who break loose from that acronym of “upcoming”. City Beat and Club Beer recognise their achievement and new found status. In that honour, there is a party where artists meet with the magazine’s readers and their fans.

This year’s edition was held at Club Pa Lui in Ntinda last Friday. And since these were artists who had joined the big club, they too had curtain raisers. J. Chris and the I.D Twins were sounding a warning: “We are coming to where you are!” Everyone wished them well after their performances.

Sheebah Karungi, fired up by the City Beat magazine (June issue) review that referred to some of her performances as “mini-kimansulos” came to put the record straight. “I want you to give me your honest opinion after I have performed. I am sure you will want to go back and erase what you had written before,” she dared before the performance. She had a very decent outing, in all meaning of the word decent. Even as she engaged the audience and stepped away from her platform, she remained sombre.

Mun*G was expected as the only rapper on the night. And so his appearance with Big Trill was a good surprise. And how the two artists from Baboon Forest Entertainment rocked! They had an entourage that included producers (like Hannz) and radio presenters (like Hot 100’s Kim). And if Mun*G, with such an assembly of personalities, wanted to prove his skill and popularity, he managed it pretty well. Midway through the performance of Ssessetula, the duo was already getting en core requests. But these were typical hip hop artists who were not going to be pushed into a tight corner by their fans. They did not re-do any song, but they kept the nightclub busy throughout.

Yet, Ash Naava, who strolled into the night club with less clout got everyone’s attention when she started singing. Although the club was dimly lit (unfortunately some of the bulbs had just blown), she lit it up with her regular call to audience participation. As City Beat was introducing her as an artist who has made it through the ranks, she introduced her new single, Nteledde Nawe by performing it for the first time. It was perhaps to prove that she is not going to be a one-hit wonder. And instead of teasing her fans with the original easy to sing-along version of Alibba Wani, she performed the re-mix with Big Trill.

Apart from a few moments, the crowd was, however, dull. Jackie Chandiru, strikingly dressed, raised some dust from the very beginning. Backed by two male well-choreographed dancers, she still stood out. By the time she was half-way her performances, she had raised a choir in the nightclub. As if to show that there is no love lost between mother (Lillian Mbabazi) and new mother (Cindy), she did bits of their singles. She also sampled some of the Blu3 songs on a night where many City Beat readers drunk Nile Gold instead of Club beer.

Vampino, Papa Cindy and Zuena were absent with apologies.


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