East African Reggae carnival coming soon

By Sebidde KiryowaGalaxy Records, promoters of reggae singer Prince Max in conjunction with Umoja Entertainment of Dar-es-salaam are organising the first ever, indigenous East African reggae carnival.Humprey Egesa, Galaxy records director told Vision Weekend that the carnival will be threefold with a concert at a time in each of the East African capital cities. All the three concerts will feature only locally bred East African reggae artists from all the three East African countries. Nairobi-based Shashamane, a group of music promoters have twice in a row organised East African reggae carnivals, but the concerts were confined to Nairobi and the only indigenous artists featured were Kenyans. Foreign artists like Gregory Isaacs (Jamaica) and Lucky Dube (South Africa) were the big attractions. “I have just returned from Dar-es-salaam where between Galaxy Records and Umoja, we conceived the idea. Although we have not yet identified potential promoters in Nairobi, we are already in negotiations with some reggae artists in Nairobi,” Egesa said.He said the Ugandan concert is most likely to take place at the end of May 2002, while the Dar-es-salaam one is slated for June and the Nairobi concert in July. Artistes who have so far confirmed their participation in Uganda are Prince Max and Blood Brothers. In Kenya, Mighty King Kong “Ladies Man” and Jah’ key Marley have confirmed, while Thiko Manyika and Jackal Man from Tanzania.Egesa said the move was geared to promoting East African reggae music. “We have brought a lot of foreign reggae artistes here. We believe they have been a big positive influence on our local reggae talent. By organising this carnival, we are looking to promote our own home-grown reggae talent,” Egesa said. While in Dar-es-salaam, Egesa signed a deal with Umoja Entertainment to distribute Prince Max in Tanzania. Prince Max’s latest album Africa 2000, which he released in Uganda last year and launched recently, will be released today, March 1, 2002 in Dar-es-Salaam. Umoja executives who were impressed with Max’s contribution to Ugandan reggae awarded him with a certificate to that effect.In turn, Galaxy will distribute Jhiko Manyika’s latest album, Safari, in Uganda. Manyika is Tanzania’s biggest reggae artist and Umoja best selling act.ends