Soweto Quartet to paint Kampala red

By Harry SagaraIt’s confirmed! The Soweto String Quartet (SSQ) are ready to paint Kampala red with a medley of their quality sounds. In an e-mail to this writer, Sue Farmer, a Uganda Society for Disabled Children (USDC) member of board and also organiser of the SSQ visit here, says April 4 and 5, have been set as the dates when Kampalans will ear-taste the alluring sounds of this South African foursome sired in the then apartheid whacked South Western Towship in Johann-esburg.“This time there will be a concert at the Nile Hotel International Conference Centre on 4th April and a dinner dance at the Rwenzori Ballroom at Sheraton Kampala Hotel on 5th April,” Farmer says. The four, Sandile, Thami and Reuben Khemese accompanied by their childhood buddy, Makhosini Mnguni, were in Kampala in February last year and their show at the Sheraton Rwenzori Ballroom was a hit. They basically (or is it musically) hauled us off our seats onto the floor and boy! It was just marvellous.Entrance to the ballroom was sh30,000 per head and sources say some people were willing to pay up to sh100,000 just to be there. The SSQ’s advent is here to once again put a smile on the faces of disabled children, courtesy of USDC. Last year they raised sh18m for the disadvantaged kids.The latest talk gathered from South Africa’s Rock Digest is that the group is currently in the studio, readying a new album for release very soon. The group became a full-time professional outfit in 1992, the time when South Africa was in the throes of dramatic change. On how the changes affected the band, Sandile said “The elections in 1994 turned everything around for us. Our first important gig was actually at the then President Mandela’s inauguration. ...It was also the turning point for our career. Mandela even started recommending us for all sorts of other jobs.”ends