Jinja artistes prove point at PAM launch
SMILES were in full supply at the PAM Awards 2005 launch at Crested Crane Hotel, Jinja on Saturday night. To say the journey to this year’s awards kicked off in high gear in Jinja would be an understatement.
By Joseph Batte
and Sebidde Kiryowa
SMILES were in full supply at the PAM Awards 2005 launch at Crested Crane Hotel, Jinja on Saturday night. To say the journey to this year’s awards kicked off in high gear in Jinja would be an understatement.
Considering that Bell, which co-sponsors the event with Celtel, first whetted revellers and artistes’ appetite with a pre-launch party the night before, it was little surprising the Saturday party was a big do.
The function was held at Jinja’s Cool Breeze Hotel and featured, among others, Diamond Production, Bebe Cool and Peter Miles carted in from Kampala, while Busoga’s own East World Foda brought the home-grown stardom air to the show.
What made all the difference between this and last year’s Jinja launch at Club Sombreros was the sheer talent and energy exhibited. As PAM Awards organising committee chairman Isaac Mulindwa observed, the quality of the work this time was astounding.
“We had a lot of poor quality and uncoordinated performances last year. It is hardly believable the level of talent I see here tonight.â€
Well, perhaps the praise should go to the region’s PAM Awards 2004 big winners East World Foda for showing their peers the way to go! The gardens behind Crested Crane Hotel were sealed off with luminous placards from the sponsors. Infront of this array stood an elevated podium, high enough to provide a good vantage point to artistes.
Outside the venue, over 40 Jinja-based artistes with all kinds of colourful names like Master P, Master M, A2Z were queued up to showcase their talent. And they all had the chance to do just that albeit with minimal success at pleasing the crowd. A few were tear-jerkingly terrible. But again, that is what PAM Awards is here for - unveiling new talents.
Those who excelled among the large crop were award-winning Nile Beat, hip-hop quartet A2Z, Brian Marley, one Ivulunga and of course, East World Foda who unveiled their new material like Tugabibye, Kanambeya, and Fasi Fasi all of which have the word ‘hits’ written all over them.
But the show gained real momentum when Sweet Kid, Mosh and Dorothy, were introduced. They treated the crowd to some of their old songs, but also unveiled news ones. However, the best was saved for the last act –– Bebe Cool.
The dread-locked star capped the evening with a knockout performance. If there’s one thing that Bebe Cool does better than most artistes we know, it is working up an audience. He set off with a popular audience icebreaker - soccer talk.
Soon after, he flawlessly rushed through his numbers with the ease of a seasoned pro. The climax of his performance was when he invited young Bruno from the audience to jam with him on stage. Big Mistake.
The youngster instead taught him a stinging lesson in dancing and had the crowd cheering at the top of their lungs. The only blot on both shows was the lack of time keeping on the side of the artistes. But it dawned on the organisers later that the brethren across the Nile are not the type to be rushed.
and Sebidde Kiryowa
SMILES were in full supply at the PAM Awards 2005 launch at Crested Crane Hotel, Jinja on Saturday night. To say the journey to this year’s awards kicked off in high gear in Jinja would be an understatement.
Considering that Bell, which co-sponsors the event with Celtel, first whetted revellers and artistes’ appetite with a pre-launch party the night before, it was little surprising the Saturday party was a big do.
The function was held at Jinja’s Cool Breeze Hotel and featured, among others, Diamond Production, Bebe Cool and Peter Miles carted in from Kampala, while Busoga’s own East World Foda brought the home-grown stardom air to the show.
What made all the difference between this and last year’s Jinja launch at Club Sombreros was the sheer talent and energy exhibited. As PAM Awards organising committee chairman Isaac Mulindwa observed, the quality of the work this time was astounding.
“We had a lot of poor quality and uncoordinated performances last year. It is hardly believable the level of talent I see here tonight.â€
Well, perhaps the praise should go to the region’s PAM Awards 2004 big winners East World Foda for showing their peers the way to go! The gardens behind Crested Crane Hotel were sealed off with luminous placards from the sponsors. Infront of this array stood an elevated podium, high enough to provide a good vantage point to artistes.
Outside the venue, over 40 Jinja-based artistes with all kinds of colourful names like Master P, Master M, A2Z were queued up to showcase their talent. And they all had the chance to do just that albeit with minimal success at pleasing the crowd. A few were tear-jerkingly terrible. But again, that is what PAM Awards is here for - unveiling new talents.
Those who excelled among the large crop were award-winning Nile Beat, hip-hop quartet A2Z, Brian Marley, one Ivulunga and of course, East World Foda who unveiled their new material like Tugabibye, Kanambeya, and Fasi Fasi all of which have the word ‘hits’ written all over them.
But the show gained real momentum when Sweet Kid, Mosh and Dorothy, were introduced. They treated the crowd to some of their old songs, but also unveiled news ones. However, the best was saved for the last act –– Bebe Cool.
The dread-locked star capped the evening with a knockout performance. If there’s one thing that Bebe Cool does better than most artistes we know, it is working up an audience. He set off with a popular audience icebreaker - soccer talk.
Soon after, he flawlessly rushed through his numbers with the ease of a seasoned pro. The climax of his performance was when he invited young Bruno from the audience to jam with him on stage. Big Mistake.
The youngster instead taught him a stinging lesson in dancing and had the crowd cheering at the top of their lungs. The only blot on both shows was the lack of time keeping on the side of the artistes. But it dawned on the organisers later that the brethren across the Nile are not the type to be rushed.