Jazz-Real music with live instruments

By Joseph Batte
IN the entertainment industry, the mantra is: the more money you make, the better. The larger the crowd, and how you look, the better the show.

Right? Wrong. Pamoja Jazzlife is a crazy, strange bunch of promoters who have come out and said bulls**t to that misconception. They seem to have just cracked the dilemma of how to distinguish themselves from the rest of the noisy, boisterous bunch of promoters who worship money.

To them, a really good gig is not about money or swagger and large crowds. It’s about quality music not here-today-gone tomorrow celebrity artistes who you love so much.

The artistes who go on stage, bounce around like a tennis ball as they shout a few words in the mic on top of their lungs (usually to a backup CD), and at the end of it all leave a bitter feeling in your mouth that you have been robbed! All along you were watching a karaoke show.

These Pamoja Jazzified fellas are in for real artistes who make real music with live instruments, not studio-manufactured artistes whose music is more the work of Pentium chips!

And they discovered that not only is there appetite for real music and good ambiance, but there fans who can a ord to pay an equivalent of an arm and a leg.

In March, this year, they sneaked Eric Wainaina right under the press radar for a performance at Jazzville, a swanky watering joint located in Bugolobi.

Half of the fans who forked out a cool sh100,000 and packed the place to its brim did not even know who Wainaina was!

Last Sunday, Pamoja Jazzified people were at it again. Again, there were no posters on the streets announcing the little known jazz saxophonist called Caeser Kajura, Lilian Mbabazi and the Sundowners and Burundi’s best music export Kidum.

Keen on creating an all-encompassing, immersive experience, they picked another hidden spot simply called the Bay, located just next to Speke Resort Munyonyo.

Much of the wow factor that you would expect from a premium priced gig (sh80, 000 for the show) was present.

The Bay is one of Kampala’s hidden treasures that o er a perfect escape from the hustle and bustle of the city.

It’s quiet, homely and o ers a million dollar view of Lake Victoria. Come the performances. All the three acts left themselves smeared across the stage in their attempts to connect with an audience. Blood. Sweat. Effort.

Caeser(who is autistic by the way) pulled us in with his cool jazz playing. He is a phenomenally gifted alto saxophone player, with a warm, lyrical tone to his playing.

He raced through a set of tunes that included material from his album and other material. Soul-influenced Lilian and her Sundowners band are on their way up. As expected, the best was saved for the last.

When Kidum and his tight sevenpiece Boda Boda band stepped on the stage they literally swept everybody off their feet.

The energy that exploded from the famous Burundian singer and his band was so infectious the fans were scrambling for a little space to show o their dance moves.

At the end of the show, the revelers got into the four wheel drives, half drunk, wearing happy smiles and were asking for more of the same.

Like me, they had witnessed a new chapter in the Ugandan entertainment scene.