Afrigo Band marks 40 years in the music industry

By Edward Nimusiima

The clock struck 9:00pm when the legendary Afrigo Band walked up the stage in the Nile Hall, Hotel Africana on Saturday evening for their highly-anticipated show.

They were marking 40 years in the music industry. They have had quite an illustrious journey. And there, as they stood before hundreds of their diehard fans, people, mainly the old, buckled up for a trip down the memory lane.

They started off the show with their popular ‘Afrigo Batuuse’ song. It evoked a couple of memories.

The show went on swiftly. People continued pouring in slowly, occupying the empty seats around the highly-priced tables.To have a piece of that experience, a person needed to fork out shs 250,000, and a table went for shs 5M. They got nerves, Afrigo Band. They knew their crowd; the well-heeled folks with old money, not the millennials struggling with their data on their smartphones.

Andrew Patrick Luwandaga, who seemed to know everyone in the audience by name and face, was the night’s emcee. And one by one, Afrigo Band members took turns singing their songs.

From Moses Matovu, the band leader to Joanita Kawalya in her shimmering attire. Like wine, Joanita, as her clock ticks to old age, she heaves with energy. The likes of Eddie Ganja, Herman Sewanyana, Rachael Magoola, Eddie Yawe and more, all of them, climbed up the stage and put up a show that got the revelers hitting the floor and dancing to every song they performed.

The songs, perhaps, evoked the past memories. And, in fact, most people had fond memories of Afrigo Band because as the band took a break later in the night, Patrick Luwandaga moved around the microphone and people joyously spoke out their memories with the band. “My aunt caned me because of Afrigo outings,” one confessed. And deafening laughter would fill the audience.

The graceful Joanita Kawalya sauntered back on the stage and reminded us that Jim is not only a good song, but it’s ageless, too. You could hear people weigh in, singing word-by-word. At this time, food was fleetingly ignored, the drinks stood lonely on the tables as people hit the dance floor again; dancing, wiggling their ageing waists.

Endongo Ewoma, as Afrigo Band sang, it was evident on the evening, too. Their music, for the lack of a better word, is sweet in the ears. They performed songs like Mundeke, Silikusula, Nantongo, Amazzi g’enyama, Emere Esiridde which was formerly written by the late Tony Sengo, but sung by Moses Matovu and a repertoire of theirs songs. The show closed at about midnight.