Artists take Kampala by storm

Uganda is not a very famous African nation. I don’t mean to say this in a bad way but if you ask people which African countries they know, South Africa and Nigeria would come first. Until the movie Last King of Scotland was shot here, Uganda was only synonymous with Idi Amin Dada. Other people will ask if it is one of the states in Nigeria! Ignorance!
This beautiful country which as we like to say here in Kampala-the capital city by the way-is ‘gifted by nature’. But in the recent past, it is more than just nature gifting us.
Am sure you don’t quite understand yet what am talking about.
Well to hell with the preamble and let me get right to the issues.
Imagine this, in a space of five months, we have had huge international artists including Kirk Franklin (I started with a personal favourite), Akon, UB40 (who apparently held their last concert as a group here in Kampala, Uganda. Am not sure whether it was a marketing ploy); KC and Jojo (whose show flopped because the heavens let loose and it rained. But didn’t we say we are gifted by nature?).
But now to this list, in come Wyclef Jean and Shaggy in August and all in a space of two weeks!
What changed in the pearl of Africa.

Well, I gave it a few thoughts. First Ugandans love having fun- pretty obvious, yah? Who doesn’t? Well now they are parting with large sums of money. Paying more than 15 to100 dollars for a single show! Is that a sign of improved standard of living. Am not quite sure about that especially in country where the minimum wage is yet to be set!
Do artists just love coming down here? Well, we are gifted by nature, warm sunshine, which everyone falls in love with as soon as they set foot here. Some even never want to go back. Ask former German Ambassador Klaus Holderbaum.
But this can’t keep these millionaire artists here? I talked to a few friends;
“I think companies just learnt to get hold of the artists that people want. Now that Ugandans are willing to part with any amount of money in the name of having fun, artists will continue streaming to Kampala,” Patrick told me.

As a society reporter with one of the leading publications in the country, I talked to visiting Kenyan artists Red San and Nameless about what kept bringing them back.
For Nameless, the answer was simple “the Ugandan crowd knows how to have fun and just wows you along,” he told me.
But that was 2005. This is 2008. Did the crowd even become more electric?
Innocent a close friend and advertising officer with a big publishing company thinks so and in his words, “it is just the beginning”. If that is so, then I will let you know who comes after wyclef Jean and shaggy. Watch this space