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Kigali events that blaze the trail, miss the mark, in 2016

Monday January 02 2017
events

From left: The Lucky Dube Band performing at the Kigali Up Festival; Models during the Collective Rw-Week of Fashion; a street carnival during the Pan-African Dance Festival (Fespad). PHOTOS | ANDREW I KAZIBWE | CYRIL NDEGEYA

Having wrapped up 2016, the local arts scene, just like the other sectors, also had an eventful and by far impactful year.

Return of Fespad

Having vanished off the continental scene in 2013, the Pan-African Dance Festival (Fespad), an event which started in 1998, with the aim of promoting peace and African cultural exchange through dance returned this year, but in a surprise twist it was merged and celebrated alongside the Umuganura (National harvest ceremony), another Rwandan cultural day, reinstated in 2011.

The event, which once attracted Rwandan artists like Cecile Kayirebwa, Mighty Popo, Christophe Matata among others, to regional and internationally recognised celebrities like Alpha Blondy, Brick and Lace, Kassav, Oliver Ngoma, Lucky Dube, Koffi Olomide, D’Banj, Kidum, Nameless, Jose Chameleon and others from Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Congo, Chad, RDC, South Africa and Namibia, was this year largely graced by local stage names.

Kigali Up Music Festival

The Kigali Up Music festival, a leading festival dedicated to live music returned. Its sixth edition, which took place from July 30 to 31, in Kigali was another venture, which was centred on fusion amongst Rwandan musicians, and countries guest artistes like America, Burundi, South Africa, Cameroon and DRC.

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From South Africa, the Lucky Dube band led by Thokozani Dube, the late Lucky Dube’s son and Cameroonian Karayce Fotso, where some of the guest acts.

This edition dubbed the American Affair, saw several performances led by guest American music acts like Grammy Award winner Skyler Jett, Professor and legendary musician Joey Blake, Afro-exchange, a band from Berklee College of Music from Boston, US and Soleil Laurent, unveiling rich results of live collaboration with Rwanda’s Nyundo School of Music students, and taking audiences through powerful Jazz, Afro-soul rendition songs.

Fashion Revamp

The year has also been an outburst for fashion vibrancy. Among them was the Kigali Fashion week in June in which local, regional and international designers participated.

With 12 countries featured this year, the event featured designs by 22 designers incorporating over 60 male and female models from the region through a series of workshops and trainings.

In October, Collective Rw-Week of Fashion, an initiative founded in 2015 by five of young Rwandan fashion designers had its premiere at Kigali Serena hotel. With the aim of merging skills, and showcasing them on a sole platform under the Made in Rwanda campaign. The platform showcased over 15 local to continental designers.

Salax Awards’ Return

Close to two years after halting its operations, the Salax Music Awards, a renowned event founded in 2008, returned this year.

The event had earlier on suffered some constraints which included top musicians shunning it after being nominated, potential sponsors pulling out too, which was all blamed on its management.

However, on its return this year, it again has suffered similar effects as prominent musicians like Christopher Muneza, Diana Teta and King James had to pull out too, claiming that they had tight career programmes which couldn’t enable them participate.

Further on as the event came closer to its scheduled date in December, Ikirezi Group, the event organisers announced its postponement to January 2017, claiming uncertainty of venue issues and preparations.

Miss Rwanda Pageant

Following the conclusion of the three year management contract by Rwanda Inspiration Back Up, the Rwanda Academy of Languages and Culture (RALC), a body under the Ministry of Sports and Culture further called for companies to bid for the takeover of the Miss Rwanda Beauty Pageant, a process which didn’t go down smoothly, as the announcement of the new management was postponed.

The two companies in the bid to manage Miss Rwanda Beauty Pageant include General Logistics services, a company owned by two entrepreneurs Natacha Haguma and Jenine Karangwa since 2010, and Rwanda Inspiration Back Up, the company which has been managing the pageant since 2014.