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Kigali hosts its first ‘silent disco’ at car-free zone

Thursday October 08 2015
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Two disc jockeys are on set and through two channels, they played totally different genres of music ranging from rock, lingala, hip-hop and reggae to Rwandan Afro-beat and Nigerian Afro-pop in the event dubbed Silent Disco Pop-Up along the newly gazetted car-free-zone KN 4 Street in Kigali. PHOTO | CYRIL NDEGEYA

A silent street party is what best describes the recent premier of Kigali’s the first silent disco, a new phenomenon abides by the city’s recent anti-noise pollution laws.

It is Friday evening, and a group of about 40 youths from all walks of life crowd the newly gazetted KN 4 Street, opposite Camellia Tea House in downtown Kigali. The area now called the car-free-zone was the first to be closed to traffic in a new drive to decongest the city.

READ: Kigali’s car-free zone comes to life with KN4

The evening is abuzz with conversations rather than the usual vehicular traffic as the first silent disco event in the country is unveiled.

The event, dubbed Silent Disco Pop-Up, was advertised for a day only — the day before — through social media sites but has still managed to attract a sizeable crowd of revellers.

For a price of Rwf5000 ($7), silent discos goers hire a pair of WiFi headphones at the entrance, wear them and dance away.

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Two disc jockeys are on set and through two channels, they play totally different genres of music ranging from rock, lingala, hip-hop and reggae to Rwandan Afro-beat and Nigerian Afro-pop. The party goers raise their drinks as they dance and sing along.

The idea of a silent disco came up shortly after the “Sweden at Rwanda Conference on the Creative Industry,” held recently in Kigali, “Through this conference, which focused on creativity, pollution and sustainability, various views were raised about utilising the car-free-zone, which we further embraced,” says Eric Kirenga, one of the organisers of the event.

For a number of revellers, this is not their first time at a silent disco, but the event is the first of its kind in Rwanda.

Much as the silent disco offers a solution to the creative industry to utilise the open space created by the ban on cars in some city streets, Rwanda, unlike neighbouring Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, could also evolve into a centre of silent disco events in the region since the anti-noise pollution laws in the country are so strictly enforced.

In Uganda, the annual Bayimba International Festival of the Arts — held on September 18-20 — concluded with a silent disco event. In Kenya, the concept of a silent disco is not a new one, but is still rare.

Noise pollution and laws regulating it are not as strict in Uganda and Kenya and the two countries host more outdoor events with open sound, and it is normal for public transport vehicles to play very loud music, and bars-cum-disco are also relatively uncontrolled when it comes to levels of noise allowed, unlike in Rwanda.

“Playing music in all places in Kenya and Tanzania is a business by itself, which most places purchase licences for,” say Eliud Kagema, a long time broadcast media practitioner say who has worked in Kenya and Tanzania. Mr Kagema believes that it will be harder for the silent disco culture to pick up in these countries.

The organisers of the silent disco in Kigali are hopeful. “We want to do this once a month,” says Mr Kirenga, observing that the first event has been a success. “This was an experimental event to see whether we can do something like this in an organised way,” he added.

The silent disco event comes at a time when Kigali party lovers have been suffering from the effects of the crackdown on noise in public places and the organisers are banking on the experience of freedom to have fun within legal limits to usher in a new era of entertainment.

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