Two years ago, Bebe Cool had a dream to further his music career beyond Ugandan borders, but he needed money. SMS One came in handy with a big push of Shs200m. He used part of this to shoot the music video to his song, Love You Every Day, which soothed hearts and marked a new chapter in the artiste’s career, garnering him an MTV Africa Music Awards Video of The Year nod.
Bebe Cool serenaded his fans through a three-hour sail of musical preaching that both taught and entertained a full house at Kampala Serena Hotel’s Victoria Hall on Friday night.
Passion, energy, love and connection aptly describe the Friends of Bebe Cool concert. The artiste melodically infected fans with these traits and they reciprocated by singing along to his songs, waving arms and screaming out his name.
He did love songs and preached about it, performed spiritual songs and lifted spirits and then did dance tracks to get revellers on their feet. The tempo kept going up and down and in each of these respective rhythms, Bebe held his forte, proof of his musical strength, hard work and talent that spans close to two decades of resilience and commitment.
For a moment, he introduced his daughter, Beata, who awed the audience with her gift at the keyboard as she played legendary German composer Ludwig van Beethoven’s compositions.
“We need to encourage our children and give them confidence to showcase their talents. I love my children and will do so till I die,” an emotive Bebe told fans.
The audience compromised of distinguished individuals like Sudhir Ruparelia and Gordon Wavamunno.
As he performed, Fenon Events made sure catchy graphics ran on the screens and the production of the show was on point both for sound and lighting.
He also used the concert to promote his latest album titled Go Mama, giving VIP guests free copies.
As the clock ticked midnight, the self-styled king of reggae who loves to call himself Big Size Extra Large, mingled and mixed with the crowd. The highlight was his paka chini sessions with tycoon Wavamunno, who practically proved to the audience that age is just a number and danced to Bebe Cool’s Tokota track as the crowd cheered on. Bebe revealed that Wavah, as he is popularly known is his musical father who offered him a house, a 4X4 Mitsubishi Pajero and money to record an album when Bebe returned to Uganda from Nairobi where he had gone in the 1990s to kick-start his musical career.
“You know I worked with his father (Bidandi Ssali) in KCC. We were both councillors,” Wavah, told this reporter.
The show was sponsored by Monitor publications’ brands KFM and Sqoop alongside Pepsi, MTN, SMS One and Absolut Vodka.
rbatte@ug.nationmedia.com
