Former Miss Uganda and Big Brother Housemate Ellah with a friend share a moment
Every fan of South African House Music had been looking forward to watching Mi Casa. This trio is celebrated for their exotic sound equally spiced with beautiful lyrics. But, did the fans expect more from Mi Casa? Who else won their way into the hearts of revellers that graced the 13th edition of Blankets & Wines?
Mo Roots doing her thing
A taste of food and wine
Unlike most events where you are obliged to buy drinks at the venue, Blankets & Wines had people carry all sorts of drinks. Wine and soda went down well with the picnic feel of the event as people munched away on snacks, roast chicken and muchomo (skewers). But this edition’s addition of local brew served in small gourds (endeku) was epic. One could sip on this with a straw while chewing on a samosa, the size of one’s head. They were huge and surprisingly delicious.
Davis Ntare didn’t disappoint
The music
This calendar event is credited for its rare selection of musicians. They do not subscribe to just about any artiste, but those with real musical and vocal quality. Their list of Ugandan acts is never your everyday kidandali (local pop) artistes. They have leverage with soul, afro jazz and house music which genres define the contemporary trendy African. Before the main act hit the stage, the audience was awestruck by lyrical sounds from Davis Ntare. This former Tusker Project Fame winner won the hearts of many, yesterday evening. “What does Davis eat to get a voice like that?!” questioned Daisy Atukunda who has loyally attended the last five editions. “It is the first time we have seen him perform in so long and he’s quite impressive” she said.
Judith Heard takes a selfie
Then came vocally gifted and yet multi-instrumentalist Mo Roots. This girl knows how to bring the house down, though she ought to have sung a lot more. Maurice Kirya was of course expectedly good, there was nothing new from him though – no identifiable growth. Jackie Akello filled the atmosphere with her beautiful voice. Her afro jazz sounds paid tribute to real African sound and it was still worth dancing to.
The sound was good, but it needed more equalisation. As one drew further away from the stage, the sound gradually reduced. Further up in the tents, one did not get the same quality sound.
Mi Casa
These guys fashion style fits effortlessly into their style of music. They showed up in African fabric jackets. And once they hit the stage, the crowd cheered and sang along to Turn you on and Jika. They were more relatable songs for the audience. Unfortunately, they sang along to only a countable few songs. Mi Casa’s music is not as popular here as the band itself. Jika was the only song many were looking forward to.
The revellers
Blankets & Wines is a place to make a fashion statement. People turned up dressed for the occasion – shorts, hats, silk and chiffon. The multicolour schemes formed a rainbow which also showed the multi-national audience that included South Africans and European-Americans. However some of these fellows turned up dressed like fashion experiments. There were all extremes, fine dressed, poorly dressed and the meridian. Besides where were the blankets? There was more shawls, and more beer than wine. Below are more pictures from the e vent.
The crowd
Flavia Tumusiime
LEX
Sheila Gashumba
vent
