Everyday is a music day because music, just like art, is the way of life. Yet, for just one day – last Friday – the world comes together to celebrate music in unorthodox ways.
Fete de la Musique, also known as Make Music Day or World Music Day was first celebrated in Paris, France, in 1982. In October 1981, Maurice Fleuret became the director of Music and Dance at the French Ministry of Culture at Jack Lang’s request. He applied his reflections to the musical practice and its evolution: “the music everywhere and the concert nowhere”.
When he discovered, in a 1982 study on the cultural habits of the French, that five million people, one young person out of two, played a musical instrument, he dreamt of a way to bring people out on the streets. It first took place in 1982 in Paris as Fête de la Musique.
The festival has since become an international phenomenon, celebrated across the globe. In Uganda, this day has been celebrated for years, even if it always changes form.
Twice, the day was celebrated in the streets of Kampala, with artistes performing without any aid of microphones, a band or lights and a stage.
On Friday, Fete de la Musique was celebrated at the Kampala Sheraton Hotel, courtesy of Alliance Française.
With a lineup of acts such as Brian Alideki, Makadem, Joshua Baraka, and Azawi, it was indeed going to be a long night, and just like it has always been for other Fete de La Musique editions, the fun is entirely free.
Unlike most local shows, where the starting time is usually the arrival time, this took itself seriously, with some of the first performances starting at 5pm. These were the performances that stayed true to the culture of Fete de La Musique, very participatory in nature; from the Nilotika Troupe having the audience engaged and most of the times they performed with the audience.
The real showcases, though, started with Biya from Mbale, soulful and poetic, she has flashes of Tshila but with the touch of the Masaba sounds.
Selling Uganda
Alideki’s performance was a mix of Afro and ethno pop singing songs about Africa and the beauty of Uganda. A rising artiste, he has already had a fair share of tours in and outside Uganda, which has changed the way he puts together his setlist and engages the audience.
Alideki was discovered on a music reality show that was aimed at promoting Uganda as a tourism destination, thus, when he was performing, his song, Mujje Tulambule, which he first performed on the show, he always gets the audience screaming. Those at the Sheraton Gardens did not disappoint, with some singing it word for word.
But it was Joshua Baraka who had such a good time on stage. Like all the performers of the night, he was backed by Double Black, the band from Swangz Avenue.
Baraka is fresh off the European tour alongside former Sauti Sol frontman Biem Aime, who has grown so much as an artiste, from the way he commands the audience, performs with the band, and above all, his vocal delivery.
He may have broken out the mainstream with Nana, but he has managed to prove that he is not a one hit wonder. On Friday, Nana was the song he performed second and after getting it out of the way, he did soulful performances of songs such as Jolene, Dreams and his Amapiano vibes such as Ninda and Alone. The audience knew these songs, even when many of them were just released less than a month ago.
For this Fete de La Musique, even in the presence of the closing act Azawi, Baraka and Kenyan fusion artiste Makadem, may have carried the day. The fact that Makadem got the audience dancing and singing to songs they neither had prior knowledge of nor understood was impeccable, but it was also a fact that he stayed on stage longer than all the performers of the night without the audience getting agitated.
With Azawi’s closing performance, Ugandans had found their way of making World Music Day a public event, as opposed to the past years where most people felt that it was a closed group affair.
