Sifa Kelele takes baby steps at Bayimba Fest

Sifa Kelele’s debut was highly anticipated at this edition of the Bayimba International Festival of the arts, being an all-female band with socially conscious music.
However, this time round, a predominantly girl band exploited their male members especially on the bass guitar and the drums.
There had been a lot of anticipation that they would bring the full diva force on the entire band because it’s their biggest X factor, but they instead only had Bridget Kitimbo on the keys, none of the organic instruments was on set too.
But this didn’t deter the music, from the beginning, it was an onslaught with Band Anthem, Obulamu bwa kisera, Here we go, Beautiful and Boggie Woggie.
“Music is a very important part of my life and that’s the reason we write some of these songs,” said Driciru before setting the Theater packing lot on fire with Niwe Weka.
Originally done on a bow lyre, Niwe weka is a song about a girl’s love for Jesus, the slow ballad is infectious with an acoustic feel from the traditional instrument, it fuses beautifully with the xylophone whose sound weaves through the music to create a wonderful smell of the rhythm – on stage however, it was done on a solo guitar.
Then there was Nalinya, the lead single from their upcoming and debut album – Nankasa and bakisimba drumbeats marrying pop music.
Good performance though needed more energy.

Surprises at this year’s Bayimba arts festival

For a long time, many city event organizers have been attacked for deliberately promoting central based talent at the expense of those in regions outside Kampala.
For instance, it’s basically unheard of to see a national celebration in Kampala where an artiste from Jinja or Lira is programmed to be one of the key acts.
Yet, it’s what the Bayimba International Festival of the Arts did while they debuted their seventh season at the National Theater on Friday.
They chose not just a little known, but a relatively new reggae and soul artiste, Sandra Namulindwa from Jinja to open the highly billed three day extravaganza.
But it wasn’t just her, the festival goers were serenaded by many first timer bands like Unit 446 and Sifa Kelele.
The two bands had two things in common; both commanded by ladies and their amazing vocal ranges.
Unit 446 had freelance vocalist and tourist Jemimah Sanyu and Oh! Sifa Kelele had Eva Sebunya and Elaine Driciru.
“What on earth is Unit 446 and who the hell is Sifa Kelele?,” was the question by a reveler about the two bands.

And there was no better way to answer such naysays than with two thrilling performances.
When they got their time on that stage; they came, they sang and we were conquered.
Sifa Kelele a predominatly girl band this time exploited their male members especially on the bass guitar and the drums.
Their had been a lot of anticipation that they would bring the full diva force on the entire band because it’s their biggest X factor, but they instead only had Bridget Kitimbo on the keys, none of the organic instruments was on set too.
But this didn’t deter the music, from the beginning, it was an onslaught with Band Anthem, Obulamu bwa kisera, Here we go, Beautiful and Boggie Woggie.
“Music is a very important part of my life and that’s the reason we write some of these songs,” said Driciru before setting the Theater packing lot on fire with Niwe Weka.
Originally done on a bow lyre, Niwe weka is a song about a girl’s love for Jesus, the slow ballad is infectious with an acoustic feel from the traditional instrument, it fuses beautifully with the xylophone whose sound weaves through the music to create a wonderful smell of the rhythm – on stage however, it was done on a solo guitar.
Then there was Nalinya, the lead single from their upcoming and debut album – Nankasa and bakisimba drumbeats marrying pop music.
Jemimah was amazing but her co-lead singer Joshua over shadowed her prowess, armed with a guitar, he made girls fall over each other with stripped versions of Twetolola, Akaweta and Jangu ewange.

But Hajji Haruna Mubiru, not the best performer of the opening night but indeed a shocker; most festival goers tend to look down at such artistes, in a stareo type of thinking; they believe they can’t handle such a stage.
Haruna however didn’t disappointed, his vocals, band and timing were right as he did Yegwe, Ticket, Mbela Nkola and Binyuma.
“Haruna has surprised us,” said one of the revelers.
Bayimba is not just the music though, other spaces like the Kyoto celebrated culture with local brew and local drums, yet Bukedde’s famed Zubairi Family shared a stage with Matia Kakumirizi, a kadongo kamu veteran.
The festival closed yesterday with more performances and showcases by over 100 artistes from different African countries.

Bayimba back for an epic seventh

Bayimba International Arts festival is definitely the biggest arts gathering in Uganda, giving platforms to all different genres of arts and capturing imaginations of even more people for an entire weekend.
Since its inception in 2008, the festival has developed into a major multi-arts festival with varied and quality programming with innovative and creative ideas. The festival is eagerly anticipated by locals while artists and visitors from all over the world pour into Kampala to take advantage of this unique art experience.
This Fiday, Bayimba is back for the seventh edition and the organisers are promising a bigger and better show, with a mixed line up of artistes like Sifa Kelele, Sarabi Band, Foursum Comedians as well as more reknown acts like Angella Kalule, Haruna Mubiru and Madox Sematimba, among others, it’s going to be great.
Talking to Tsup Ug, Faisal Kiwewa, the director of the festival notes that each year the festival looks at giving a platform to different acts that have not performed at the stage before and it will be the case even this year.
“It’s about giving people a chance to be on that stage, to use that platform,” he said.
Over the years, Bayimba Arts Festival has been highly sought as a world music leaned festival, in fact, many mainstream acts have always thought they can’t be selected to perform there since they don’t play a harp or Kora, however, Kiwewa notes that they welcome all forms of arts from music, film, visual arts and dance among others,
Since 2010, Bayimba has been preceded by a number of one-day Regional Festivals up-country that reach out to people and artists in other parts of the country. These regional festivals give local talents a chance to shine alongside other Ugandan artistes on the same stage.
A lot of talents from these regional shows are given an opportunity to showcase what they are made of at the international three day festival, which makes Bayimba the only event where artistes from all regions of the country grace the stage.
The festival like the past years will not rhyme on any particular theme, according to Kiwewa, themes limit one’s creativity, since they lock them at a certain topic.
“We want people to come with their good art regardless of what it’s about,” he said.
In the past years, the Bayimba stage has been graced by amazing acts like Suzan Kerunen, Joel Sebunjo, Jamal, Bebe Cool and Anto’ Neosoul among others, Felix Bwanika, of the Foursum comedy outfit, whose group will perform in the auditorium on Sunday, can’t get over the excitement.
“We’ve been holding shows at the theater but this is a chance to show a bigger crowd what we are made of,” he said.
Festival kicks off on Friday at the National Theater and entrance is a paltry shs2000shs.

East African Film makers finally get a home at Maisha Magic

A few days ago, Multichoice Africa unveiled a new channel, Maisha Magic, a station dedicated and tailored for East African viewers and content.


The channel that takes pride in celebrating East African art, colors and fabric through its logo wants to tell the region’s story of imagination, creativity and expression.

But before all this, Multichoice had gone under attack for the alleged neglect of the East African market; this was because of the big amounts of West African entertainment on all the Africa Magic platforms.


In 2008, DSTV had added to their channel list one Africa Magic Plus whose role was to provide entertainment from East and Southern Africa. It’s here that many other African countries got a taste of the prestigious platform with shows from Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda being broadcast.


Though, even when the platform existed, many felt they didn’t benefit much from it since it was merely a shadow of the already famous ‘Nigeria’ magic.


It must have been on such a background that Maisha Magic took shape, a brand that Africa would relate the region to.


During the launch at Sheraton Hotel, Stella Ndirangu, Maisha Magic channel head, noted that they embarked on an East African station because they felt that East Africa needed entertainment they can freely relate to.


“We have beautiful cultures and it’s time we share them,” said Ndirangu during an exclusive with Tsup UG.


In a bid to consolidate the East African feel, on September 24, Africa Magic Swahili will officially rebrand to Maisha Magic Swahili. Simultaneously, the Africa Magic Original Films initiative which produced 56 movies in East Africa recently will transform into Maisha Magic Original Films initiative under whose banner a massive 60 more films will be produced before the end of this year and hopefully have a Movies channel.


Ndirangu also says that now that East Africans have a platform, it is up to the different film makers and producers to exploit it. In her view, Maisha magic is not here to promote any industry but the priority will be given to whoever presents a good story.


“We are an entertainment TV and thus have an audience to please, we are not going to show poor films because they are from Uganda or Kenya,” she said adding that with the kind of optimism among Ugandan producers, she doubts Maisha will get to the Africa Magic/Nigeria situation.


Much as the channel is destined to provide entertainment from the region, it should be noted that one of their flagship shows at the moment is a Mexican soap, A Love to Remember, to this Ndrangu says that East Africans love Telenovelas and that can’t be taken away from them.


“Look at all the East African TVs, from Citizen to Bukedde, there’s a telenovela on each of these stations.”


Speaking at the launch, General Manager Multichoice Uganda, Charles Hamya strongly affirmed that the future of African television lies in localizing the content to that relevant to the masses; “we have to identify and develop local talent in front and behind the camera.”


The Chief Guest, Executive director Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), Godfrey Mutabazi, in the same vein congratulated DSTV for the commitment towards expanding local content on their platforms.


“As we draw closer b towards digital migration, the importance and relevance of investing in the creative and production industries can’t be overstated,” he said.


Maisha magic is currently a platform for all the six East African countries though much of the content at the moment is from Kenya and a few ones like Deceptions, Tendo Sisters and Ann Kansiime’s Comedy Club Uganda.


Film makers like Jyant Maru (The Route), Mariam Ndagire (Tendo Sisters) and Joseph Ssebaggala (Reform) among others are optimistic with this platform their work will reach a wider audience.


“At least now am assured my work will be viewed in five different countries,” said Mariam Ndagire adding that the biggest problem Ugandan film makers have is not valuing quality.

A chance to become better film makers beacons

During her keynote speech at the Uganda Film Festival, Nigerian actress Patience Ozwokor challanged stake holderts to create a film village and also sponsor as many Ugandans to study film from better film schools outside Africa.
At the point, that looked like a long shot for many Ugandans though, Tsup Ug can confirm that Ugandan film makers stand a chance to win a fully paid for film course in the USA.

Ms Chioma Ude, CEO AFRIFF

As part of its developmental agenda for the film sector, the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) is planning to take 10 students to the United States for practical training in various aspects of filmmaking.
Founder/CEO of the festival, Ms Chioma Ude, revealed that the top 10 students who show the most aptitude during the AFRIFF organized training workshops which will hold during this year’s festival will be eligible for the sponsorship.
This disclosure was made at her Victoria Island office recently, where she said that the training in America is planned as a reward scheme for these meritorious film students.
According to her, the scholarship will be to attend a short film course at a prestigious American university, and is a collaborative effort with a key AFRIFF partner.
The aspects of filmmaking to be taught at the workshops this year will be Acting; Scriptwriting; Directing and Cinematography.
This year’s edition of the festival will hold from November 9 to November 16, 2014 at the Tinapa Business and Leisure Resort, Calabar, Cross River State.
Organisers say interested candidates for this year’s workshops should register at the new AFRIFF website, www.afriff.com, as only registered candidates will be eligible for shortlisting for the workshops. Registration for participation in all aspects at the festival begins from Monday, September 14, 2014.
According to Ude, this skill acquisition and youth development initiative was conceived using filmmaking as a veritable vehicle for youth empowerment. Tagged AFRIFF Talent Development Workshops, the initiative provides beginners and intermediate courses for young people. AFRIFF also organizes master classes for more established filmmakers and professionals in the industry.
Ude noted that the planned US training is in line with the vision of providing growth opportunities for graduates of the festival’s training program.
she said: “AFRIFF has since its first edition in 2010, provided free training and talent development opportunities for young people and aspiring filmmakers. We have provided ground-breaking education in Sound for Film, Cinematography and Screen Writing for over 500 students. This we have done in partnership with Sound & Motion Technical College and City Varsity, Cape Town, South Africa. We have also worked directly with students of the National Film Institute, Jos; the Creative Arts Department of University of Port-Harcourt; PEFTI Film Institute, Lagos, as well as other aspiring young film makers.
“We believe we can use this model for a social revolution that will change the economic horizon of the African film industry, by providing technical knowledge and skill sets to the abundant talents in our film community.
“AFRIFF 2014 team is currently resourcing for this year’s talent development training workshops in association with top industry partners who will also be announced later.”
The beneficiaries will be expected to shoot a short film after their course abroad, in fulfillment of their training billed to be entered into the festival’s students’ short category for the subsequent AFRIFF in 2015.
With great student short films like Vince Musisi's Nyugunya or Gilbert Kafuuma's ,7-11, this is a great opportunity since one of these, if they apply, may become one of the best film makers.

Coke Studio: Redefining music callaborations

Coke studio Africa is back. The show whose theme centers on fusion and pairing of unlike artistes was premiered at Zone 7, Bugolobi on Saturday night.
Some of the most memorable artistic musical fusions in Africa were as a result of Coke Studio season one, especially when artistes with knowledge and experience from different genres and unrelated forms collided to spark new ideas.
With artistes like M.I and King Sunny Ade from Nigeria, Uganda’s Qwela Band, Joel Sebunjo and Lilian Mbabazi, Lady Jaydee from Tanzania and Malian legend Salif Keita among others, the show served some of the wildest and outrageous collaborations the world could ever imagine.
A groundbreaking performance of Miniyamba by Sebunjo and Miss Karun or Lillian Mbabazi and Temi Dollface on Maria Salome showed that can break barriers and create a common sound the continent can easily relate to.
In less than five episodes, the show had redefined music collaborations  that some of the artistes went on to try out different sounds very far from their comfort zones – who can ever forget that Nakato/Blue dress song mashup by Maurice Kirya and Sebunjo earlier this year.
Sebunjo himself notes that being on the show changed his life not only creatively but even being able to meet his musical role model Selif Keita plus pulling off a number of meaningful collaborations for his upcoming album.
“I’ve recorded with Didier Awadi and already working on something with Navio and Lillian,” he said.
But its not just the exposure, a lot changed among many of last year’s performers, for instance, during their performance at the premiere, Qwela band lasted on stage for more than an hour without performing a cover song. Even their sound was clean, in place and Joe kihirimbanyi was always in sync with the instrumentalists – he indeed reminded us of the good old sound of Paul Simon.
In fact, during many of their performances, artistes took chances on unofficial collaborations like that off the hook Kora/Uga-flow combination between Sebunjo, Navio and Mun*G was totally out of the box.
“We want to see many of the mainstream crowd appreciate the African sound and that can’t happen without collaborations,” Sebunjo noted.
Fusion and collaborations are some of those musical activities that have not fully registered among local artistes.
Not that they don’t collaborate, many do but simply don’t understand the essence of recording such a song.
Brandon Ssemanda, brand manager Coca Cola, collaborations drive artistes to new market that presents them with newer opportunities.
“These collaborations were well received by many African critics,” he said adding that it’s the company’s fourth musical venture after Coca Cola real stars, Popstars and Rated Next.
The show prides in exposing Tanzania’s Diamond to other African heavy weights, the result was a collaboration with Nigeria’s money bags Davido on a remix of his Number One single, this year, he’s a double nominee at the Channel O awards, BET Awards and also featured on the continental anthem Africa Rising.

Joel Ssebunjo and Mun*G perform

The second season will debut on NTV this Saturday at 8pm. The season will feature twenty two artistes, forty four collaborations, all in ten episodes.

Dilman’s Felista dominates film awards

Dilman Dila’s Felista’s fable was the biggest winner at the second annual Uganda Film Festival awards gala with four awards in the Best screenplay, Feature Film, Best actor (Isaac Kadzu) and the overall Film of the year.
The event that took place at Serena gardens on Friday got the cream of Ugandan and African actors in one place was intended to recognize and celebrate film in the country.
But before all this, the week had started on a high with rigorous activities that included workshops, film forums and screenings at the National Theatre, Cinemax 5D at Makerere, Acacia’s Century Cinema and Magic Cinema in Naalya.
The forums and workshops included film making courses, lighting and sound management master classes. On the other hand, forums lectured film makers on marketing and distribution, how to benefit in festivals as well as increasing quality and quantity through collaborating among each other.
In one of the forums, both South African actress and Irene Kulabako concurred that before Ugandan film makers even dream of collaborating with international directors, they should embark on working with each other and the others will follow automatically.
However, even when the festival was billed to have cost Uganda Communication Commission (UCC) a whooping 4billion, the actors, directors and film producers were not impressed. Prince Joel Nakibinge, director Behind the walls and Robert Nkambo, Spying on Suzana both agreed that since the inception of the concept last year, nothing has changed.
“Film makers still struggle to get their products on the market and TV content is not regulated,” Nakibinge says, in fact many others were in line with him, for them, the festival is just a one off thing per year; “when it’s done, they forget all about film,” says Hussein Omar director of The Counselor.
Also during the week long show cases, some film makers were worried of a fact that films were showing in only exotic cinemas which can’t be accessed by their core audience.
In her keynote address, Patience Ozokwor, the Nigerian actress, came to the defense of UCC saying that the mere fact that the Ugandan government can start a festival is already a good start for the industry since many other countries have not had that chance.
She also pleaded with UCC to recognize an area that can be set up as a film village plus send kids to school to study better technics so as to better movies with time.
Femi Odugbemi, the head of the judge panel, an award winning film maker and also a head judge of the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA) 2013 and 2014, appreciated all the people that submitted films calling it a brave move.
He though notes that the sound quality of many of the movies submitted was below per though the pictures and cinematography was highly commendable all through.
“The movies selected are generally strong and we recommend they screen at international festivals,” he said.
The list of winners presented some of the biggest surprises like Gilbert Kafuuma’s The 7-11 beating Vince Musisi’s Nyugunya in the Best Student Film or Alex Musisi’s The Vow emerging as the Best Animation over Arms of Clay.
It was also a surprise that The Reform and Spying on Suzana lost all the awards to fellow nominees. Kadzu dedicated his Best male actor gong to single mothers since he was brought up by one.
Other winners included twelve year old Rachel Nduhukire whose character in I found my way earned her the Special mention award. Ebonies JW Ssembajwe won the Lifetime achievement award amidst protest and Tanzanian Film Zamora picking the best sound and Cinematography.
This year, there were no make up or costume categories, then for some reasons, the best supporting actor and actress categories are still missing which in the end pits leads and their assists in a single competition.
The awards this year were more competitive and as only Patience could put it; “Uganda has content and stories that can’t be exhausted.”

Patience Ozwokor delivers her keynote speech