From Ayra Starr, Joshua Baraka, BlaqDiamond, here’s everything you might have missed at B&W!
After a two years of hiatus from the celebration of its quarterly Pan African enriched entertainment event due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Uganda’s premium lifestyle outdoor experience “Blankets and Wine” made a major return with a reinforcement promising a dope experience as is in its DNA and its March edition on-boarded performers Nviiri the Story Teller, Bruce Melodie, Cosign, Zex Bilangilagi, among others.
Related: Ayra Starr Confirms Forthcoming Performance At Blankets And Wine In Kampala.
Hosted by the buoyantly gifted emcee Miss Deedan, Lynda Ddane, and Shakib, yesterday’s wasn’t any different as Ugandans as always showed up and showed out; in all colors, outfits, hats, shades, and their mats, drinks, selfie sticks as early as 2; for the live music performances weren’t going to watch themselves anyway.
Various food and drinks courts were set up, gaming corners, 360 camera experiences, and a Tusker Cider customized photo booths, among others. DSTV (Multichoice Uganda) was also in place to bring their fans closer to the Formula 1 experience as they broadcasted the race, and later in the night Big Brother Naija. Cocktails and food were another major highlight in the DSTV tent as well as fans getting to get an up-close interaction with their favorite film stars from shows (Tania from “The Kojja”, Oscar from “Sanyu”, and others) on Pearl Magic Prime Channel 148 on which these do air daily.
Revelers at the event’s usual venue Lugogo Cricket Oval were agog as they awaited the musical performances.
Laying the foundation for the great day ahead was the sensational A Ka Dope band who set the mood just right, and thereafter was Aliddeki Brian who brought a blend of zouk, folk, and Afro-Jazz to the stage. One other outstanding feat was Brian’s Afro-centric attire.
Just after Brian was Kamanzi who was in the company of her guitar as always and performed a couple of covers with the backing of the A Ka Dope band.
As it was approaching 5:30 PM, new gen talent Joshua Baraka took center stage with “Be Me”, “How It Feels”, and the other tracks off his EP “Baby Steps”. He in between his performance opened up about his debut release “Tomorrow” which was a personal record to him as he penned it down during the first lockdown.
Fem Deejay brought on the Mzansi Vibes with a straight hour and half of an amapiano set and a few afro-beats hits in there. The other highlight was the stage getting a mini power blackout on the stage when the “Amasanyalaze Negagenda” (loosely translated to “and then the electricity went off”) song played; minutes later.
Mainland favorite Zulitums debuted a new look; having shed his dreads and replaced them with normal trim rocked the people with his string of songs; opening with “Oluvannyuma”, into “Counting On You”, “Easy”, “Personal”, and sampled an unreleased track from his forthcoming album.
House of Djs in celebration of ten years of Blankets and Wine had an array of repetitive fireworks were sent to the skies.
Dynamic award-winning pop duo BlaqDiamond sent the crowd into a wild sparkling overdrive of excitement when they performed their smash hit “Summeryomuthi” to which the revelers sang along with them word for word. They kept the revelers’ energy at an all-time high with songs “Italy, “Ibhanoyi”, “Woza My Love”, and summed it all up with “Love Letter” and Summeryomuthi once again.
Still in charge of the music was DJ Ssese who held it down and the crowds on their feet prior the main headlining act;- Ayra Starr brought her A-Game soon as she hit the stage; decked in a stunning pink one- piece; with a spectacular performance of her Ckay team up “Beggie Beggie”, then “Away”, “Overdose (Overloading)”, “ASE” on which she invited a fan to join her on stage for it.
What would be an Ayra Starr performance without “Bloody Samaritan?” So, yeah, she put up a spirited performance of this one too, Magixx collaboration “Love Don’t Cost A Dime” and kept it litty with “Fashion Killer” as the last one for the day.
For those in attendance, the 27th Edition of Blankets and Wine was one night to remember!
