IT IS ‘BAYIMBA FESTIVAL TIME’ IN KAMPALA
(Posted 20th September 2013)
One of Uganda’s premier art festivals, the Bayimba International Festival of Arts is set to kick off its 6th edition today spanning the entire weekend. Launched in 2008 this year’s edition was promoted to be larger, more inclusive and with better programming than ever before, to claim a place on the annual calendar of events for the East African region, where Uganda has for long lagged behind the likes of the Sauti Za Busara Festival in terms of publicity and geographical reach.
Supported this year by Nile Breweries’ Club brand – NB is part of SAB Miller – the festival has managed to become yet more visible and the added publicity will no doubt generate more visitor numbers than on any of the previous festivals. The festival is internally boosted by the Bayimba Foundation and the Bayimba Academy, and more about this can be accessed via www.bayimba.org.
Meanwhile though here are the highlights of this year’s festival calendar and performers, which promises to rock Kampala and set the mood for the Kampala City Festival on the 06th of October.
Snapshot of the 6th Bayimba International Festival programme
This year’s festival, taking place from the 20th to 22nd September 2013 at the premises of the National Theatre in the city centre of Kampala, Uganda will feature over 300 artists, over 60 performances, 36 hours of productions and performances during the three days and will be accompanied by delicious cuisines, beverages, art exhibitions, film, fashion and the ever popular Silent Disco. Despite this, the entrance fee is still set at 1,000 UGX only.
Local acts that will be showcasing this year will include: The Uneven Band (Kampala), Idi Masaba (Mbale), Janzi Band (Kampala), Myko Ouma (Kampala), Coco Finger (Kampala), 12 Keys Band (Mbarara), Bila Wa Movement (Gulu), Okello Lawrence (Kampala), Herbert Kinobe (Uganda/US) and Bobi Wine (Kampala).
International acts that will grace the stage this year will include: Mani Martin (Kigali, Rwanda), Shazi Kool (Bujumbura, Burundi), Leo Mkanyia (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania) and Ante Neo Soul (Nairobi, Kenya) from East Africa. From other parts of the world, we bring you Kouyate and Neeman (Paris, France), Nehoreka (Harare, Zimbabwe), KayGizm (Johannesburg, South Africa), Maria Bragança (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) and Mr. Poa (DR Congo).
Other acts on the programme include Dan Mugula, Margaret Nakibuka, Salongo Sebuguzi, all from the Kadongo Kamu genre, while Kaya Kagimu and Aloysious Matovu Joy will treat us with their theatre productions. Yuttah Konvicts, Tabu Flo, Spirit of Uganda, Sesolya Dance Company, Kristina Johnstone are this year’s programmed dance productions while Open Mic Uganda and Lantern Meet of Poets will represent poetry. We will furthermore have some interesting art and documentary films with debates and discussions on the role and future for the arts in Uganda on our programme.
Find more about Bayimba on Facebook via www.facebook.com/bayimba follow them on Twitter via www.twitter.com/bayimba and on LinkedIn too via www.linkedin.com/company/bayimba
