It was a night of celebration as female musician Ariel Wayz reunited with former colleagues at Symphony Band on stage in an entertaining second edition of Fantasy Music concert held Saturday, November 5, at Institut Francais. Losing Ariel Wayz came as a huge blow for Symphony Band as they had plans to achieve big things with her going forward. The members, Etienne, Joachim (The Major), Frank and Fabrice, are still trying to regroup and bring the band back to the top but the experience they shared with Ariel on stage during Saturday’s concert reminded them that the singer remains a missing element in their pursuit of greater things. She really made the band complete again and the audience was excited to see her back to where she belonged until she left the band in 2020 to embark on her solo career. The band’s vibe, live music, the atmosphere...everything looked different with Ariel Wayz during the concert. Symphony Band organises Fantasy Music Concert every year to celebrate the band’s music, but this year’s edition was themed ‘Back to the Roots” because the band chose to bring Ariel Wayz back to stage to relive the best moments that they shared in music since the band took shape in 2017 when the members were still students at Nyundo School of Music. Symphony started the show with their routine instrumentals before they were joined by DJ Ira to deliver the best mix to the audience. They later performed live some of their songs like “Ide”, “My Day” and “Vanilla” among others after which they invited Ariel Wayz to join them on stage for arguably the biggest occasion of the night that revelers were anticipating. The singer performed with the band ‘Igitabo’, a song that she recorded with them when she was still a member. Ariel Wayz was then given the floor to perform her own songs for the rest of her time on stage and the band backed her just like it does for other headliners. Arguably one of the best female singers that Rwanda has in its disposal, Wayz delivered a performance that left the audience blown away while the backup band added a vibe that made her feel more passionate and dedicated while performing some of her top songs like “Lavida Loca”, “Away” which features her ex Juno Kizigenza, “Good Luck” and her brand-new song “You Should Know” among others. To conclude the show in style, the audience gave a standing ovation to the band-singer gesture of reunion, especially when they performed ‘Respect’ together, as confirmation that there is no more beef between them.
