Legendary Ivorian music icon Monique Seka gave Kigali a taste of her music despite the low turn up during Friday’s Kigali Jaz Junction at Camp Kigali. Seka’s music has been dominating the African charts for over the past four decades and her live performance in Kigali relived the memories of what her music has been all about over the years. Organisers were however, forced to delay the show for more than an hour past the scheduled show time as they were waiting for concert goers to fill the empty seats but in vain as the VIP section looked almost empty. Some people link the low turn ups at different venues hosting entertainments events to the recent passing of late video Jockey Yanga and musician Yvan Buravan whose audience are still mourning them in a way or another. But the little audience that attended the concert were able to enjoy every piece of performance every musician on the lineup delivered. At 9.30pm, show host Lion Imanzi finally introduced Shauku Band to warm the stage as the curtain raisers of the concert before Mike Kayihura stepped up 30 minutes later. The singer had enough time to entertain his audience as his one-hour performance allowed him to sing each of his popular songs including ‘Jaribu’, ‘Zuba’, ‘Tuza’ and ‘Anytime’ among others. He paved way for Monique Seka whose pure zouk live performance left everyone blown away prompting them to move from their seats. Flanked by her eight-member band, the 56 year-old Ivorian music icon proved that age is just a number as she mesmerized revelers with the music of the 1990s and 2000s for about an hour on stage. Seeing her performing ‘Bayé’, ‘Okaman’ and ‘Chilen koé’ was an absolute enjoyment but her song ‘Missounwa’, for instance, got everyone obsessed with the whole vibe she brought inside the venue as revelers joined her to sing and dance along the song till the last second. ‘Missounwa means the tears of a woman’, Seka explained. That explanation got women at the show so emotional that they couldn’t get enough of the feeling it brought to their souls With the 50-minute performance, Seka gave every show goer a reason to taste the true vibe of her music. Few who attended the show had a memorable night of zouk but organisers will need to bounce back quickly if they are to again see their monthly music concept become a go-to plot for party goers.
