Uganda's Radio and Weasel thrill revelers at Kwibohora21 concert

Uganda’smusical dynamic duo of Radio and Weasel joined Rwandans in celebrating 21 years of Liberation (Kwibohora21) with live performances in Kigali and Musanze over the weekend. The first concert, at the Kigali Serena Hotel on Saturday, coincided with July 4 the date on which the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA) captured Kigali after stopping the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. The concert took place against the backdrop of national Liberation Day celebrations in Gicumbi District, the cradle of the Liberation struggle. The theme for this year’s celebrations was “Prosperity in Dignity”. The show officially kicked off at 7:50p.m when the Malaika Band assembled on stage as the first live act for the night. The five-piece band took the audience through a repertoire of Rwandan folk and Liberation songs, and towards the end of their set, they performed a few cover versions of popular conscious reggae songs. Weasel The band performed till 9p.m before the Afro beat duo of Two4Real (DJ Pius and Aiden T Kayitare) came on stage, accompanied by two female backup vocalists. There were also brief performances from the upcoming pair of Charly and Nina, and Kid Gaju, before Bruce Melodie came on stage to prove what a talented live act he can be, with songs like Ndakwanga, Tubivemo, and Ntundize, which tickled the crowd into a sing-along session. Then Liberation icon and music diva Maria Yohana Mukankuranga emerged from the audience to wild ululations from the crowd, and in the next one hour, put the house under her spell with her widely respected and easy-to-sing-along-to liberation themed songs like Turatashye Inkotanyi, Urugamba rurashushye, and Intsinzi bana b’u Rwanda. Urban Boys in army fatigue perform on the Liberation Day. The trio of Urban Boyz was next on stage, but not before their three energetic king dancers had set the pace with vigorous dance routines. However, Urban Boyz performed to CD playback on a night when all other acts sung live. They managed to work the crowd though, and jammed the stage as they delved into their popular hits like Tayari, Niko nabaye, Kubita, and Marry me. But by now, some revelers had started to be anxious about whether Radio and Weasel would perform. The pair eventually showed up on stage at midnight and promptly took charge of it with their own live band. The band played spiritedly for about ten minutes, with Radio and Weasel delivering powerful vocals into their microphones from backstage. Mariya Yohana Mukankuranga sings about the Liberation war on Saturday . “Liberation Day is the day when all of us were set free, so let’s enjoy together,” Radio urged, before the duo took the house on a musical memory lane with early classics like Lwaki Onumya, Ngamba, Nyambura, Nyumbani, and Bread and Butter, Amaaso, Kuku, and Take my breathe. With each song performed, the singers kept reminding the audience that the show had just started. Towards the end of their one hour performance, Radio took the opportunity to thank show goers for their solidarity in supporting the GoodLyfe Crew, and African music in general, saying it was because of this support that Uganda recently won a BET award courtesy of singer Eddy Kenzo of the Sitya Loss fame. They wound up their performance on an emotional note, dusting off one of their earlier memorable hits, Ability. “When we were starting out as Radio and Weasel, many prophets of doom predicted that we would not make it, but here we are,” said Weasel. Revellers dance to Intsinzi fame by Mariya Yohana Mukankuranga. The curtains eventually fell on the stage at 1:15p.m, before the singers and their entourage drove off to the Kaizen Club in Kabeza for an after party. The following day, Sunday, the singers travelled to the Northern town of Musanze for the second Kwibohora21 Concert at Musanze stadium.

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Uganda's Radio and Weasel thrill revelers at Kwibohora21 concert