When Fiesta crossed from DAr to kigali

Dar es Salaam. It is 16 years since the Fiesta was first rolled out and one of the dreams of its founders was to take the party trail beyond the borders of Tanzania.

With the local edition of the famous festival yet to take place PrimeTime Promotions the organisers of the extravaganza chose what many thought was the most unlikely destination.

They chose Rwanda as their latest frontier and according to them it was no brainer given the recent positive stories that have come from East Africa’s smallest nation.

Ruge Mutahaba defends his choice by saying when they compared the cards with the other countries in the East African Community, Rwanda ticked all the boxes.

“Our choice for Rwanda was out of the most obvious issues such as security and the organizational levels,” he says.

It was a choice that didn’t let them down as revellers turned up in large numbers to witness some of Tanzania’s biggest stars plus Jamaican outfit Morgan Heritage.

“It was an audience that was highly charged as they sang along from the beginning to the end,” says Ruge.

His view was supported by local news papers including the New Times that reported that the show belonged among the biggest shows that have ever happened in Rwanda.

“Not even the out-of-town location at Golden Tulip Hotel in Nyamata could deter attendance as the hotel staged arguably their biggest music gig to date,” reported New Times.

With a good line up of artists and good timing, nothing could probably have gone wrong in the end, it was the best of Rwanda, Tanzania and Jamaica on stage.

Jamaican reggae band Morgan Heritage came with not just their conscious reggae lyrics, but also some good words for their Rwandan fans.

The band and Tanzanian Bongo Flava star Diamond Platnumz were the night’s main acts and in the end, it was the person with the biggest fan base that crowned the night.

One thing that was clear is that most revellers had braved the chill to see Diamond who had brought to them what they love most.

Morgan Heritage may be a bigger musical name internationally, but they were no match for Chibu Dangote, the nickname that fans kept chanting in reference to Platnumz. There were others who had made the party too from Tanzania such as Chege, who performed a number of songs to his name. Though on playback, the former TMK Wanaume was a hit amongst the audience.

Tanzanian songstress Vanessa Mdee gave fans both music and the other thing for which she is well known for – her revealing stage costumes.

Vee Money was accused of lip-synching her songs during her performance but fans did not complain and seemed to talk more about how she and her queen dancers were dressed than how or what she sung. The Niroge singer put in energetic dance moves which mesmerised the crowd.

Morgan Heritage then stepped on stage shortly after midnight, and immediately launched into Tell Me How Come.

The band delivered the typical Jamaican set, mixing their songs with a few other reggae classics from other Jamaican musicians. In the middle of their performance one of the band members, Peter Morgan took time off for what he called “real talk” with his Rwandan fans:

“Rwanda has set an example and you’ve set the bar so high for the rest of the world,” he stated emphatically, sending the crowd into prolonged cheers.

Diamond did not waste time as he stepped on the stage, wading into over a dozen of his popular hits, delivering almost two hours of music, accompanied by ecstatic dance moves. He performed almost every song he has released.

From the earlier ones like Mbagala, Mawazo and Nataka Kulewa to the latest ones including Utanipenda, Marry You and Kidogo.

In another development, Ruge rubbished the rumours that the Tanzanian edition of the extravaganza wouldn’t take place.

“I really don’t know where these rumours are coming from but we are all set for the Tanzanian edition which is set to kick off in August, ”he says.

He however couldn’t mention where the festival would launch the local edition.