By Paul Owere

It had been a long time since I was last on the wild side of the party scene, and it had started taking a toll on my party instincts. Even some of my friends had started shunning me, with some saying I was past the shelf date. Well, I guess they were wrong in passing that kind of judgment.

My reply to them couldn’t be another war of words, but action, and I mean it. Whatever happens, so be it, and as I have always said, I don’t issue threats, I just do it.  

And what a perfect timing. The 'Fiesta Jipanguse’ fever had spread across the city like some wild bush fire in the Savannah. Some fans even exaggerated the real meaning of the theme of the gig.   'Comp tickets' Bongo men and women are never short of lies. So, some went on to even say that the organisers would give each reveller four beers each. Wherever these lies were stemming from only heaven could tell.

But I was less concerned, and just had to concentrate on networking for the ‘Comp’ tickets.  There is some thrill and frustration that comes with hunting for party tickets in the dying hours  and by Friday, thanks to ‘Big Joe’ that wasn’t part of my problems!  In fact, I was even assured by Madam Teddy, the woman from the breweries, that she would provide drinks for me and my buddies.

Need I ask for more? All I had to do was carry my structure to the joint, and get into the groove. Let the party begin!   I hit the venue at around 6 p.m. Though we had been forewarned of the dangers of using personal transport means, many didn’t take heed as the parking lot got crowded.

The result was that we had to make do with parking from some safe distance, then do the rest on foot.   But even with the parking hitch, one cannot compare the situation to what we had to go through last year at the Posta Club. This was much better, as traffic on Ali Hassan Mwinyi road continued to flow without much problem on both sides.  At the entry, there were several gates that had been demarcated for entry and the crowd flowed in without any problem.  If there is something that I don’t understand, then it is Dar residents' desire to do things at the 11th hour.

Despite tickets having been on sale at several points almost a week before the show many waited to buy at the gate.  To avoid commotion at the entry point, the ticketing office was put at some distance, and a 50 per cent increase was imposed on late purchase - may be this served them better.  The venue There are many things that Clouds Entertainment got right on that night, but four deserve special mention: the venue, the state-of the-art stage, lighting and the sound. After seasons of absence, the concert returned to its home at the Leaders Club.

This was a plus to the organisers as the 30,000 or more fans fitted in there without any problem. The multi-million shilling stage was there to provide a panoramic view for even the vertically challenged patrons. There was free flowing booze, which was part of the sponsorship deal from the brewers - Serengeti Bottlers.

They had promised to give starters to all the early birds, a promise they indeed delivered, and by the time the happy hour was done, over 10,000 bottles had been distributed. The starters set the rhythm and the booze flowed like river Nile into the Mediterranean as brewers also kept the promise of selling the beers at recommended prices. The lighting both on the stage and in the audience was simply wonderful. 

Dress sense If at all the stage was glamorous, there was even much more on the sidewalks as the youthful crowd that packed the venue had a fine taste for fashion.  The dress sense here for the Gs and ‘sister doos’ was as western as possible. There was no room for things like the batik and kitenge from Kariakoo. Instead all we saw was paisley getups, tank tops and some hot pants for the young women, the kind of stuff that would make even the most devoted monk think otherwise. 

As for the young men, they went for the jeans (that looked like they would fall at any moment), and baggy T-shirts. Bling bling was in abundance to add the flare and swagger.  The performances After musicians like  Kate Deluna, Fat Joe,  Jah Rule, Eve and Buster Rhymes rocked Fiesta goers in recent years, it was multi platinum selling African-American rapper Kimberly Denise Jones a.k.a Lil Kim, who turned the fire on.

The kinky rapper was ushered on stage after 2 p.m with fireworks that lit the dark Dar skies forming lovely patterns, much to the excitement of the youthful audience. She went on stage in a show stopper gold black and white outfit that covered just enough with a pink scurf shouting ‘Jipanguseeeee’, driving fans into frenzy.

The 35-year-old Queen Bee did songs that she recorded from way back when she was with the Junior Mafia from her albums 'Conspiracy', ‘Hard Core’ with hits like ‘No Time’ and ‘Crush on You’, ‘The Notorious KIM’, ‘La Bella Mafia’ and ‘The Naked Truth’.  
With fans dancing to her tunes as she constantly called out the ‘Tanzania Jipanguse,’ slogan, came the highlight of her performance when she called on stage Juma Nature from the TMK whom she called a friend.  Word from the grapevine has it that they are set to do a collabo in the near future, or could this be just another gossip in town. Apart from her, there was more on the menu. Earlier on, the Nigerian sensational duo, Bracket, were also in the house to give the audience some ‘Yori Yori’ and 'No Time'.  

The Naija boys had earlier on been preceded by another performance from Ivorian DJ Ramatoulaye of raunchy Aladji hit and by the time they were done our waists and feet were aching.
Of the local performances that featured over 35 artistes from Dar and beyond, were new acts such as  Baghdad, Shetta, Linex, Nash MC, Sajna, Angie and Sir Jay, who were out to prove they were there to rock, and certainly, a force to reckon with in the near future.

They were followed by more established names that are currently rocking the industry like Diamond, Belle 9, Shaa, Mwasiti, Lina, Barnaba, Amini and the THT dancers. Others who performed on the night were another raunchy duo, the Offside Trick, FidQ, Joh Makini, the TMK group, which included Chegge and Temba.

Though there were complaints of some people being harassed by rogues after the show, there is one thing that we can’t take away from the show - the security personnel supervised security to its last detail. Nothing was left to chance as only those with accreditation could access certain parts of the arena. On that note I think the only word that can describe my Fiesta party is - amazing. I can’t wait for next year’s season. Ends      

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