UGANDA: Benezeri awes Nkozi and Mukono back to back

            In a double event organized entirely by Dash Media and The Clan, Benezeri left a lasting impression on the audiences in Nkozi and in Mukono last week, when he staged shows at The Common Room Bar (Nkozi) as well as The Hive Bar (Mukono). The events, dubbed “A tale of two cities”, took place on Wednesday 20th and Thursday 21st January 2016. The events doubled as video premieres for his current single “Ndiwabulijjo”

            The Nkozi show was scheduled to commence at 10pm but by 6pm Dash media had already set up the lights, stage and sound. By 9pm the road outside the bar was littered with people and cars, some of whom had travelled all the way from Kampala. At 9:30 p.m, the gates were opened and people started streaming in. The Nkozi resident DJ kept the crowd entertained as people interacted with their long lost friends and met new ones. At about 10:30 pm, DJ Alza, the main DJ of the night, took the stage and the mood escalated even further. At 11pm, the first performer of the night, KSL, took over and wowed the crowd with his songs. “Mbookya” in particular was a crowd favorite. MC Jokwiz then announced that next on stage was Benezeri, sending the crowd into a wild frenzy. Benezeri began with his street anthem “Abeyo” much to the delight of the fans, who were already on their feet at this point. He then did a free style of A Pass and Lilian Mbabazi’s “Memories” whilst dancing with a lady in the audience. The crowd responded by helping him sing the familiar chorus (She’s on, she brings my memories on..). He then recognized the efforts of The Clan and Dash Media before he called up a rapper from The Clan named Jibo. They performed a yet to be released song named “Wine Pon Me” and another one named “Beat murderer” , before going off stage for a brief break. Ten minutes later he returned and performed “Twabagamba”, also yet to be released, and the remix of Irene Ntale’s “Stay with me” before crowning it off with an energetic performance of “Ndiwabulijjo”. He responded to the crowd’s calls for an encore by performing it again, before the brand new video of the song was displayed on multiple screens. He thanked the fans for coming out in big numbers and then went into the crowd taking pictures with the people.

After the success in Nkozi, half the job had been done. By 9pm, people were already paying at the entrance and the parking lot was getting full to capacity. The sound and lights were already set up and interaction began, complete with selfies, snapchats and hugs. At 10pm, DJ Alza assumed his position at the DJ booth and played entertaining music for close to an hour before Benezeri’s official MC, Jokwiz, took over the microphone, introducing upcoming rapper Mike Timer who performed a song produced by Producer Ledra. He was followed almost immediately by KSL who wowed the Mukono crowd with his songs, just as he had done the previous night in Nkozi. Just before Benezeri was announced, Mukono based rapper Chief Kagyezi, fascinated the crowd with his seamless flow of lyrics that incorporated the English, Luganda and Runyankore dialects. Finally, Benezeri was announced, sparking thunderous applause and screams. He began by performing the hit single “Abeyo” before he did the Memories remix. He then interrupted the DJ to introduce Mukono based rapper, Timothy Code. Code came on and paid respect to Benezeri and told the crowds how they used to rap together in Mukono. He proceeded to perform his song “shut it down” before paving the way for the rest of Benezeri’s performance. Benezeri kicked it off by performing “Wine Pon me” and “Beat murderer” to rousing applause and loud murmurs in reaction to his lyrics. He performed “Going in Hard” an early collaboration with Ruyonga and then he called up a lady from the crowd and serenaded her with his flirtatious lyrics in his remix of Irene Ntale’s “Stay with me”. DJ Alza was about to play Benezeri’s latest hit single, Ndiwabulijjo, but the DJ was asked to pause. Benezeri immediately began an acapella of his “Togwamu Suubi” song and he was visbly shocked when the crowd joined him in reciting the lyrics word for word. Immediately after this, Ndiwabulijjo was played and he performed it until the middle when it was stopped abruptly. He opted to continue performing his verse and once again th