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Uganda: Easter Rains Ruin City Music Shows
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The Monitor (Kampala)
25 March 2008
Posted to the web 24 March 2008
Rafsanjan A. Tatya & Moses Serugo
Kampala
THE norm has always been for Kampala people to party after a hearty Easter meal but this year, most city folks were confined indoors under layers of warm wear as a steady downpour dampened the better of Easter Sunday afternoon right into the night.
And with the revellers opting to stay away, event organisers were left teary-eyed with the rain causing an estimated Shs600 million loss to promoters that had scheduled outdoor events in Kampala, Jinja, Mbale, Luweero, Arua and Mityana.
Ugandan singer-turned-music promoter, Halima Namakula was the most affected after the K-Ci & Jojo concert she and her son Hemdee Kiwanuka had organised flopped.
The American R&B singing brothers were scheduled to perform at Kati Kati Restaurant in Kampala but the show had to be pushed to tomorrow.
An employee of Kati Kati only identified as Shami, who saw Ms Namakula on the brink of tears, said there was not even a single reveller at the venue by 9 pm. This prompted a meeting between No End and headline sponsors Bell Lager.
Mr Kiwanuka said they had invested Shs300 million in the concert expecting at least 25,000 people but the rain spoilt it all. He says they now have to part with an extra Shs60 million for the rescheduled concert to pay for fresh adverts and announcements and printing new tickets.
No End will also have to pay K-Ci & JoJo an additional $6,000 (around Shs10.2 million) fee for the extra three days of stay.
The US singers also came with an entourage of six people who are residing at the plush Golden Leaves Apartments near Sheraton Kampala Hotel and No End will have to meet their accommodation and meal expenses for the next three days.
"K-Ci & JoJo feel they owe it to the Ugandans to stay around and perform as promised," Kiwanuka said. "They have put a tour with MTV's VH-I on hold so that they can perform here on Wednesday in appreciation of the love Ugandans have shown them."
Meanwhile, a handful of revellers at Hotel Africana braved the rain, shivering under their umbrellas to savour the sounds of the Eagles Production band.
The outfit and renowned concert organiser Balam Byaruhanga hardly recouped the Shs42 million they say they invested in the Sunday concert.
Mr Byaruhanga reveals that they only managed a paltry gate collection of Shs3 million. But theirs was better than the K-Ci & Jojo show with about 500 patrons showing up.
Famed thespians Bakayimbira Dramactors only managed 20 people at Zirobwe Playground in Luweero District where they had scheduled a musical drama production.
Engineer Kateregga, a musician left Ggaba Beach Hotel crestfallen and cursing the rain for ruining his concert. An Easter concert at Kakindu Playground in Jinja, where it has been pouring for the last three days, was also called off.
Pop music icon Jose Chameleone's concert in Luweero was also never going to happen because the main actor himself was caught up in the city rains.
But at Namboole Stadium, the Born-Again fraternity of Kampala Pentecostal Church was not about to let the rain halt their 24th anniversary celebration.
Visiting Gospel rock artiste Michael Olson's concert went ahead as scheduled although he had the sanctuary of a canopied stage to prevent him from getting drenched. KPC's youthful I4C dance troupe gave dancing in the rain a whole new meaning when its energetic dancers performed as it poured.
There has been a superstitious twist to outdoor events where it is said rainmakers are paid by event organisers to prevent the skies from opening up.
"They (the rainmakers) made every effort to stop the rain but in vain," Mr Byaruhanga, who admits to having contacted the mediums, said.
"The problem is that each of them was using a different charm and they can never rhyme so it couldn't stop raining."
Not even the Pope could invoke divine intervention to stop the rain.
Catholic faithful braved the rain at St. Peter's Basilica as Pope Benedict baptised adult converts into Catholicism on Easter.
However, event organisers could have used the foresight of the meteorology department or the CNN website which has weeklong forecasts of select cities including Kampala.
Meanwhile, at least nine people were killed and 10 others were seriously injured during the Easter period. Eight of them were killed in Kampala.
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"Five out of the eight people were suspected to have been killed and the other three died in road accidents," Kampala Extra Region Police Spokesman Simeo Nsubuga told journalists yesterday. All the dead were male.
Speaking to journalists yesterday at Central Police Station in Kampala, Mr Nsubuga said they are still investigating the murders. No arrests have been made.
Additional reporting by Zurah Nakabugo
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