South African jazz veteran Hugh Masekela will perform alongside homeboy Isaiah Katumwa at the Kampala Serena Hotel on Friday 8th May. The concert is bankrolled by Airtel and all the adverts have been painted red with Airtel’s corporate colours.
Entrance to the show will be Shs150,000.
Katumwa needs no introduction as he is the godfather of modern jazz in Uganda, but if he is the godfather of jazz in Uganda, then Masekela is the grandfather of jazz in Africa. While Katumwa has mastered his saxophone, the 76-year-old Masekela has literally blown his trumpet since 1956. That is 60 years of making music – we wonder if there is any air left in his lungs!
Masekela is a Grammy Awards nominee and he has been awarded two honorary doctorates of music by the Rhodes University in South Africa, and the York University.
While Masekela and Katumwa will be blowing their instruments for their well-dressed guests who will probably be sipping on wine at Serena, down at Hotel Africana, it will be a frenzied situation with thousands of people sipping on Club Beer (the sponsors) as Radio and Weasel sing for them in a concert dubbed The Best Of Radio and Weasel.
Entrance to Radio and Weasel’s show will be Shs20,000 for ordinary and Shs50,000 for V.I.P seats. There is definitely no contest among these shows as the target audiences are different. The only issue is that the will be taking place on the same day, at the same time and two shows taking place on the same day no longer makes news in Kampala. Question is, where will you be? Did we hear someone say none of the above?