It was an evening of pompous glitz and glamour as Jazz devotees thronged Resort Munyonyo Lakeside for a night of incredibly smooth, funky and soulful music at the 11th edition of Annual Johnnie Walker Jazz Safari from Grammy Award-winning bassist and vocalist Richard Bona.
The elegantly dressed music fans started arriving as early as 3 pm as stepped into the Johnnie Walker lounge to enjoy cocktails, and watch World Cup as France thumped Argentina.
With the fresh breeze from the lake, DJ Bank Robber entertained the guests with an early teaser of jazz sets.
The main performances delayed to start as most guests were caught up in jam.
At 7:20 pm, the host of the night, Marcus Kwikiriza kept the audience entertained by cracking jokes here and there before introducing BlackRoots that consists of Tshaka Mayanja, Michael Kitanda, Tony Trumpet and other local instrumentalists. They soothed the crowd with exquisite sounds. Michael Kitanda and Tony Trumpet got everyone grooving to their original compositions as well as covers.
At 9:05 pm, Kas Kasozi lit the stage with a beautiful performance. He brought the funk to the jazz music and some of the Jazz fans were overheard saying that they need his supplier's number because his stuff is legit.
You could see the way he played the guitar, and his energetic movements excited the crowd. And you could judge by the faces of the crowd that he was spreading cheerful vibes across as they anxiously waited for Richard Bona. He received a standing ovation as he said goodbye.
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Annual Jazz event co-founder, Elijah Kitaka, thanked the audience for coming and announced that next year, they will introduce Fezah day, a platform for jazz artistes to showcase their talents. It will bring together artistes from all over Africa.
Finally, at 10:30 pm, the man for the moment, Richard Bona stepped on stage to the excitement of the crowd. The awesome sound from his guitar was magical. He shifted the audience to the beautiful realm of musical jazz alongside his band.
He sings mostly in his native Douala, but his sound is unmistakable across barriers of language. The language of his music could be felt across the audience. They kept recording the moments on their phones as they danced away the week's stress.
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The show finally came to the end at 11:10 pm. The event was sponsored by Stanbic, NBS, Guvnor, KLM, Jazz FM, Pepsi and Johnnie Walker Uganda
