The 2nd Annual Kampala Street Art Festival

I missed the first Kampala Street Art Festival simply because I thought potholes were going to be painted (at least that's what the theme expressed). However when my brother phoned me on Saturday night to ask me if I knew about it [The Pre Party was going on], I made up my mind to check it out on Sunday afternoon. Left home at around 2 PM, three hours late but got into the colourful vibe. In the First Year, I attended the Pre-party (though I walked out early with my soda coupon to catch a Real Madrid match at Shiners’ Pub near home) and missed the festival. The game was just enough to make my weekend though I got a terrible headache due to the high-pitched music blasting in the pub. This year, I missed the party but enjoyed the Festival. The first stall I sighted on the Southern side of Bukoto Street had shoes (bought from Owino) with soil and plants in them. They were sold between 1000 and 3000 UgX as a fundraising drive by UGCS (Uganda German Cultural Society)for the next Street Art Festival within the year. The first guy I could recognise was seated under the tent on the opposite side of the shoe gallery. Denis Kato is a guy I had met just a few days before at Bahai painting. Man, his neighbour Allan in shades on the left had a wonderful piece of a gorilla on cloth. Another artist sat on his other side, my right. I walked to the middle of the street to watch musicians perform, couldn't buy anything, neither sofa covers nor designer shirts but they looked okay though. After music by the 2008 Bell PAM (Pearl of Africa Music) Awards PRO singing to a clown in the middle of the road (This guy actually drew the kids around most), I headed to the other end of the street (It had what I wanted to see) near Record TV and the old UGCS offices before returning for more musical entertainment.

Present on the street were the usual suspects: Tina Wamala, one of the MCs (If you don't know her face, you must be from Mars or Venus) alongside her workmate, a very knowledgeable lady in matters of Sports (Record TV's 'Half Time Show' co-host, that is); Roberta (UGCS Director); Xenson; Ras Jjingo (holding a camera and clad in the First Bayimba Festival's promotional T-Shirt; Peter Otim; plus two of my musical old boys form Macos. Other beautiful people included models showing off comfy Stella Atal, outrageous Xenson and artistic Latif's designs plus another guy who had only one design, tie and die with a big ganja desin on the back.

The musicians stage was mounted on the pavement in front of purple QC Saatchi & Saatchi block. Sarah Ndagire clad in black pants and a pink Indian style dress ( with dark pink and black block designs at the front like those by Peter Otim) stole the show with 3 or more songs from Bunyoro with background Afro beat music performed by 'Soul Beat Africa?' that included my two OBs. Other performances were the crazy "Aka hee? Aka Hee ho!" band of musicians. One 'Kanyama-man' dressed in a devilish mask and trousers with the word 'Jaguar' repeated all over first danced before jumping through a bicycle wheel with a friend and then showing off his tough body by lying on nails while his colleague stood on him. The Fattest Lady in the crowd who was called to do the standing gave up because she thought he would die. Maybe she had accepted the call thinking that she was only going to be carried.

Teenagers who had traveled in many towns of Uganda to spread the message of peace through Break Dance lightened up the faces of 'bazungu' with their street hugging club house dances. Background music included American hit songs like "Promiscuous Boy" by Nelly Furtado; A song by Lil' Kim, Method Man and "Touch my Body" by Mariah...Every body seemed to be moved.

Sponsors of the 2008 'La Ba' Street Art Festival included Goethe Institut, UGCS, iguana Bar & Lounge, Freedum, Sadolin Paints, Alliance Francaise plus the German and Dutch Embassies.

There were public art mounts of mechanical wheels pivoted together to make a majestic tower. Another blocked the road. One of Xenson's crazy fashion designs had Coca Cola cans on a wobbly dress and another had a wierd mixture of cloth from different attires for a lady's trousers. My best revelation for the day though was the new Casalina Art Gallery and Casalina K. Fashion. When I asked the beautiful lady at the tent how long it had been around, I was shocked to learn that it was only "three months old". If that was not newsy enough, then how about the location: somewhere in Kisementi where I pass every month...Plot 3, Cooper Road behind Aisha Salon. They showcase pieces from various artists including Jjuko, my best for the event.

An Alur singer called Suzan? spiced up the evening with two or three songs in her mother tongue mixed with English perhaps for translation. One rhymed, "I'm just a child, without a dime...". The other had, "My wealth is in my soul...". These were fantastic jams though I couldn'yt decipher the Alur but I think it is a good idea when West Nilers combine their lingual with ESL (English as a Second Language).

Mukiza and his troupe also performed skits. Two white babes and a black one danced ballet before the latter joined Mukiza and another black man to produce a tri-logue about 'Committment'. The woman defined it as a man-friend listening to her while the men considerd committment to be the fact that I can have my woman's body, that way you will be committing to her and her great sex antics. Mukiza reasoned that, "GOD intentionally made men few so that they could have more than one woman." I wonder why some chick suddenly came from no where and caressed my left arm from behind. I looked behind and we were both shocked to see that we did not know each other. I was tight lipped and she apologised immediately. You see what committment can do...I'm committed to Art.