KigaliUp background and history
KigaliUp is the vision of Juno Award-winning Rwandan-Canadian artist Mighty Popo, whose dream of creating a unique festival in his homeland grew out of his immigrant experience, Canadian folk festival performances and frequent trips home. He, along with festival and arts industry veterans from across Canada and Rwanda, make up KigaliUp’s volunteer team.
KigaliUp celebrates a diversity of traditional and modern independent, original music from the African continent and its diaspora in a beautiful outdoor setting. The Festival brings a unique, authentic entertainment and educational experience to Rwanda that gives its artists a new, central platform and exposure to international artists, new sounds and performance approaches. The Festival aims to enhance the local music industry by training sound and stage technicians and helping local emerging artists advance their careers, develop high quality recordings, stage plots and marketing materials. KigaliUp is the first national music festival in Rwanda that promotes its own artists, artisans and businesses.
The first annual KigaliUp festival, September 10, 2011, in Kimihurura Park, was a groundbreaking affair that featured over 30 artists from Rwanda, East Africa, Canada and France performing on 2 stages to a diverse audience of more than 2500 people. Over 35 Rwandan artisans were part of the festival, and 70 Rwandan and international volunteers staffed KigaliUp. The festival received a significant amount of coverage on local radio, television, through street and social media and internationally through kigaliup.com and facebook.
Kidum, Shanel, Sophia Nzayisenga, Makanyaga Irangira, Kidz Voice, Jay Poly, Urunana Rw’abadatana, The Sisters, and many more popular and emerging regional artists performed alongside international artists. These included Congolese/French/Rwandan artist Lokua Kanza, Brooklyn, USA/Canada’s blues sensation Shakura S’Aida, Canadian/Rwandan Juno award-winning hip-hop maestro Shad Kabango, world music artist Mighty Popo and Burundi/Canadian artists Thierry Kijanya and Nicolas Simbananiye.
KigaliUp is a key, unique event that boosts Rwanda’s economy and promotes cultural tourism, enticing visitors to witness Rwanda’s positive evolution, beautiful landscape and many attractions. Rwanda’s breathtaking hills, royal palaces, coffee collectives, mountain gorilla sanctuaries and volcano parks are just waiting for people to discover. The Festival also provides local employment and infuses capital into Rwandan businesses. Economic and tourism benefits will be enhanced with future audience growth.
It is a Rwandan/Canadian co-production that aims to develop the Rwandan music industry and expose the country’s artists to the outside world.
KigaliUp 2012
The second annual festival will be July 7 and 8, 2012 at Kimihurura Park in Kigali, Rwanda.
Two stages will feature live performances by 30 international, Rwandan and African artists whose music celebrates Africa’s deep, diverse musical traditions and the modern music that has grown from those roots. Beautiful sounds will be created as traditional, hip-hop, Afro-beat, blues, rumba, funk and reggae artists do concerts and collaborations. Poets, comedians and dancers plus a marketplace with African food and crafts, beer garden and family zone will complete the festivities.
The full 2012 program will be announced on KigaliUp.com in May.
Quotes
KigaliUp served up the finest undiluted performances from home and aboard and delivered on its promise as the first major celebration of music in the country…Rwandan rhythms became the highpoint of the night, with Mighty Popo and his backup singers, displaying dexterity, elegance and impassioned performances as he brought the show to its climax with traditional music.
Joseph Njata & Linda Mbabazi, The New Times
“If anyone rocked the festival late-evening, it was the smooth Congolese maestro Lokua Kanza. The highlight of the evening came when he was alone on stage, entertaining the revellers at close hand, with anecdotes as he drifted through a medley of his many compositions, creating a rare intimacy and honoring requests from the audience.”
Joseph Njata & Linda Mbabazi, The New Times
Primature Park - click to enlarge