Photos by Michael Kakumirizi
The lights went off, the crowd went silent and everyone was waiting for her to show up on stage, there was tension as the Band was testing sound. All this was to welcome her on stage but guess what, a video on two gigantic screens was instead played. “At 15 years when I left home, I didn’t know who I was but I knew what I wanted to be, I didn’t know how I would make it but through perseverance, I am thankful to God and my mother for who I am today. Thank you everyone who has showed up for my show tonight, I am not sure you will enjoy but let me hope you will” Sheeba Karungi said in a video that played for close to 15 minutes, it was emotional but later got boring and was switched off before the end. This was a way to welcome the self-proclaimed Queen of the area on stage for her first ever concert dubbed Nkwatako on Friday at Hotel Africana.
Joined by Queen Dancers from Tabu Floor, a famous dance group, Sheeba opened her performance, backed by a band as she sang Twesana, one of the songs that introduced her to this competitive music Industry. The lights went on, the crowd cheered louder as they saw Sheeba Karungi on stage, She was dressed in a red outfit (we leave this to fashion critics; it was hard to explain the dress code).
She performed songs like Jordan, Automatic and Ice Cream. Being a dancer that she was 10 years ago, Sheeba showed the crowd that she could not only sing but also dance as she joined the dancers to pull off well-choreographed dance strokes. This proved that they had taken some good time to rehearse the dance before the show because never at one point did they disappoint, the performance was epic.
Her show what somewhat conversational and at some point, she asked the service providers to flash a bright light to the crowd. “Standing in front of you is a girl who was once a Karoake dancer but because I had a dream, I am now what I am” Sheeba said as she introduced her mother who was in the VVIP. It seems her mother had never attended her show because when journalists flashed the camera to her face, she got emotional and tears almost ran down her cheeks.
Sheeba’s performance involves a lot of energy, something which makes her a good stage performer but in contrary, she is not a crowd mover. During her entire performance, we all agree her songs are nice but only a few stood up to dance to them and many were seated enjoying the show.
Unlike other artistes, Sheeba’s show ended thirty minutes before midnight as most of the shows end at exactly midnight. She officially joined the list of artistes who have managed to fill up Hotel Africana to the brim. Among these are Radio and Weasel back then, Mesach Ssemakula and David Lutalo among others.
Sheeba didn’t have a one woman show as artistes like Bebe Cool, Ykee Benda, Roden Y, Diamond Oscar and Rema Namakula performed. DJ Shiru, Roja and Slickstuart also played some live music.
logwal@ug.nationmedia.com
