Sheilah Gashumba (right) had dancers to accompany her DJ set.
The 3rd edition of the Smirnoff fiesta that happened on Saturday at Sheraton Gardens Kampala offered much more than expected. Without headlining act, this edition had deejays and emcees exhibiting their best to entice the already charged up audience. With doors opening by 4pm, the event that mostly targets a young crowd, had a lot in the offing.
There was face painting, virtual games and as part of its mission to create distinct and immersive experiences for today’s bold and expressive generation, a Smirnoff Art Project which is a first-of-its-kind collaboration that fuses visual art, tech, fashion, and music to reimagine how consumers engage with events. For this was a group of innovative Ugandan creatives, including cartoonists, muralists, digital illustrators, and designers from Katoto Studio, XR Studio, Fatisharts, and House of Sosho.
Curated under the brand’s creative direction, the collaboration has produced a bold Smirnoff illustration, an interactive virtual reality Metaverse, immersive illusion photobooth installations, augmented reality filters, and limited-edition fashion pieces showcased exclusively at the Fiesta. However, real action was on the main stage with this edition featuring a stellar lineup of DJs; Etania, Sheila Gashumba, DJ Dranix, Wiz J, Vanss, Emm That Guy, and Deejay Alza while hosts included Sammy Wetala, Viana Indi, Josh MC, Saint Trevor, Tojo 256, Casmir, and Adele Kiele.
The set was tailored in a way that every DJ had an emcee or emcees hyping them. Branding herself as an Amapiano DJ, Sheila Gashumba was supported by Vianna Indi and it was a match made in heaven. Their collaboration was entertaining and with the Amapiano wave, Gashumba could not go wrong.
They even had dancers who added vibrancy to their set and Sheila would often abandon her work station to join them in dance. After more than an hour on set, DJ Vanss supported by Sammy Wetala took over but like Gashumba, Vanss’ set mostly had Amapiano vibes and dancers as well. It did not last so long until the next set of acts were introduced. DJ Wiz J alongside Mc Josh took over.
Announcing that their set was going to be different, Wiz immediately teased the audience with a dancehall beat perhaps to see their reaction. It was massive. They played everything dancehall from oldies to African, Jamaican and local and every song they played, the crowd reacted by either singing along or dancing.
