By Our Reporter
Johnnie Walker is stepping further into Uganda’s music scene, announcing its partnership as headline sponsor of Joshua Baraka’s B’RAKA LAND East Africa Kampala finale, set for November 28 at Lugogo Hockey Grounds.
The partnership brings together a global brand with one of the new voices shaping Uganda’s music and creative scene, at a time when Baraka’s journey is increasingly extending beyond the Kampala stages where it began.
Baraka has spent the past few years building a sound and identity that travel easily, from his beginnings in Kawempe to becoming one of Uganda’s most recognisable young artists, and now taking his music to audiences across East Africa. It is this sense of movement that has made him the face of Johnnie Walker’s new Keep Walking campaign in East Africa.
The campaign is built on a simple idea: progress is not only measured by where you eventually arrive, but by the journey, the risks, setbacks, small wins and choices that take you there.
For Johnnie Walker, partnering with Baraka at this point in his career creates an opportunity for that idea to exist beyond advertising, in music, live performance and the experiences audiences are already choosing to be part of.
“We see a lot of ourselves in Joshua’s journey. He is an artist who is constantly moving, experimenting and finding new ways to connect with people. That is what makes this partnership exciting for us. Keep Walking is a philosophy about progress, but it also gives us a way to participate in the stories and spaces that are shaping the next generation of African creativity,” said Christine Kyokunda, Brand Manager, Johnnie Walker Uganda. “B’RAKA LAND gives us the opportunity to do that in a way that feels genuine. We are not simply putting our name behind a concert. We are walking with Joshua through the journey, across the country, through different audiences and ultimately onto the Kampala stage.”
That journey is already underway.
The B’RAKA LAND East Africa tour has been taking Baraka to audiences beyond Kampala, with stops in Gulu and Arua, followed by Mbale over the weekend. The tour will next head to Mbarara, before returning to Kampala for the November 28 finale.
Each stop has brought the artist into a different local music environment, while building anticipation for the Kampala show and expanding the story around B’RAKA LAND beyond a single concert.
For Johnnie Walker, that movement matters.
Music has long been one of the spaces where young Africans express identity, ambition and their view of the world. Artists such as Baraka are increasingly moving between local and continental audiences, taking Ugandan stories and sounds into wider conversations about African creativity.
It is within that movement that Johnnie Walker is choosing to show up.
The partnership is therefore not simply about the final performance. The road to Kampala,the cities, the audiences, the music and the moments created along the way, is part of the experience.
And Baraka’s own story gives the partnership a human centre.
His rise has not followed a straight line. It has involved the steady work of releasing music, performing, building an audience and finding his place in an increasingly competitive African music industry. With every new stage and audience, the destination has shifted further ahead.
That is the essence of Keep Walking.
“For us, progress is something you experience along the way. Joshua is still building, and that is precisely why this is the right moment for us to walk with him. We want people to see themselves in that journey,whether they are taking their first step, changing direction or simply pushing towards whatever comes next,” Kyokunda added.
The Kampala finale will bring that journey to its biggest Ugandan stage yet.
On November 28, Lugogo Hockey Grounds will host B’RAKA LAND East Africa, with Baraka joined by other performers and entertainers for a night that will bring together his growing fanbase and the wider music community around his journey.
Tickets start at UGX 75,000.
By the time Baraka takes the stage in Kampala, he will have travelled through several Ugandan cities, performed for different audiences and added another chapter to a career that is increasingly crossing borders.
For Johnnie Walker, that is precisely the point.
The brand is not waiting for the destination to celebrate the journey. It is choosing to walk it with him, through the music, the people and the moments that make the journey worth taking.