By Our Reporter
The Guinness Bright House, an empowering platform for creatives to collaborate and shine brightest made a mark in Jinja on Saturday. The venue of the Eastern tour was the monumental source of Nile, at Nile Park.
The experience kicked off with a day mode that saw creatives treated to a buffet of creative outlets in the spaces of fashion, music, art and sports. This included among other activities a live art painting session with celebrated visual artist Kwiz_era. He also gave an art masterclass on what passionate young artists can do to grow a step closer to realising their artistic dreams.
In his masterclass, Benon Mugumbya, a veteran music producer that needs no introduction, talked creatives through the simplest ways of making music and how technology can enhance those dreams.
Benon’s masterclass saw creatives witness the live creation of what can possibly be a “hit” song when he put digital content creator and comedian Uncle Mo on the spot and the two created “Makanika we Kireka”. The song was recorded and mastered live on stage and had revellers instantly singing along.
The day mode of the Bright House also included a sports masterclass by Jinja’s very own Coach Ayub and FUFA’s Shawn Mubiru. The two spoke passionately about the talent that Jinja has and how leadership can harness it. They also talked directly to the young sports enthusiasts about passion and commitment and how it change life for the better.
However, the highlight of the experience came in during the night mode that saw the revellers treated to dancehall royalty Vampino. Whether it was nostalgia or vibes, Vampino awakened everyone’s inner dancer when he threw an exhilarating performance of some of his smash hits like Smart Wire, Kwekunyakunya and Love to Dance.
But that was not all. The surprise of the night was when Benon who is the other half of now defunct Benon and Vampos duo joined his former groupmate on stage sending revellers into a frenzy with a performance of the 2007 hit song I know and Locomotive, an all-star song that both featured on, among others.
Speaking about the Bright House, Elizabeth Mutamuliza, the Guinness Uganda Brand Manager emphasised the essence of the experience and what the brand intends for it to achieve.
“The idea of the Bright House is to not only bring creatives under one roof to dialogue but to also to foster collaboration and have industry luminaries motivate up-and-coming creatives,” she said.
“I am very excited that the Guinness Bright House has finally made its way to Jinja. This is one of the cities that I have been looking forward to because as we have witnessed, it is a city that is creative at heart and I knew having the Bright House here would be impactful,” she said.
The night was closed of by non-other than Azawi who performed alongside her band. The songbird took revellers on a journey of musical bliss with songs like My Year, Quinamino, Repeat It and Majje among others.
When Azawi got off-stage, revellers were left in the safe hands of DJ Ali Breezy to dance and enjoy the night away.
