LIFESTYLE NEW VISION, Monday November 1, 2010 21

PICTURES BY DENIS DIBELE All ankles shook at Milege concert

By Duncan Kushaba one from central Uganda, featuring gorgeous women on stage twisting Watching Milege play was like their waists like they were on an listening to a soothing serenade in electric current. You would think the middle of a dripping night on had heard President Museveni’s hit Christmas . It was last Friday single You want Another Rap? night at the Serena Hotel Agwara was also another cultural as the jazz band treated its fans to sound from West Nile among the their first public concert – theA fro- Lugbara, Kakwa, Alur and Madi. Jazz Concert. The song that talks about a lazy girl Victoria Hall was full, which per- who enjoys eating than working got haps goes to show that this genre, the ‘adungus’ sounding in unison to which has been a rather abstruse a backdrop of acrobatic flips. one to many an average Ugandan, Watching the group’s two mel- has finally registered – thanks to lifluous vocalists; Vivian Ocen and the corporate well-heeled. Gloria Mbabazi, reminded me of Though new, Milege Band is a musicals like Glee and Spectacular, force to reckon with as far as Jazz where singing seems so easy like and tranquil sounds are concerned. sipping on a glass of juice on a hot By the way, Milege means an ankle summer holiday in the Bahamas. shaker in Luo. And these gifted ar- Guitarists Francis Banana and tistes really used their name well to Paul Owembabazi made me think get our ankles shaking all through Nickelback. the show. The drummers and the two pian- For about two hours, they deliv- ists were exceptional. Ironically, ered live mesmeric sounds that got the song called Intro was meant revelers to their feet. to crown off the show at around Backed up by the Uganda Herit- 10.30pm. But the crowd still ‘want- age Roots, a team of dancers so ed another rap’, which they got well-versed with cultural dance in Migration, another sensational and acrobatic gigs, the Milege show piece of Jazz that took us to the end. produced an amalgam of crazy en- When Milege releases their album tertainment (crazy in a good way). soon, I will be one of the people The crowd, which constituted queuing to grab it un-pirated. It’s mostly whites, cheered on as the just as well they are based nearby An overjoyed reveller dances to the beat band belted out the crowd’s fa- in Ntinda. vourite song, Nankasa, a traditional One of the Milege Band guitarists in a hearty performance at the group’s inaugural concert

Radio, Weasal make it to MAMA 2010 list Other nominees By Nigel Nassar this voting phobia and vote for our boys and Sasha, as well as a Brand: New nomi- this time. nation for Mo Cheddah. It is official; the nominees’ list for the Go to www.mama.mtvbase.com or www. D’banj, who has four MAMA trophies to Best Video Best Anglophone third edition of MTV Africa Music Awards mtvmama.mobi and vote. Subscribers of his name, has yet another nomination in l - Sexy dance l (Ghana) with Zain (MAMA) is out. Zain can also vote via SMS by texting BG the Song of the Year category for the hit (DRC) l () And Uganda’s popular duo, Radio and Radio and Weasal to 6262. Fall in Love. l P-Square f/t J. Martins- E l Daddy Owen () Weasal, have beaten all our big names Nigeria and South Africa usually win big South Africa has seven nominations. No Easy (Nigeria) l Big Nuz (South Africa) here to a slot on the list, which has 11 at this event because their people are big- Fally Ipupa from the Democratic Repub- l The Parlotones — Life categories. time voters. For this year’s event, Nigeria lic of the Congo scores the highest indi- Design (South Africa) Best Francophone The duo is nominated in the Best Group as usual leads the pack with an impressive vidual number of the nominations; four in l Banky W - Strong Ting l Fally Ipupa (DRC) category, and they are up against Nigerian 13 nominations. number, including Artiste of The Year. (Nigeria) l Awadi (Senegal) heavyweights P-Square, South Africa’s P-Square has three (Artist of the Year, The annual event, which awards excel- l DJ Arafat (Ivory Coast) Teargas and Kenya’s P-Unit. Best Group and Best Video), and two for lence in African music based on young Brand: New l Ba Ponga (Gabon) This means the two will be holding MAMA 2009 winner 2Face Idibia (Best Africans’ music tastes, also has a category l Mo Cheddah (Nigeria) Uganda’s flag high at the awards ceremo- Male, Artist of the Year), two for Wande that recognises international musicians, l Diamond (Tanzania) Best Lusophone ny, which will be held on December 11 at Coal (Best Anglophone, Best Male) and the reason we have Amerca’s Rihanna, l Muthoni (Kenya) l Lizha James (Mozambique) the Eko Expo Centre in , Nigeria. two for Banky W (Song of the Year, Best , and Rick Ross vying for l JoJo (Gabon) l Paul G (Angola) This is the second time the MAMA Video). the Best International Artiste award. l Cabo Snoop (Angola) ceremony will be held in Nigeria after the Their female artistes too are high con- There are two new categories this time: Artiste of The Year l Dama Do Bling (Mozam- inaugural event in 2008 took place in the tenders, with Best Female nods for Nneka The Best Francophone and Best Luso- l 2 Face (Nigeria) bique) country’s capital , where Ugan- phone (Portuguese l P-Square (Nigeria) dan Babe Cool’s East African Bashment speakers) categories. l Jozi (South Africa) Best Female Crew was nominated in a major category While unveiling the l Fally Ipupa (DRC) l Sasha (Nigeria) while Tonicks was a nominee for a minor 2010 MAMA nomi- l Lizha James (Mozambique) category – Listener’s Choice, which is no nees’ list in Lagos on Song Of The Year l Nneka (Nigeria) longer on the list. Saturday, , l D’Banj - Fall In Love l Barbara Kanam (DRC) Last year’s was held in , Kenya, senior vice president (Nigeria) with Uganda having nominees Blu3, Bobi and managing director, l Liquideep - Fairytale Best Male Wine and XOD. MTV Networks Africa, (South Africa) l 2 Face (Nigeria) Uganda has not yet been as lucky as said the addition of the l JR - Show Dem (South l Fally Ipupa (DRC) bring home the golden microphone, two categories is an Africa) l Black Coffee (South Africa) which is the awards’ statuette – not that indicator that the pan- l Banky W — Lagos Party l Wande Coal (Nigeria) our artistes don’t have potential but African music scene (Nigeria) because Ugandans don’t vote. Let us beat Weasal and Mowzey Radio stand a chance to win a MAMA award if you vote has grown.