KigaliUp! Festival

Announcement: The KigaliUp music festival is moving to the Amahoro Stadium grounds due to a change in the authorised location. The organisers of KigaliUp are confident that the Amahoro stadium location will provide an excellent atmosphere for the second annual  festival – providing space for families and communities to come together to enjoy live music. Everyone at KigaliUp is excited about the musicians that have come together to be a part of this festival and the potential for musical collaborations and we hope you’re all looking forward to this weekend as we are! ·      KigaliUp hopes that this festival contributes to the vibrant and growing arts and culture community in Kigali and Rwanda. .   KigaliUp hopes to contribute to national effort to develop Cultural Tourism and rebrand Rwanda as a cultural destination ·      KigaliUp would like to thank all of our partners, sponsors, musicians and volunteers. View Larger

Announcement: The KigaliUp music festival is moving to the Amahoro Stadium grounds due to a change in the authorised location. The organisers of KigaliUp are confident that the Amahoro stadium location will provide an excellent atmosphere for the second annual  festival – providing space for families and communities to come together to enjoy live music. Everyone at KigaliUp is excited about the musicians that have come together to be a part of this festival and the potential for musical collaborations and we hope you’re all looking forward to this weekend as we are!

·      KigaliUp hopes that this festival contributes to the vibrant and growing arts and culture community in Kigali and Rwanda.

.   KigaliUp hopes to contribute to national effort to develop Cultural Tourism and rebrand Rwanda as a cultural destination

·      KigaliUp would like to thank all of our partners, sponsors, musicians and volunteers.

# Kigali Up Festival Rwanda Rwandan Africa African Location collaborations musicians art artists

Posted 11 months ago 2 notes

We are looking forward to the wonderful line up of musicians and poets performing this year that we guarantee will make for a diverse and enriching experience for all fans. Check out this awesome video from yesterday’s workshop with Tumi and the Volume and Chiwoniso for a little taste of what’s to come. The video features brilliant talent from 11-year-old Babou who is destined to be a star of Rwanda’s hip hop scene.

Scheduling Change: We were just informed that Kidum will not be able to join us this year due to a scheduling conflict. Stay tuned to our Twitter and Facebook pages for updates on the schedule and performances.

# Kigali Up workshops Tumi and the Volume Chiwoniso hip hop traditional Rwanda Rwandan Africa African festival music

Posted 11 months ago 2 notes

Photography Workshop

Today, KigaliUp! 2.0 kicked-off its activities with a photography workshop given by Juliet Hutchings. The photography  workshop took place at heaven restaurant  in Kiyovu. You may ask: why would a music festival  organize a photography workshop?

This is the question I addressed to Judo Kanobana, KigaliUp! Production Manager and the CEO Positive Productions. He replied that “capacity building is one of our guiding principles and we therefore offer training workshops as pre-festival training to artists and artisans.”

According to Hutchings, “the goal of this workshop is to facilitate people who are already photographers to expand their photographic skills” says Juliet, “it is an opportunity for all of us either to continue honing our skills in live festival photography or to do it for the first time and really have fun with experiencing what it is like photographing musicians at work,” she added

Juliet Hutchings is an American writer, photographer and videographer with 14 years in television, film and journalism. She has been working in film, television and journalism for the past 14 years in the US, the Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Uganda and Rwanda.  Juliet is passionate about visual storytelling and looks forward to many great photo opportunities at the Kigali UP! Festival.

When asked why it is important to train in festival photography, specifically, Hutchings noted that “music festival photography is completely different from shooting a presidential election, a portrait or a wedding. The basic principal is chasing a moment –as with other photography—but with live event photography and musicians, there are practical obstacles and dilemmas such as stage, audience, instruments, etc.  A photographer has to work around all of those. We are learning all about that and preparing ourselves to walk into the actual concert equipped.”  

When asked about what he hoped the outcome of the workshop would be, Konobana replied “we are expecting that in the near future we will have more cultural photographers with the skills to capture such events.”  

 

# workshops photography kigali up Rwanda Rwandan Africa African

Posted 11 months ago
The Land of 1000 Hills comes alive with KigaliUp 2.0 – Saturday, July 7th and Sunday, July 8th Venue: Roundabout Park in Kimihurura - Kigali.   On September 10, 2011, the first annual KigaliUp Festival was a magical, ground-breaking event featuring over 30 Rwandan, East African, European and North American artists performing on 2 stages to a diverse audience of more than 3000 people. Over 35 Rwandan artisan vendors and collectives were part of the festival, organized by 70 Rwandan and international volunteers.   The festival is the vision of Juno Award-winning Rwandan-Canadian artist Mighty Popo, who is working with a team of local and international arts industry veterans, including Rwanda’s events company, Positive Productions.    KigaliUp celebrates Africa’s deep, diverse musical traditions, including traditional music, blues, gospel, hip-hop, funk, and reggae.   Senegal’s Ismael Lo will wow audiences with his percussion-laden mbalax songs. Representing Kenya are award-winning bandleader and drummer Kidum and the quirky 6-piece Afropop ensemble Ma3. Fortran, a talented gospel performer, and Steven Sogo, with his re-imagined traditional songs, will do Burundi proud. American blues revivalist Corey Harris, who collaborated with the late Ali Farka Touré, makes his first trip to Rwanda with his band. From Southern Africa revel in the fresh hip-hop sounds and poetry of South Africa’s Tumi and the Volume and Zimbabwean master mbira player Chiwoniso.   Samputu, Ikobe, Mani Martin, Ingeri International, Chouchou Mihigo, Gaby, Kamichi, King James, Ingoma Nshya, Moriah, Jay Polly, Riderman, Rafiki, Eric Soul, Jules Sentore, Urban Boys, and many more popular and emerging artists from the region will perform alongside world-renowned international artists.   KigaliUp is much more than a 2-day concert. Creative workshops between Rwandan, African and international artists will be held throughout the week at the French Institute Rwanda’s studio for music, Heaven restaurant, Ishyo, and Maison des Jeunes de Kimisagara.   Like a miniature village for the weekend, KigaliUp will bring the park to life with 2 stages, an arts & craft marketplace, food from around the world, and beer gardens. With something for everyone, it’s the perfect place to celebrate with your friends and family.   Gates open at 1:00pm both days. Tickets will be available at the gate 2000 RWF per day or 3000 RWF for the weekend. Or, better yet, become a Festival Supporter for 10 000 RWF per day or 15 000 RWF for the weekend, with the chance to win great prizes.   For more information: KigaliUp Infoline: +250 786866870 Programming:         Popo at cmurigande@rogers.com or +250 788 45 11 10 Production:              Judo at positiveproduction@live.com or +250 788 506 028 Volunteer:               Katie at katieuher@hotmail.com or +250 783 692 270   Twitter :@kigaliup Facebook: facebook.com/kigaliup View Larger

The Land of 1000 Hills comes alive with KigaliUp 2.0 – Saturday, July 7th and Sunday, July 8th


Venue: Roundabout Park in Kimihurura - Kigali.

 

On September 10, 2011, the first annual KigaliUp Festival was a magical, ground-breaking event featuring over 30 Rwandan, East African, European and North American artists performing on 2 stages to a diverse audience of more than 3000 people. Over 35 Rwandan artisan vendors and collectives were part of the festival, organized by 70 Rwandan and international volunteers.

 

The festival is the vision of Juno Award-winning Rwandan-Canadian artist Mighty Popo, who is working with a team of local and international arts industry veterans, including Rwanda’s events company, Positive Productions. 

 

KigaliUp celebrates Africa’s deep, diverse musical traditions, including traditional music, blues, gospel, hip-hop, funk, and reggae.

 

Senegal’s Ismael Lo will wow audiences with his percussion-laden mbalax songs. Representing Kenya are award-winning bandleader and drummer Kidum and the quirky 6-piece Afropop ensemble Ma3. Fortran, a talented gospel performer, and Steven Sogo, with his re-imagined traditional songs, will do Burundi proud. American blues revivalist Corey Harris, who collaborated with the late Ali Farka Touré, makes his first trip to Rwanda with his band. From Southern Africa revel in the fresh hip-hop sounds and poetry of South Africa’s Tumi and the Volume and Zimbabwean master mbira player Chiwoniso.

 

Samputu, Ikobe, Mani Martin, Ingeri International, Chouchou Mihigo, Gaby, Kamichi, King James, Ingoma Nshya, Moriah, Jay Polly, Riderman, Rafiki, Eric Soul, Jules Sentore, Urban Boys, and many more popular and emerging artists from the region will perform alongside world-renowned international artists.

 

KigaliUp is much more than a 2-day concert. Creative workshops between Rwandan, African and international artists will be held throughout the week at the French Institute Rwanda’s studio for music, Heaven restaurant, Ishyo, and Maison des Jeunes de Kimisagara.

 

Like a miniature village for the weekend, KigaliUp will bring the park to life with 2 stages, an arts & craft marketplace, food from around the world, and beer gardens. With something for everyone, it’s the perfect place to celebrate with your friends and family.

 

Gates open at 1:00pm both days. Tickets will be available at the gate 2000 RWF per day or 3000 RWF for the weekend. Or, better yet, become a Festival Supporter for 10 000 RWF per day or 15 000 RWF for the weekend, with the chance to win great prizes.

 

For more information:

KigaliUp Infoline: +250 786866870

Programming:         Popo at cmurigande@rogers.com or +250 788 45 11 10

Production:              Judo at positiveproduction@live.com or +250 788 506 028

Volunteer:               Katie at katieuher@hotmail.com or +250 783 692 270

 

Twitter :@kigaliup

Facebook: facebook.com/kigaliup

# Rwanda Rwandan music festival poetry spoken word Africa African Kigali Kigali Up Tumi and the Volume Tumi Ismael Lo

Posted 11 months ago