Bayimba Reggae Fest: Where the ‘vibes’ saved the day

This edition of the Bayimba Festival was arguably a gamble, given the amount of time it took to put together two weeks, to be specific. Planning, marketing, ticketing and bookings, all within two weeks after the entertainment sector was reopened. The organisers, in their defense, claim they needed a special edition in memory of Bob Marley, whose birthday was February 6th.

Revellers at Bayimba festival Pulse Live Uganda

The lineup included several reggae artistes, both local and foreign, including the Blood Brothers band.

The main acts were Swangz Avenues Azawi, the remarkable Jamal Wasswa and of course, Maddox Sematimba. DJ Nespa held fort for most of the festival, treating us to reggae classics for the most of Saturday. Azawi hit the stage at midnight on Sunday morning, awakening the crowd with some of her current audience favourites like Party Mood, My Year and Quinamino. For an entire hour, she kept the audience hyped up and created the vibe that stayed with us all through.

Maddox Sematimba started off his performance at 3am, with the energy and command that created a sense of both enjoyment and admiration. His performance was shortly followed by Jamal, who, even after years off the scene, performs with so much passion it bounces back onto the audience.

Jamal Waswa performing at Bayimba festival Pulse Live Uganda

Although generally a successful event, the Bayimba Reggae Fest wasn’t without its glitches. On top of the artistes turning up much later than expected, the organisers constantly struggled with the sound, which for a few moments agitated both the artistes and the revelers. What saved the day, however, was “the vibes”.

Rastafarians are known to carry with them a positive attitude, which was largely exhibited at the festival. Even when a performance had to be paused due to the unstable sound system, a number of fans kept the spirits high with their own attitude and ‘vibes’.

“ Vibes” is a disguise for social interaction – the vulnerability we have been deprived of since covid 19 came knocking. It’s a feeling we crave, even though many times, Ugandans have found more memes than words to express their hankering for vibes.

Evidently, what we’re after with all this being ‘outside’ is more about the vibes than the event lineups themselves.