WHEN THE STARS SHONE IN NAIROBI

 

The stars got to shine at the Tusker All Stars Concert held at the Carnivore grounds on Saturday 1, October. Dubbed East Africa’s Biggest Concert, it saw a turn out of over 10,000 fans.

The Tusker All Stars Concert was a culmination of the reality show that saw East African talent Alpha Rwirangira, Davis Ntare and Peter Msechu win the chance to share the stage with Pan African star Cabo Snoop from Angola, American hip hop act Eve and Jamaican heartthrob Shaggy.

The show kicked off with a performance from all female rock band Murfy’s Flaw who then backed Amani as she hit the stage with her popular singles Tonight, Mimi Na Wewe and Missing My Baby. Rapper Jaguar was next. He paid tribute to the late legend Wangari Maathai with his hit song Kigeugeu.

Kenyan dance champions, FBI then took the stage and performed their piece, they later backed Msechu during his performance. The Tanzanian reality show star, cemented his own brand and identity as a solo act infront of the attending audience by performing his own compositions Hasira Hasara and Relax.

Ugandan Davis then took the stage backed by the Eclipse Dancers where he performed his hit Sheka Sheka. He incorporated a Ugandan traditional dancer to accentuate his dance tune.

The final Tusker All Stars winner Alpha also showcased to his fans his musical growth since his win in Season 3 of the reality show. He performed his single Songa Mbele that features Tanzanian rapper AY and his latest release No Money No Love.

As promised the Tusker All Stars winners represented a return to their African roots and the mega concert provided a good platform to launch their careers in the East African entertainment scene.

 Like clockwork, the stage was open to the visiting international stars. Cabo was first on stage. He demonstrated that language is never a barrier when it comes to music. His singles Prakatatumba and Windeck did not need translation as he entertained with his dance moves which were insync with the beats.

The second last performer of the night was Grammy award winner rapper Eve. The first lady of Ruff Ryders performed her hits from her past albums like Gangsta Love,  Got What You Need, Let Me Blow Ya Mind (feat. Gwen Stefani), Love is Blind, Satisfaction, Who’s That Girl and finished off with Tamborine. She invited Cabo Snoop on stage to dance to the popular dance hit.

The final performer of the night was Shaggy. Despite the rain, Shaggy’s fans stood their ground to watch his performance. To show his solidarity with the wet crowd, he poured water on himself and said, “We are now even”.

The ragga star still has the cheeky, disarming charm he is known for. The Mr Lover Lover hitmaker churned out hit after hit from his chart topping albums. Rayvon joined Shaggy on stage as they performed singles like Angel, It Wasn’t Me, What is Love, Luv Me, Luv Me among others.

The Tusker All Stars Concert prided itself in the high security measures taken to ensure safety to all the music enthusiast and advocated for responsible drinking.

CABO, SHAGGY, ALPHA, MSECHU AND DAVIS PLANT TREES AT KARURA

The Tusker All Stars prime guests Shaggy and Cabo Snoop and icons Msechu, Alpha and Davies, today joined the East African Breweries Ltd E-Green Team at the Karura Forest for a tree planting session as part of Karura Forest Conservation efforts. The Stars, who are in Kenya for East Africa’s biggest musical fete, the Tusker All Stars Concert, planted a selection of various indigenous trees and took time off to enjoy serenity and bond with nature at one of the country’s most famous conservation names. Speaking during the tree planting event, EABL’s Marketing Director, Kenya, Caroline Ndungu said, “Environmental conservation, as one of the EABL Foundation key pillars, is not only an initiative that we invest a lot of resources into but also a calling that is deeply embedded in our corporate social responsibility mission,” “Bringing the Tusker All Stars to Karura Forest, one of our country’s greatest environmental assets, therefore gives them the crucial and memorable opportunity in lending a hand in its conservation.” She added. Adding his voice during the exercise, American musician, Shaggy said he was excited to be part of the initiative.”Sustaining the environment is an obvious concern across the world and as responsible global citizens, each one of us has a responsibility to play in ensuring that we do all it takes to conserve the planet for future generations,” Shaggy said. “I thank EABL for giving us the opportunity to join them in this very symbolic and historical initiative,”

Shaggy

On his part, Angolan musician, Cabo Snoop in his native Portuguese noted that trees are one of the planet and humanity’s most valuable assets and whose conservation calls for genuine commitment from all. “As plantas sao importantes para o ser humano, por isso vamos manter a nossa missao em conserva-las (trees are important to mankind, let us make it our mission to conserve them.” Said Snoop.

Cabo Snoop

Uganda’s Davies Ntare, winner of Tusker Project Fame IV and Tanzania’s Peter Msechu were both making a second trip to Karura, having engaged in a similar initiative during Tusker Project Fame IV. “This tree-planting exercise is something we take seriously, it is not just for the show, but as artistes we are also personally committed to this cause and we will use our talent and position in the society to positively promote the conservation of the environment,” Ntare commented.

Alpha

Davis

The Tusker All Stars will be in action at the Tusker All Stars Concert to be held at the Carnivore Grounds on the 1st of October 2011.

BRACE YOURSELVES FOR EVE, CABO AND SHAGGY

It is official, top international acts will be in Nairobi for the much publicized Tusker All Stars concert that will feature three of the winners from the reality show.
The winners, Davis Ntare, Alpha Rwirangira and Peter Msechu are gearing up for the finale concert.
Ugandan winner in the just concluded Tusker All Star competition; Davis is “excited” at the chance of sharing the stage with three top international acts at the finale concert in Nairobi.
Davis together with Rwandese Alpha and Tanzanian Msechu won the chance to share a stage with American rapper Eve, Angolan sensation Cabo Snoop and Jamaican ragga heartthrob Shaggy at a concert to be hosted at the Carnivore on October 1.
“I’m happy and humbled that I got the opportunity to feature in the same show as the three acts. And I wouldn’t have made it if the fans hadn’t voted for me,” Davis spoke to Word Is over a telephone interview from Uganda.



Davis like Cabo Snoop failed to bag a win on his first try at the fame and a music career at the Tusker Project Fame reality show but on his second try, he emerged the winner.
On this similarity Davis said, “I would love to do something with Cabo Snoop. I love his style of dance and music.”
Cabo who is famed for his continental hit Windeck, rose from obscurity to make a name for himself. From the kid who was known as ‘Nobody’ Cabo has proved that he is more than that, he is a Pan African brand.



Eve on the other hand is working on her new solo album after a hiatus from music and taking up acting. The new album is titled Lip Lock.



Shaggy who is literary a Kenyan now will also join the star studded headliner list at the concert that will culminate the 8-weeks show where selected former Tusker Project Fame contestants sought to demonstrate the level of their growth as entertainers and the next generation of East African super stars.

TUSKER ALL STARS COMPETITION HEATS UP

After Tusker All Stars performances in the first week, fans across East Africa have voted for a trio of charismatic male performers as their top favorites so far.
Heart-throb Alpha of Rwanda stood tall at the top with charming Tanzanian Msechu and sensational Ugandan Davis taking up the second and third slots respectively.
Show host Gaetano released the week one voting results during the Tusker All Stars second show that was screened across Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania.
The second show featured four of the eight Tusker All Stars, Msechu, Patricia, Ameleena and Alpha.
Each of the four Tusker All Stars performed two songs - a popular hit single and an original composition. Their fans also got to discover the personalities behind the music at the Tusker Pub where they were interviewed by Eve D’Souza.
Viewers were in for a surprise when the straight-talking Tusker Project Fame Judge Ian Mbugua appeared as a guest. Judge Ian, who has been involved in the formation and shaping of the Stars into who they are today, was at hand to give viewers an insight into the artistes’ performance.







The show started with a bang when Msechu took to the stage with Samba Mapangala's Vunja Mifupa hit song. He gave us a peek into what he had been up to when he sang a moving tribute titled Mama to his late mother.





Patricia performed Foreigner's I Want to Know What Love Is and her own composition, Nakupenda What Not; while Ameleena performed Carol Atemi’s Simama and her up-beat composition, Dance.










Alpha was the last Tusker All Star to take to the stage with a cover of the popular Phil Collins' hit song, Another Day in Paradise, before he closed the show with his bubbly song Love.





Davis, Ngangalito, Caroline and Hemedi will feature in the third show performing two songs each.
Viewers can vote for their favourite artist by sending a text message with the star’s Tusker number to 8009 for persons in Kenya and Uganda. Individuals in Rwanda can vote by sending a text message with the star’s Tusker number to 7333 while for those in Tanzania the number is 15324.

JUST INCASE YOU MISSED IT

The Tusker All Stars TV show debut on Sunday night saw the reunion of eight former Tusker Project Fame stars on stage.
This is what went down: Hemedi, Ng’ang’alito, Patricia, Alpha, Msechu, Amileena, Davies and Carolyne, performed songs by music icons such as Brenda Fassie, Kidum, Eric Wainaina and Sauti Sol.



Hemedi, Tusker Project Fame season two's “casanova”, performed J- Boog's Let's Do It Again while Season 3's Patricia performed a soulful rendition of Sauti Sol's I'm Coming Home off their sophomore album, Sol Filisofia.



Carolyne, the dancing queen from Uganda, sang Nakupenda by the late musical Icon, Brenda Fassie.



Ng'ang'alito was another pleasant surprise as he broke the mould and performed legendary neo soul track, No Other Love by John Legend.



Amileena performed one of Africa's best loved and renowned songs Jabulani by PJ Powers while Msechu did his own version of Kidum’s Mapenzi.



Alpha showed his versatility by performing Eric Wainaina's runaway hit, Ritwa Riaku . Davis was the last on stage with his energetic rendition of Papa Wemba's Yollele.



Viewers were also introduced to two Tusker All Stars Super Fans; Arjun, popularly known as Vipul and radio presenter Joey Mathenge.



The super fans, both avid followers of previous editions of Tusker Project Fame and keen music fans, shared their views on each of the stars performances while offering support to the stars.
Viewers from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda will vote for the top 3 stars during the 8 week reality TV show.



The show’s hosts, Gaetano Kagwa & Eve D’Souza will reveal a weekly score-card that will keep track of what acts or performers came out tops in the popularity polls.