by Izama Angelo

The Rave & Soul Street Jam took place yesterday in Kampala. The occasion was organized by one of Kampala's popular nightclubs, Club Silk. The Club is situated on 7th Street Industrial Area. This is the 2nd such event sponsored by British American Tobacco Uganda (BATU) under its Benson and Hedges Brand.

The event this year was timed to coincide with the Easter Holidays, one of the most celebrated holidays by Uganda's largely Christian population.

The concert venue was heavily decorated with Benson & Hedges colors and posters. At the entrance all participants were given a yellow whistle. Yellow and Black are the brand colors of the Benson and Hedges brand. The whistle was part of the concert. Later the Masters of Ceremony would engage the crowd by asking everyone to blow on their whistles.

This concert attracted a largely young audience. Despite the club's official policy of not allowing anyone below the age of 18, the concert was packed with young people, some of them as young as 13 years of age. One of the reasons for this, according to Club officials, is the difficulty in telling the age of the people attending. However, the concert organizers did not make any attempts to verify the age of anyone attending. No one was asked his or her age. Even teenagers who looked like teenagers were not asked to produce evidence that they were old enough to attend.

This is not surprising though. This particular nightclub is popular with urbanized youth. On ordinary days the club operates two wings: a downstairs nightclub, Club Silk, and an upstairs section, Silk Royale. The downstairs section, which was the club's first, is popularly known as the "scoobies" section because school kids patronize it. In fact, the club's image as a place for the younger population is partly responsible for the opening of the upstairs section. In both sections the age policy is not enforced. And in both sections cigarettes are sold to anyone who can afford them.

Events at the Street Jam

The artists and performers invited to the concert were like the "Who's Who" of teenage entertainment. The three masters of ceremony were some of the country's most popular broadcasters. One of them, Collin Serubiri, hosts a pop music show called Jam Agenda on WBS Television. The program has been voted (mainly by teenagers) as one of the best entertainment programs on TV. Another presenter, Mitch, of Sanyu FM is host of the evening Drive show on 88.2 FM, a successful radio station that operates an R&B format for a teen and young adult audience. The third master of ceremonies, Dennis Mawanda is, likewise, a teenage role model. He is known in Kampala as Dennis the Menace and works with another FM station Radio 2. However Denis is more famous for hosting Karoake Shows at Sabrinas Pub in Kampala. The Karoake shows attract, again, primarily teenagers who sing to R&B songs. The shows are very popular, and Karoake Competitions are popular end of the year events in the city.

Like the MC's, the performers seem to have been picked to appeal to the young audience attending. The Street Jam organizers invited local musicians and artists who are popular with the younger population. Artists like Chameleon, Baby Cool, Kaweesa, Tempra Omona and dance acts like the Obsessions are successful and have a huge teenage appeal. Many like The Obsessions could also be called teenage role models. Also invited were popular club DJ's, including a famous Kenyan DJ, DJ Pingu. Other events at the occasion included a fireworks display.

Tobacco at the Concert

The venue was heavily decorated by the brand colors of the B&H brand: yellow and black. The staff operating the booths for drinks and cigarettes all wore yellow T-shirts. Several booths were selling cigarettes at 3000 Ugandan shillings, 500 shillings above the market price. It turned out that this was because a huge promotion was taking place.

The Promotion

For each packet of cigarettes bought, one would be entitled to win a prize. Prizes ranged from B&H lighters to wineglasses and sporty jackets. A customer would be required to take the packet of cigarettes purchased to a booth located at the center of the event venue. The well-lit booth was decorated with bright yellow colors and displayed some of the possible gift items that a customer could win. At the booth were beautiful girls. One would open the cigarette pack for the customer and hand it to another colleague. The second girl would then hand the customer a bowl with several pieces of paper. The customer was entitled to any gift printed on the paper. If a customer purchased more than one pack, they could get their picture taken with a Polaroid camera. (I bought two packets of cigarettes and won two sets of wineglasses and had my picture taken. I also spoke to the girls at the gift booth. One of them was on vacation before University and about 19 years old). There was no limit to how many packets of cigarettes one could buy. Several people with boxes slung on their shoulders also sold cigarettes. They would move in the crowd and serve customers.

The Masters of Ceremony announced several times that there was a promotion to win gifts. One said "just buy yourself a packet of cigarettes and win any of our fabulous gifts".

Observations

Many of the Street Jam fans were young people. It is possible that a large percentage of this group was below the age of 18. They were attracted to the concert mainly by the entertainment. The performances were deliberately designed for a young audience. This could be seen from the selection of artists and performers invited. Many of the young people were dressed in largely western fashion. According to one bystander who remarked about the American gangster type wear, "there is a lot of western lifestyle posturing by young people." The dress and attitude was decidedly western and so was the music played.

It is also my opinion that the concert organizers expected a young audience and prepared for one. The lack of checks to verify how old attendees was deliberate. There was never any genuine intention to enforce an age restriction. There was also a lot of money spent on the event. It appears that BAT spared no expense to make the event successful. The pre-event publicity was thick. And at the venue, giant screens and projectors were used. Smoking was encouraged and several young people could be seen smoking, including both young boys and girls.