Kampala grooves to Old Skul classics

On Friday November 25, 2016, partiers converged at Zone 7 to relieve their good old memories thanks to the Johnnie Walker sponsored Back to Basics musical event.

The event is Kampala’s premier old school block party and the ninth edition, christened ‘Grown and Sexy’ evidenced that Old Skul music is still a force to be reckoned with in Kampala’s party scene. This edition held at Zone 7 followed the successful eighth edition that was held at Diners Lounge in October this year.

Lois Aber, the Johnnie Walker Brand Manager at Uganda Breweries states that Back to Basics is an avenue for lovers of Old Skul music to recreate their long lost memories while enjoying the world’s best scotch whisky, Johnnie Walker.

“Back to Basics is the ultimate platform for lovers of timeless classics to meet and evoke good memories from back in the day. As Johnnie Walker, we are proud to be part of such an event that takes folks down memory lane as they try out those famous dance moves from back in the day,” she explained.

The event that kicked off at 6pm had an interesting cast of DJs spinning the disks; DJs BK (Ben Kuyoh) of House of DJs, Selector Jay (Joshua Baguma) from Guvnor, Boni (Bonfase Kifaru), Pita (Peter Kizito) and Val Tha Teacher (Val Okecho) of Capital Radio. The music selectors took revelers through the time tunnel; playing music that dates back to the musical decades of the 80s, 90s and early 2000s.

Despite the set-up of the venue including seats, there was hardly a moment throughout the evening that the crowd used them anyway. Every song that was played seemed to resonate well with audience who then responded by grooving and singing along to the hits. At some point, there was a sing out competition of sorts that attracted KFMs Sean Oseku. He mostly nailed two songs; 2 Pac’s Hit ‘Em Up and Wifey by the popular group Next, while the rest he only hummed along.

Val Okecho one of the organisers of Back to Basics says, “We are in the business of preserving timeless classic hits and bringing these to the fore in a party format whenever and wherever we can. Evoking good memories for old times’ sake is what we love to do, more so with like-minded people.”

Fans were treated to rarely played throwback hits from yesteryears with organisers hoping to take ‘sexy back’ to old school, and make it more attractive across the youthful and older folks divide. Ugandan and international old school hits previously forgotten, like Zigi Dee’s Eno Mic, Emperor Orlando’s tunes as well as Ragga Dee’s warmed the chilly evening.

Back to Basics 9 is sponsored by Johnnie Walker, Capital Radio in association with the DJ Association of Uganda.