It was a boom party to remember. Cinderella Sanyu, aka, the King Herself, or Cindy Baby as she would usually belt out in song, didn’t come to play. Not one bit! It had never been done by a female musician, no Sir! Hell, that venue had disappointed even international stars. It is a venue for the acclaimed, those who fear no one; those with the musical muscle. However, the Lugogo Cricket oval was full to bream last Saturday, Cindy did that.
I should have left home early, but I thought it would be an easy entry, no, it wasn’t! By 7 pm, I could barely pay for the ticket. It was quite clear that the people manning the ticket area hadn’t expected to have such large numbers, and neither did the security team who were now accepting bribes from especially Kampala’s elite. But even when inside, after a battle that it, it was next to impossible to grab a seat, let alone a drink. The show was massive, everyone, all sober and drunk could be heard wondering how she pulled it off.
When Cindy got on stage at about 10 pm, she would confirm the general notion. “Level that, a level that!” she commanded the sound crew into silence. “When I first advertised this concert, no promoter or artiste was willing to stand with me, no one!” she said to a cheering crowd.
Besides the fact that a woman had filled up the much-feared Lugogo cricket oval, it was that she managed to pull off a live performance. However, when Cindy decided to take the audience on her 15-year journey, there was no doubting her prowess. Together with the 10 wildly energetic dancers, she had for the night, the King Herself delved into a dancehall frenzy that sent waves of excitement across the oval.
No one that performed outdid Cindy, she owned the night. Well, except the part where singer Bebe Cool was pelted with bottles of course. He refused to leave the stage showing that he had fast become accustomed to the bottles. Artistes upon artistes thronged the stage and the crowd nodded and danced in approval. The question that remains lingering is how she pulled it off; she didn’t do any TV or Radio ads, no media tours, and just the press conference a breath away from the concert. What did she do right?
According to Daily Monitor’s Andrew Kaggwa, a close friend to both the artiste and management told said Cindy’s sister had been instrumental and that apparently, they had a marketing plan that was intended on tackling the real consumer. “The team promoted the shows to the real people they wanted to show up, in markets like Wandegeya and Owino,” he quoted said source.
When it was all said don, the King had words for her ‘subjects’, “Thank you, Lord, thank you Uganda, I am speechless!” she captioned her picture. “This is not even half the audience at my Boom party concert. I am so grateful to God and to y’all.”
