The concept that all good things come to an inevitable end comes to mind in regards to the just concluded Giants of Africa festival, and the closing ceremony was what trend adjacent people would call going out with a blaze of glory or more informally “going out with a bang.”
Being some of Africa’s best Afrobeats artistes, Tiwa Savage and Davido headlining the Giants of Africa Festival closing concert made it one of the most anticipated events in the city.
The sold out concert with a turnout of over 10,000 people convened at the BK Arena speaks volumes to just how mainstream African music and heritage has become over the years, one of the biggest takeaways from numerous interactions with Giants of Africa.
MC’ed by media personalities Makeda Mahadeo and Luckman “Lucky” Nzeyimana, the Spotify powered concert began sometime between 3 and 4 pm, with interchanging sets from the likes of DJ Sonia and DJ June, some of the country’s renowned entertainment liasons.
The show’s first performance was delivered by Tyla, a South African singer whose preferred singing style is amapiano with a tinge of pop. Tyla graced the audience with one of her popular hits “Water” which not only created space for her to exhibit her impressive vocal prowess but also her alluring dance moves, all of which the audience was excited about.
Proceeding another deejay set in between performances was arguably one of the momentous aspects of the night, Bruce Melodie’s performance intro. The 31-year- old musician captured the audience’s attention long before he appeared on stage, through a meticulously curated slideshow that emulating African camaraderie and heritage in a black panther star wars visual style, exhibiting a spaceship headed to Rwanda, which goes to show just how far creative content creation has progressed.
Melodie made his way to the stage immediately after the slideshow, receiving a warm and loud welcome from fans chanting “YuHuu” one of his go to expressions for excitement. Melodie performed fans’ favorite hits like Katerina, Saa Moya, Ikinyafu, and Ikinya that excited the audience, but that went up a notch when music producer turned singer Element joined him on stage to perform their recent collaborative project, Fou de toi. The crowd’s excitement increased as they joined the performers in singing the recently released hit, making it arguably one of the best parts of the performances.
As he concluded his performance, Bruce Melodie was gifted a custom Jersey from Masai Ujiri, president of the Toronto Raptors and co-founder of Giants of Africa.
Amidst the transitional deejay sets, a designated group of talented dancers championed by choreographer Jordan Kallas took to stage to entertain the audience with their incredible dance moves, and the prolonged transition in anticipation of Davido’s stage arrival really gave them the time and space to shine.
While the excitement exhibited by the audience during prior performances seemed to be vibrant, that fell to nothing in comparison to how Davido’s performance and arrival to stage was perceived, considering he was the man of the hour.
Upon his stage arrival, the audience exhibited a resounding roar that mostly stretched far beyond the walls of the arena, and that was before he uttered a single word. The shouts of joy with which he was welcomed resembled bottomless mimosas in the sense that they seemed endless, and the energy in the room was visibly and audibly heightened, setting just the right tone for Davido’s performance.
Davido went on to entertain the audience with off the chart hits such as Assurance, Electricity and Jowo, however it was Unavailable that truly set the crowd ablaze, and the fascinating dances he paired the performances with. At the end of his enormous performance, Davido was also gifted a custom jersey by Giants of Africa by Masai Ujiri, who excitedly expressed “You’re the best. We follow you, We love you.
You’d think an exhilarating performance like that would be hard to follow, but Tiwa Savage and her entourage were up for the challenge, and they made for a worthy closing act. Tiwa Savage’s stage arrival was one of the most ceremonious, and being accompanied by a designated hypeman amplified her performance which came in handy, considering Davido’s performance was a hard act to follow.
Tiwa Savage graced the stage with her “hypeman” and began her performances, some of which included one of her earlier hits Romantic, which got the audience excited, as well as Somebody’s son, a feature she did with mainstream artiste Brandy, that had the audience following line after line.
Savage’s performance came to an end and just like others before her, she was gifted a custom jersey by Giants of Africa hand delivered by Raptors president Masai Ujiri.
