Nationally renown songstress Naava Grey has announced a live concert.Called the “Naava Grey Live Symphonic Concert”,it is slated for 14th February 2025 at the Kampala Serena Hotel.
Tickets will go for one hundred and fifty thousand shillings for Ordinary and three million shillings for VIP.
The news has been widely welcomed and celebrated by fans who are excited about the chance to watch the somewhat reclusive singer live in concert.It has been coming for some time now,with the artiste’s official social media pages teasing a big announcement nearly two weeks ago.
The performer has already made clear her eagerness to showcase her ability to her loyal fans with a post that read “I can’t wait to share this magical evening with you all.Let’s celebrate love,music and the journey we’ve been on together”
Although never boasting the number of hit songs of her contemporaries,Naava is widely recognized as one of the finest vocalists in the country.For more than a decade now,she has developed and maintained a reputation as a maker of the moving tender ballads that endeared the likes of Juliana Kanyomozi and Iryn Namubiru before her to the people.
Naava remains one of the very few artistes to successfully transition from Tusker Project Fame contestant to mainstream music star.In fact,a sturdy case can be made that she is the most successful of them all.
Despite being evicted early on in the prestigious television show’s 2008 edition,Naava is unparalleled among the alumni,with only compatriots Esther Nabaasa and Davis Ntare,as well as Rwanda’s Alpha Rwirangira,all of whom actually won the singing contest,even coming remotely close to achieving any meaningful relevance in comparison to her.
Naava broke out in 2011 with the wonderfully weird electronic pop offering “Aliba Wani”,but it was really “Nteredde”,which also came out later that year,that truly launched her into stardom.A staple of radio and TV countdowns and request shows,it introduced the singer into the general public’s consciousness.And even now,over a decade later,it can be argued that it became the song most emblematic of Naava’s craft.
She followed up her breakthrough with a breathtaking run of several ballads,including such songs as “Ninga Omuloge”,”Soka Lami”,”Aliba Omu” and “Champion”,the powerfully inspirational 2012 collaboration with rapper Mun G.
That link up would also go on to produce the 2013 club banger “Sejusa”,which proved that Naava could mix up her repertoire and successfully do the commercially viable sound that turned her peers into superstars,but which she has always seemed to be reluctant to embrace.
And yet even without it,Naava has,through a combination of splendid vocal ability and a frankly mindblowing prolificness,made a name for herself as the female custodian of soulful Ugandan music in quite the same way Maurice Kirya has as the male.If Kirya is the king of “Mwooyo”,Naava is undoubtedly the queen.Her royal origins only serve to add more sheen to her crown.
The Valentine’s Day date can’t be co-incidental,as Naava is surely aware of her reputation when it comes to making love songs.It therefore promises to be more than just a show,but rather,like the artiste herself has said,a celebration of love.
It is a testament to Naava’s mastery of her genre that despite the ticket prices being a bit steep for a local artiste,there have been virtually no complaints.Fans are assured that with Naava,the quality will be well worth the expenditure.
