ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

Cece Winans' concert at Kampala Serena Hotel last Friday made up for the two times she had cancelled her earlier tours here. You could see she was a musician from a different league; one who believes fervently in her God even amidst criticism that her brand of gospel music is watered down. From the bottom of my heart: Gospel artiste Cece Winans performs at Kampala Serena Hotel on Friday. "God does not care about how many Grammys I have. At the end of the day, He will only be interested in whether I led a life that is a reflection of Him," she counselled. The eighth sibling from the popular Winans singing family was here for a benefit concert in aid of Watoto Child Care Ministries, a Kampala Pentecostal Church initiative out to give orphaned children a chance at being normal children and groom them into becoming tomorrow’s leaders. It seems to be working because according to Pastor Gary Skinner's wife, Marylyn, 30 of the pioneer Watoto children are in university. Cece and her eight-piece ensemble were here to push that message of hope as sung in a stanza in her song Colourful World that talks about the "millions of children with possibilities." Her 90-minute concert featured a montage of mostly her works as a solo artiste. It was a strong interplay of medleys, up-tempo, slow tempo songs and a little bit of the dancehall reggae flavour. Her three backup singers energised her vocal outpourings with clean, flawless harmonies as she sang gems from her songbook such as Purified, Well Alright, Alabaster Box, We Thirst, Colourful World, Pray and Sunday school anthems like Jesus Loves Me. The chatty sessions in-between her songs were moving tales about God's immense love, all told with the gentility of a patient disciple and not the vigour of a rambling television evangelist. The audience commiserated with her when she talked about the death of her second elder brother but also rose spontaneously to dance to her groovy songs. On the familiar ones, her fans sang along accompanying her bold and declarative voice. She looked overwhelmed by the ecstatic audience although the heavy bass line did injustice to her up-tempo songs. She exited unceremoniously like her rapture had come early, which left some murmuring. Live concert etiquette requires that an artiste introduces his/her band, something Cece overlooked. Still the concert, which had Christian dance troupe I4C and the Watoto Children's Choir as opening acts, ranked up there among things you just can't be told about. You had to experience it.

Other Stories - 11/12/06