Jamaican recording ragga artiste Shaggy is coming to town. An international star who has won several music awards and sold over 36 million albums worldwide will land at Entebbe airport aboard British airways on the morning of December 29.

The show dubbed ‘Boombastic’ will take place at Speke Resort Munyonyo December 31, ushering Kampala in to the New Year. Coffee Break’s Evelyn Kiapi Matsamura had a chat with the proprietor of Ange Mystique Charlie Lubega, who is also the direct link between Shaggy and you. And he says, attending the Shaggy concert will be worth the charge.

There are many celebrated musicians out there. Why did you zero down on Shaggy?

I chose Shaggy because he’s got all these achievements and his music appeals to people of all ages. All radio stations play Shaggy music, so do all nightclubs. Even people in their homes all play Shaggy’s music. I could not think of a better artiste than Shaggy. He is an international ragga star. There is no one else who could be better than him.

How hard or easy was it for you to ‘drag’ him down here?

It was a bit hard because they have what we call a technical rider, and it is very hard to meet their demands. This includes the equipment they want to use, the number of people that are coming and so many other things. We had to assure them that we would meet this rider. That was a big challenge for us, but we gave them the guarantee and that’s how we got the contract signed.

What’s your immediate concern now?

We are hassling and struggling to put things together. We want it to be a successful show. We are leaving no stones unturned and that’s from the sound requirements, the venue which we want to make easily accessible, and we want people to spend as little time on the way as possible.

Any special arrangement to curb traffic jams that evening?

We have gone into a detailed plan on how to get to Munyonyo. We want some people to use Salama road. That’s a road people do not use yet it has less traffic compared to Gaba road. It would take people less time to get there. For those who insist on using other routes, could pass through Industrial area, then up to Reste Corner and through Muyenga and then to Bunga through the swamp. The road is a bit rough, but not impassable. We shall have all the signage to show people so that they do not get lost, come the day. We are also working it out with UTODA to have some taxis ferrying fans from the city square, taxi parks, Ntinda, Bwaise and all other parts of the town. We also got secure free parking at Kabalagala as well as on Salama road. Whoever parks their cars there will be ferried to and fro Munyonyo by taxi.

When do gates

Gates willat midday and performances will start at 3 p.m. We have all the local artistes you can think of; Chameleone, Ragga Dee, Ziggy D, Juliana, Titi, Trishilla, Yvette, Bebe Cool, and Sam Gombya…everybody wanted to be there and we did not want to limit anybody. So people will be paying for one show but will have many shows on stage.

When these leave, we shall have Shaggy’s own curtain raisers Rayvon, Brian and Tony Gold and Rikrok. After that, Shaggy will come on stage to take us into the New Year. We shall have a count down with the biggest fireworks display to take us in to the New Year. All the arrangements are in place for the toilets, the bars and drinks. We want people to be in easy reach of everything.

What’s the sitting arrangement like?

We have a sitting arrangement for Platinum ticket holders (Shs 100,000) and these are entitled to dinner and complimentary drinks. Those are the people who will have seats with easy proximity to stage and toilets.

Then, the Gold ticket holders (Shs 40,000) and Silver (Shs 20,000) ticket holders will also have access to the stage, food, drinks and sanitary facilities. We want all groups to be near the stage because these are the people who make the show. We will also have giant screens to show close-ups of all the artistes. Tickets start selling on December 22.

And the sound system?

We will have sound systems on a delay stack. The sound is normally far away from the people who are at the back. So it does not carry with the same strength as the people at the front. The delay system will ensure that those at the back will receive the sound coming from the stage at the same time. We are getting the sound system from South Africa, but Shaggy will also come with some equipment like what like microphones. The lighting is coming from Kenya.

How many people are you expecting?

We do not know, but we are planning for the unexpected, for so many people so that if they turn up in big numbers they will not be disappointed. We want people to have a good time and demand that we do it over and over again.

“I just want to continue making an impression on people. You don’t have to come aboard from day one; as long as somewhere along the line, you do. If you don’t know me yet, come to a Shaggy concert. I guarantee, when you leave, you will be a Shaggy fan” - Shaggy.