POATE 2025 climaxes in style

The Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo (POATE) 2025 came to an end on Saturday at Speke Resort Munyonyo, after four days of showcasing Uganda’s sights, sounds and tastes to the world.

The expo started on May 21 with performances from Crane Performers, who brought a variety of folk songs and Ugandan traditional dances. The troupe was joined by contemporary dancer Uncle Walter, whose dance routine told the story of Akena, a son of the soil returning to his homeland after a long time.

Other performers on the opening night included rapper Navio, who thrilled the audience with some of his culture-infused songs such as Nawulira and Njogereza; Susan Kerunen, Ebrahim Soul’o, Carsten and Tracy Melon. It would not be a perfect opener for a cultural heritage expo if a fashion showcase was not on the menu.

To achieve this, Ibrahim and Godfrey Community fashion house treated the audience to some out-of-this-world fashion trends. The models modelled how bark cloth has evolved as a fashion trend, as opposed to the cultural attire it was back in the day.

Fast-track to the final day of the expo, and the stage was set as early as 2 pm, next to the calm waters of Lake Victoria. With the weather just perfect, delegates strolled in for a warm evening by the lake, as others visited the various stalls exhibiting and selling pieces of art, crafts and memorabilia.

Patrick Salvador, the host of the music festival, took to the stage curated by Talent Africa, and kicked off the fun. Crane Performers returned with a Kinyarwanda dance, among other traditional dances.

Later, world music rising star Brian Aliddeki stepped on stage with his guitar, and had the audience’s attention, especially the VIP section, from the first note. After Aliddeki’s performance, Abeeka band – arguably the most booked band lately – put on an amazing set. The band left no one seated throughout their stellar performance.

At 7:30 pm, the entertainment switched to comedy, with Madrat and Chico cracking some ribs. Their act was mostly enjoyed by the ordinary section, where most Ugandans were seated; the VIP section mostly had international delegates, who remained lost in translation.

But there was no time to sit down because Winnie Nwagi had everyone, including international delegates, dancing their feet off. Nwagi came in with Mataala, sending the crowd into a frenzy.

She took the crowd on a marathon of her hit songs all the way to Malaika, leaving her fans hungry for more. Then, taking the crowd back in time, Blu 3 (Cindy Sanyu, Jackie Chandiru, Lillian Mbabazi) had a field day on stage singing Frisky, Hitaji, Kankyakyankye, and Nsanyuka Naawe.

And what would the night be without the uniquely talented DJ Suuna Ben? Ben finally served his Binyanyanyanya set to the elite Speke Resort Munyonyo crowd; yes, the branches somehow found their way to the dance floor, and people were popping like they were high on something only Ssuuna could name!

Everyone, including those in the VIP section, was holding a tree branch from God knows where, shirtless, and bopping to the beat.

The music he plays and mixes with high tempo beats cannot be placed under any specific genre, hence giving it his own genre, (Binyanyanyanya – tomato stew) but that is not what matters; what matters is what it does to his fans. And that is how you close an international tourism expo!

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