Once hit girl group, Blu*3, is set to hold a concert in March next year.
They announced this Thursday night during their reunion show held at Protea Hotel Kampala Skyz Naguru where the trio played live before an intimate audience.
Towards the tail end of the show, Lilian Mbabazi told the audience that Blu*3 will stage a concert come Women’s Day on March 8, 2024, at Kampala Serena Hotel.
“What way to bring something special than the beautiful ladies from Uganda?” Lilian intimated amid deafening ululations.
It will be a concert to look forward to especially after a year that has revived the debate on an industry contending with a deficit of good music.
The trio haven’t performed together on the same stage in fifteen years.
“You know we’ve been doing rehearsals and each time we would be like… ‘What’s this? Blu*3? We’re back?’ When we started we were young, now we are grown-a** women. We’ve gone through life. And today, we just wanted to remember who we were when we started our journey,” Lilian told revelers gathered at the Skyz Hotel poolside.
The group opened with Whoa, one of their very first releases.
Cinderella Sanyu (Cindy) paid tribute to Jackie Chandiru whom she said has been through a lot and has “inspired a lot of us in so many ways” with her strong comeback after her (Jackie) difficult struggle with drug abuse. “I’m so proud of you Jackie”.
The Boom Party singer also paid a special tribute to Steve Jean, the producer, and songwriter who founded and managed Blu*3 until 2008 when they separated. It was through Steve’s meticulous and aggressive management that Blu*3 became popular for their unique lyrics, captivating choreography and vocal harmony. At the peak of their career, they were referred to as Africa’s Destiny’s Child.
“Steve Jean picked me up from a small place in Kabalagala called Kikuba Mutwe. And from there, he was like ‘You have to go for these auditions’. So, I can’t start this show without recognizing him,” Cindy said.
The three wore 2-piece suits, Jackie, Cindy and Lilian going for purple, white and red respectively.
The live show was attended by Eddy Kenzo and Sheebah, who make up the leadership of the Uganda National Musicians Federation (UNMF), perhaps to affirm their appeal for unity in the industry. The second half of this year saw Cindy and Sheebah faceoff in a brutal media campaign to promote their music battle.
Blu*3 took their fans on a journey through their career, beginning with songs that characterized their rise, among them Strong Woman, Mutima Gwange, Nkwekumide and Nsanyuka Nawe. They also performed Kankyakyankye, Ndibera Nawe and Hitaji.
Rapper Navio joined them midway through their set to perform Burn.
While this was a reunion, they spared the final moments of their one-and-a-half-hour set to celebrate their individual strengths, each doing one of their solo projects like Dagala (Lilian), Gold Digger (Jackie) and Selecta (Cindy).
They alternated between standing and sitting. At some point, they had conversations with the audience, asking them what they remembered Blu*3 for.
Online sentiments from those who attended or streamed the show were glowing with many alluding to the fact that they had missed music in its rawness.
The reunion was prompted in July of last year with a teaser from Lilian. The teaser elicited excitement among their fans who have had to wait for seventeen months to see the three on the same stage.
While fans would love to see more of this, Cindy has previously ruled out a permanent reunion of the trio, saying she is not willing to abandon her solo career which is going well.
“But we can do a concert together, we can do a tour together, we can do a collaboration,” Cindy said early 2019.
Of the three, Cindy has enjoyed a far much successful solo career. Her 2009 debut solo album ‘Ayokyayokya’ topped charts all over East Africa with hits like Ayokyayokya, and One and Only. In 2016, she beat Juliana Kanyomozi, Kenya’s Victoria Kimani and Avril, Ethiopia’s Fikeraddis Nekatebeb and Irene Ntale to an AFRIMA Award (Best Female East Africa) for Still Standing.
A lot has happened since 2008 when Cindy parted ways with Jackie and Lillian. From solo careers, to parenting, to Jackie’s battle with drugs. The latter had especially even further made any efforts of a reunion impossible.
Blu*3 emerged from Coca Cola Pop Stars, a 2004 talent search that sought to find three gifted individuals who would represent Uganda on the world music stage.
Cindy was 17, Lillian 19 and Jackie 18 when they auditioned for Pop Stars.
Cindy met Jackie through Lillian as the two were already friends. Their (trio) paths first crossed during their Kampala auditions, but it wasn’t until the final 12 contestants traveled to Mombasa, Kenya that the three would further get acquainted.
On the final day in Mombasa as the 12 were singing together, Cindy, Jackie and Lillian held hands. And that’s the moment the judges felt this trio was destined for a singing group. Rather than select three single winners for Pop Stars, the judges chose a group which later became Blu*3.
The group lasted 4 years. Four years that came with remarkable success – two Pam Awards wins, a Kisima Awards win, a Channel O Music Video Award nomination, a Kora Awards nomination, a Tanzania Music Awards nomination, a major album (Hitaji) launch, an African tour, and good airplay beyond Uganda.
In 2008, Cindy left the group.
Management had granted the three a month off after many months of grinding.
Cindy chose to fly to Spain to unwind and enjoy the much-needed break with her then boyfriend Mario Brunette who then lived in Italy.
According to Jackie’s account of events, when the month ended, Cindy sent a message to Lillian saying she wasn’t coming back to Uganda.
