Rwandan Minister of Sports and Culture Julienne Uwacu on Monday sent an apology to Kenyan Afro-pop group Sauti Sol following a failed performance over the weekend in Kigali.
Taking to her social media, Ms Julienne took the blame after the band was unable to perform at the Pan-African Dance Festival (FESPAD) as scheduled.
"I and the staff of the Ministry of Sports & Culture deeply regret our failure to host the FESPAD launch that both the artists and the Rwandan public deserve.
"We apologize to SautiSol, every artist as well as to Rwandan fans for this failure. The lessons learned will not be wasted," she stated.
[caption caption="Rwandan Minister of Sports and Culture Julienne Uwacu"]
[/caption]
Through their official account, the band replied, "Thank you very much Hon. @JUwacu . Rwanda has always shown us love and we can't wait to come back and rock with you. Until then, peace and love."
The Short N Sweet hitmakers, who are currently on a world tour, had earlier expressed their disappointment at being unable to perform during the festival.
In a statement seen by Kenyans.co.ke, the band explained that the cancellation of their performance was as a result of an organisational issue with the promoters of the festival.
"They reached out to us and despite our busy schedule in Zambia we took the time to accommodate this show because as usual we were excited to come play in Kigali. We always have a blast playing for our Rwandan fans!
"Our flight which was arranged by the promoters was scheduled to arrive at 9:30 PM and upon landing, we were informed that the festival was to close by 10:30 PM. Knowing this, we did our very best to be there on time," the statement read in part.
They added that before they could get on stage, it was announced that the festival was over leading to the cancellation of their performance.
"This was a deeply disappointing outcome and the situation was out of our hands. If it was up to us we would have rocked out like we always do!" they concluded.
Our sincere apologies to all the Rwandese fans. Thank you so much for the support and we will soon come back. WE LOVE YOU pic.twitter.com/PUvg1DCOI6
— SAUTI SOL (@sautisol) July 30, 2018
Sauti Sol is an award-winning Afro-pop group from Kenya, crowned Best Group (Africa) at the MTV Africa Music Awards (2016 MTV MAMA), 2016 Soundcity MTV Awards and African Muzik Magazine Awards ( 2016 AFRIMMA). They also won Best African Group at All Africa Music.
It comprises of four members Bien- Aime Baraza (vocalist, songwriter and guitarist), Willis Austin Chimano (vocalist, keytar and saxophone player), Polycarp Otieno (guitarist and producer) and Savara Mugidi (vocalist, percussionist and drummer).
