Aramanda has wriggled its way out of being an event, and morphed into an agent of bonding, entertainment and edification.
“Aramanda Culture serves as a platform for the expression of gifts and talents that do not fall into the more traditional praise and worship sounds, Aramanda offers INTENTIONAL FUN and USEFUL EXCITEMENT without contradicting faith and values.”
The third extension of Aramanda took place on Easter Monday, 2023 at the Landmark centre.
Here at the Baton, we are the Jehoshaphat of Culture. The one saddled with the responsibility of documenting history as it unfolds in the faith-based sphere. We were out to document all the proceedings at Aramanda 3.0.
For an event billed to start by 4pm, teeming attendees had begun to fill up the venue, exchanging pleasantries, and bonding excitedly over Malta Guinness mocktails, one of the official sponsors of Aramandanda.
In furtherance of making everyone feel at home even though most of them were far from home, Dj Classix and Naga respectively supplied music policy and hype.
Aramdaa kicked off proper when DJ Horphuray decked in a yellow and white ensemble, in a bid to foster warmth and familiarity, introduced his set with an amapiano bop followed by Spyro’s friendship anthem “Who's your guy?”
The first musical performance was that of Sha De, from 4:58 - 5:05. A sonorous rendition, with the accompaniment of her guitar.
Edez was up next between 5:06 - 5:10 - dark glasses, woven hair, brown coat, beautiful smile, glasses for a four minute performance.
All clad in black, IBQuake rocked the crowd with a thought provoking spoken word performance. With the use culturally responsive word plays like;
“Odogwu and Bank On it”
“Too much Juice, Too much Sauce, even Ycee can’t touch this”
“Don't dare deny your source. Innate strength of Goku, ninja turtles”
And ending with “Folake what did you add in our stew?”
Ademola Makinde, AYO, Same OG and Izee Smith followed up conscetively for the next 20 minutes.
Kelar Thrillz, made another public performance after his gladsome performance at Rockfest with his Nike face cap and a bandana peeling from his jeans pocket. Came with a dance crew of 2 males.
Oba reengy performed with a live band. With his trademark beanies and pearl necklaces.
Peace Oni, aka Mummy GO helped doused the tension with her Mummy Go persona and wit.
Gil Joe, Philipiano, Protek illsheva and Femi Leye (who had impressive Guitar Solo performance) all added flavour to the mix.
An highlight of Aigbeh D’ gong brilliant performance was his moshpit(ing) where he had front row fans, form a big circle and responsively sing along to his more energetic songs.
Love Child Angeloh performed one of the crowd favourites ‘Jeje’ off his recently released album. this time not with Waje, but with a friend, Susan.
With a commanding crowd control, he performed ‘Something good’ with Gaise Baba and ended his setlist with ‘Baby’ featuring Tobi Toun.
Jo Deep's performance was remarkable, and for a lot of first timers who have been oblivious of his artistry, had a lasting experience to take home with them.
‘Calm as a dove’ Sinmidele and the ‘Fayaman’ Defayo were also part of performing artists at the event.
Convener, Gaise Baba gave an abridged but instructive charge about how important it is for Believers to take position and spread the Gospel in their sphere of influence
TY Bello made an appearance alongside Dr. FOY, and they premiered an unreleased song off her next studio album billed to drop on the 17th of May, 2023.
Spoken word artiste, Ore Macaulay gave a performance that would later turn out to be one of the highlights of the event.
“The mission is the same but the expression is not”
“ Tell the Moses that the Joshuas’s are here”
“ We come with the message of eternal life but we come with the vibrations too”
“Look around we surround. Tell the city we are coming”
AEO performance was beyond convincing, the reactions after each setlist bolstered how remarkably the expansion of his following.
Sheye Banks also had a hype set where he employed energy and nostalgia to pull the crowd into participation. Not to forget Manolo who handled hype and stage control.
Greatman Takit enjoyed the company of a lot of his brothers while performing. It was a full stage.
Gaise Baba and Prinx Emmanuel were the ones who would bring what had accumulated into a beautiful experience to an end.
Aramandanda Culture was a beautiful experience, to see hundreds of youth in their glory, come to be in the presence of God and return all glory to him.
An event worthy of emulation, fingers crossed and pen ready to document, we hope to see a healthy concert culture in the gospel scene.
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