For years, Vinka’s fans did not simply ask for a concert. They demanded one.
Last year, an online petition circulated across social media calling on Swangz Avenue to give Veronica Nakiyingi Lugya, popularly known as Vinka, her own major concert. After years of releasing music, building a loyal following and becoming one of the label’s most recognisable faces, fans felt she had waited long enough.
Then, earlier this year, the demand moved from social media to the streets.
A group of Makerere University students reportedly showed up at Swangz Avenue’s offices, demanding a Vinka concert. The unexpected visit left the singer emotional, even as some observers questioned whether it had been stage-managed.
Vinka insists the moment was genuine.
“I remember I had a rehearsal and I thought it was a joke. The next thing I see is a group of people coming into our conference room,” she recalls.
What moved her most was not simply the demand for a concert, but the realisation that people cared enough to physically show up for her.
“I got emotional because of the surprise and to know that I am loved that much.”
Now, the petitions, questions and fan demands have finally produced an answer.
Vinka will take the stage at the Cricket Oval on Friday, August 21, for her first major concert, a moment she describes as the culmination of years of growth, criticism, hard work and patience.
But this is not simply a concert announcement. It is also a milestone in one of Uganda’s more unusual music journeys.
Swangz Avenue co-founder Julius Kyazze has described Vinka as his biggest investment, a statement that carries considerable weight coming from a man who has helped build some of the country’s most successful entertainment brands.
For Vinka, the description is both flattering and understandable.
“It feels really good. I am so blessed to hear that,” she says.
She knows, however, that the investment was not only financial.
“When you hear my story, how all this started, when the idea of getting an artiste who is also a performer, then getting that kind of artiste, the backlash the artiste and the label received, the debts, the investment the label has put into the artiste, to becoming the artiste she is now… I think that is what it means for him.”
From dancer to artiste
Vinka’s journey with Swangz Avenue began long before she became a recording artiste.
She was a dancer, appearing in the late Sera’s Fire video and participating in school tours, events and activations. Her first major connection to Swangz Avenue came through artiste management.
She did not have experience in the field, but she was prepared to learn.
“Someone told me the label needed someone to help them with artiste management. I didn’t have the experience, but I was like, ‘I will learn on the job,’” she recalls.
At the time, she was still dancing for Jackie Chandiru. She eventually moved into artiste management, working with Irene Ntale while learning under Kyazze and Benon Mugumbya.
She describes the arrangement as a learning experience in which she always had senior figures to guide her.
Then came an unexpected proposition.
Kyazze had been considering the idea of finding a female artiste who could combine music with strong performance skills. Vinka immediately liked the idea.
“That would be dope because that would be my artiste as well,” she told him.
Then came the question that changed everything: What if she became that artiste?
At first, Vinka thought he was joking.
The idea remained in the background until she raised it again during another staff meeting. This time, Kyazze gave her the opening she needed.
“Whenever you are ready.”
Vinka, who had also worked as a voice-over artiste, began experimenting with music.
The dancer was about to become the artiste.
An uncomfortable beginning
Her debut, however, came at an awkward moment.
Vinka entered the public spotlight in 2017, around the same period Irene Ntale left Swangz Avenue. Her arrival became entangled in the speculation surrounding Ntale’s departure, and the new artiste found herself facing criticism before she had even established her own identity.
“The public did not first accept me. It was a very complicated entrance to a new world for me,” she says.
But what initially looked like a disadvantage eventually became an unlikely launchpad.
“It is now that I realised it was to my advantage because I began to be noticed as an artiste despite the backlash.”
The criticism did not make her retreat. Instead, she used it as motivation.
“The abuses made me work harder, release better songs and develop a tougher skin.”
That resilience became an important part of her evolution.
When Vinka started out, her dancing and stage energy often attracted as much attention as her music. She admits that even within Swangz Avenue, she had to be reminded to focus on singing.
“I remember Julius and Benon reminding me to sing,” she says.
Over the years, however, she deliberately worked on her vocals and gradually learned how to balance singing with the performance skills that had made her stand out in the first place.
Today, she believes the difference between the Vinka who released her first songs and the artiste preparing for Friday’s concert is significant.
“I have grown vocally,” she says.
Why now?
For Vinka, the timing of her first concert is not accidental.
She believes she has finally reached a point where her catalogue, vocals, experience and confidence can sustain a major live performance.
“Vocally, emotionally, I can now do a show for an hour and more. The body of work is there,” she says. “I am not going to sing for people only five songs and leave.”
She is preparing to perform more than 30 songs, giving fans a journey through the different stages of her career.
But Vinka is less interested in simply counting songs than in creating an experience.
“The numbers might be there and you don’t give people the experience they deserve,” she says.
That is why she wants audiences to see every side of her.
“Vinka, the dancer, the performer, the creative.”
In many ways, Friday’s concert is an attempt to compress eight years of growth into one night.
Why Cricket Oval?
Choosing Cricket Oval for a debut concert is ambitious, and Vinka knows it.
“Yes, Cricket Oval is big,” she says. “But I believe with my brand, it’s the right venue.”
She believes moving to a smaller venue could have meant leaving some of her supporters behind.
“If I had taken it to Serena, I feel some of my fans would be left out.”
The spacious venue also provides room for sponsors to create additional experiences around the concert, something Vinka says would not have been possible in a more confined setting.
But the size of the venue is not, for her, simply a statement about how many people she hopes to attract.
Her priority is what those people experience once they arrive.
“One thing about me is that I love to deliver.”
A one-off, for now
Fans hoping to turn Friday’s concert into an annual Vinka tradition may have to wait.
The singer says the preparation required for a major concert has changed her perspective on staging such events.
“No,” she says when asked whether fans should expect another concert next year and the year after.
“It takes a lot of preparations, background work, rehearsals and so much more.”
Preparations for this concert have been underway since the beginning of the year, reinforcing her belief that a major show cannot simply be organised because fans demand it.
It has to be the right time.
And perhaps that explains why Vinka remained patient through the petition, the questions and even the students who showed up at Swangz Avenue’s offices.
She knew the concert would eventually happen. She simply wanted it to happen when she was ready.
Now, the dancer who became an artiste manager, the manager who unexpectedly became an artiste, and the newcomer who entered the industry amid controversy is finally preparing for her biggest stage yet.
Her fans petitioned. Makerere students showed up. Kyazze watched his investment develop.
On Friday, Vinka gets to show them what that investment has become.
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