Holding Uganda’s banner for Christian rap

With a mic in hand, in baggy jeans and cowboy boots, wearing black-rimmed glasses, he swaggered onto the stage and launched into an intense rap session like all his life depended on it. It was at a men's convention organised by Makerere Full Gospel Church. The older men that first looked on nonchalantly soon rose and bopped to the rhythms, moving their heads like thrilled lizards!  

Straight Eloquent writes eloquent lyrics for Jesus. God has given him a message of love, hope and salvation

Straight Eloquent was the rapper, and the track with which he rocked the convention is his 2010 debut, Better Day, about the tough times he has had to endure and how God saw him through it all. 

"I was once expelled from school for disobedience, and have had to battle several addictions but God has always had my back," says the lanky rapper. "This inspired the message of the song –that no matter what life hurls at you, you have to remain strong and keep hoping for the best because the days always get better."

Better Day's uplifting message, infectious chorus and overall lyrical flow all combined to earn the artiste credibility among gospel and secular hip-hop lovers. The hit is the craze on Christian radio stations and has defied the odds to top the Hot 100 FM Hot 6 countdown which runs 6-7pm weekdays.

Eloquent was born Martin Mubangizi, in 1988, the first-born of eight children. As a boy, he had a brush with death after swallowing a 50-shilling coin. He also sees with one eye, the other having been poked blind with a stick by his mother while trying to get him from under the bed where he had hidden to avoid punishment. And at school, he was often a target of teasing: "People called me names like 'cross-eyed' and 'crocodile' because I've large teeth."

In a quest for acceptance and the restlessness that comes with growing up without a father-figure, Eloquent often jumped the school fence to go drinking and dancing in night clubs.

He also sought refuge in American rap music: "Eminem was the guy I looked up to because he too was single-handedly raised by his mother under difficult circumstances, and I was inspired by his me-against-them attitude." Soon, Eloquent adopted Emenem's swagger, and started writing his own rhymes as well. 

In 2005, he was invited to Abundant Church in Entebbe by a friend. So was he moved by the preacher's message that he got got saved.

"It was relieving but because I didn't have any spiritual friends, I continued struggling with low self-esteem and jumping over the fence to access drugs," he says. "But I also kept telling myself my walk would be straight  now that I was saved, and started writing eloquent rhymes for Jesus. That's how I became 'Straight Eloquent'. 

After getting saved, Eloquent attended a gospel rap show, and in excitement started rapping. An underground gospel rapper and producer was mesmerised by the boy's stage magnetism, rapid-fire flow, beguiling wordplay and emotional voice, he asked him to join him. The duo became Holy Rhapsody and recorded six tracks together, including popular songs like Busted and Rap the Devil Dead.

In 2007, the other member went solo, leaving Eloquent shattered: "It felt like a vote of no confidence in my ability. I quit rapping and concentrated on my books."

A year later, Hot 100FM organised an all-school hip-hop contest. Eloquent then in S.5 at Crane High School, won the berth to represent his school.

"The battle was fierce, man, they would play you a beat and you would rap on it freestyle," he recalls. "I was up against tight kids from cutting-edge schools like Budo and Kisubi but God favoured me because they rapped about girls, guns and drugs in vulgarity but I chose to be different; my lyrics had a message."

Eloquent won the competition, and with it a recording contract at Baava Studios. He went on to record hits like Lord Jesus, Through It All and Talk This That which are all enjoying radio airplay. The Ride or Die video in which he features Levite Clan is enjoying massive television rotation on LTV, Top Television and on NBS and NTV's Sunday gospel shows. His latest performance was at the 2011 Bayimba International Festival of the Arts.

"God has given me a message of love, hope and salvation." he concludes. "My mission is to share this message with the world through hip-hop."

--Saturday Monitor,  January 14, 2012  

Is holy hip hop the new religion that will transform youth culture?

They wear baggy outfits without showing their drawers and use slang but avoid the ‘F’ word and other profanities , writes Dennis D. Muhumuza

In a moving song, Glory 2 U Jesus, Renee, MC of The Levite Clan, mourns his “hommie” dying of HIV/Aids even after using condoms. Since the condom cannot be wholly trusted, he suggests C in the ABC strategy against HIV/Aid should represent Christ, who gives us the grace to remain faithful and to abstain.

He’s one example of many Ugandan Christian rap artists turning to holy hip hop to sing the truth about the world primarily to share the love of God and spread Jesus’ fame. The online encyclopaedia, Wikipaedia, defines holy hip hop, also known as Christian hip hop or gospel rap, as “a form of hip hop music which uses Christian themes to express the songwriter’s faith,” and is used for evangelisation.

It’s largely because of the youths’ affection for rap music that holy rappers have retained the positive elements of hip hop like fashion, b-boying (break dance) and graffiti to appeal to their core audience. In fact, there’s little difference between a local holy hip artiste and a gangsta rapper like 50 Cent, at least in outlook.

They look thuggish and rugged without being indecent; cornrows, bandanas, baseball caps and bling is their style. They wear baggy outfits without showing their drawers and use slang but avoid the F word and other profanities.

Interesting is seeing a guy with that “bad boy look” dripping Biblical verses and a message that brings life so much that a listener returns home feeling this joy and excitement and a conviction that the artiste has an intimate relationship with God. “We become all things to all men so that we may win some souls for Jesus,” says Renee. “What you see on the outside is our designer shell but our souls are very well.”

According to a feature film simply titled Holy Hip Hop (2006), produced and directed by American Christian rapper and actor Christopher “Play” Martin, holy hip hop movement began in the US in the late 1980s but is one of the fastest growing music genres today, with over 2000 active emcees and countless fans worldwide.

The exclusive video features several Christian rappers sharing personal testimonies of how God delivered them from the life of addictions (drugs, alcohol, sex, materialism etc.), and rearranged their thinking and lives. With the knowledge that hip hop is a more comprehensive way of expressing oneself, they turned to holy hip hop by which they share God’s love through spiritually-enlightening rhymes (songs).

Indeed those who were hooked to secular hip hop have after getting saved found in holy hip hop a perfect antidote to the likes of Snoop Dogg or Eminem that used to play in their CD Changers. The holy hip hop movement in Uganda, as it is, may be a crawling baby but it’s right on time considering the high number of young people that make the vibrant community of savadees.
The Levite Clan, Shalom Rapperz, Holy Rhapsody and Pure Souls, among others, comprise some of the local holy hip hop’s trailblazing artistes.

They got the much needed psychological and spiritual boost in 2007 when Sean Slaughter, the son of renowned worship leader, Alvin Slaughter, while in Uganda, said the greatest decision he made was quitting the fame and money as a producer of Wu-Tang Clan (an American hardcore rap group) and turning to holy hip hop after accepting Jesus Christ as his personal saviour.
Convinced that the global holy hip hop movement will change the youth culture profoundly, these soldiers of Christ have since become the local voices of holy hip hop who move to schools and universities, and are often spotted at crusades, Bible in one hand, microphone in the other, swaggering across the stage with a powerful message delivered behind heavy and infectious beats.

Gospel Night at Speke Hotel on Tuesdays, and during Change at Thursdays on JP Plaza – about the only spots that give Ugandan holy hip hop pre-eminence, these young energetic rappers continue to spit bars (slang for rap) to advertise the name of Jesus, and in so doing have blessed a number of souls.

“Holy hip hoppers rap and the sick get healed and the spiritually dead come to life” says Ivan “No Hell 01” Wobusobozi of The Levite Clan. He then tells the testimony of a Canadian lady who was changed by their song, Is God Really Good, off their debut album Christ in da Youth Culture (2007).

The woman’s son was in jail, and she was in rehab wrestling with drug addiction. But watching the song on U-tube, its message convicted her to repent. The song tries to answer the question we all pose as to whether God is fair, especially when we see good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people.

It’s one of the beauties about holy hip hop that while pastors are more confined to the church; holy hip hoppers see the world as their parish and try as much to reach as many people as they can.“We are called by God to change the face of hip hop music and the whole industry at large,” says Ivan “Brokim” Mujere of the Shalom Rapperz.

“However, it has become very hard for the world to understand that this genre of music can be used without having to be vulgar or explicit, that it can be used to bring change and hope.”

Without mincing words, Jonah “Eloquent” Ahimbisibwe of the holy hip hop duo Holy Rhapsody accuses gangsta rap of idolising sex, guns, material wealth, power and violence.

“But holy hip is a ministry on a mission to save urban youth from the highly poisonous songs of secular rap and help them refocus their attention on the cross of Jesus, so that they can live life to the fullest for the One that created us all.
--Sunday Monitor, April 26, 2009

Boyz II Men are coming to paint Kampala with love

DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

When Boyz II Men perform in Kampala next weekend, it will be a time to reminisce for the high school "kids" of the first half of the 1990s, when songs like End of the Road, I'll Make love to You and On Bended Knee were hugely popular. They will be reminded of the "squeeze" dance during "socials" and the grooving that crowned inter-school debates and seminars.

Boys coupled with girls and slow-danced to Boyz II Men's enchanting "love cuts" on memorable evenings. One day during holidays, my elder brother told us how he had serenaded the most beautiful girl from Bweranyangi Girls School, bringing tears of love to her eyes! End of the Road was the magic!

He knew all the Boyz II Men songs word for word and the wall above his bed was plastered with a mega poster of them with sharp boxy haircuts that every high school lad at the time loved to sport. Masters of the romantic song, Boyz II Men's lyrics played a prominent role in the love letters wooing the stunning girls in the neighbouring school.

The passionate choruses that made their smooth harmonies were unforgettable and lovely to sing along to, which made it easy for the school show-offs that loved to mime their songs. R&B and new jack swing was in vogue and Boyz II Men were a young and stylish act with great vocals that had many try to replicate their style. No doubt it will be a memorable day to see them perform live in Kampala.

They are now older than the four adorable smiling young men on the poster in my brother's room back in the day that we all wanted to be like, but they are still Boyz II Men. If the four-time Grammy award-winning, chart-topping, record-breaking, most commercially successful male urban soul artistes that have sold more than 60 million recordings are truly coming to Kampala, then it's amazing!

You have to delve into history to fully appreciate the magnitude of their talent and acclaim. Marc Nelson, Nathan Morris, Michael McCary, Shawn Stockman and Wanya Morris first hooked up in high school in 1988 under the name Unique Attraction.

"Boyz II Men were put together by Boyz II Men," Wanya Morris told Shane Gilchrist of Otago DailyTimes Online in a May 2008 interview. "There was nobody standing off to the side saying 'I want to put together a group'. Music put us together – that is our mother. Music is our mother."

When the quintet sneaked backstage at a 1989 concert and impressed a former New Edition singer-turned producer, Michael Bivins, with an acapella version of New Edition's Can You Stand the Rain, they had no idea a miracle was about to happen; Bivins offered them a recording deal on the spot! They immediately changed their name to Boyz II Men, an altered version of Boys to Men, another song by New Edition, the group they idolised that brought them good luck.
Suddenly, Marc Nelson quit; leaving other members dispirited but determined to move on. Their first album, Cooleyhighharmony was released in 1991 and became an instant hit, winning them the 1992 Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.
It was followed with the alluring End of the Road which confirmed the notion that Boyz II Men were "crooning Cupids." The ballad was no.1 on the music charts for 13 weeks, breaking the earlier record of 11 weeks set by Elvis Presley's double-titled single Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog.

In 1994, they released their second album simply titled II. It went up and on to sell over 12 million copies in the US alone. This album has timeless harmonies like On Bended Knee, Water Runs Dry and I'll Make Love to You. The latter enjoyed a record 14 weeks atop the charts, ending End of the Road's 13-week reign. It was later overthrown by On Bended Knee and Boyz II Men joined Elvis Presley and the Beatles in music books as the only artistes to replace themselves at number one.

In 2005, they scooped two Grammy Awards for Best R&B Album for II and Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for I'll Make Love To You. They had become legends and are said to have started the "boy band craze" with groups like Take That, Soul for Real, 98 Degrees, Blackstreet Boys, All 4 One, Jagged Edge and Backstreet Boys; who tried but miserably failed to imitate the inimitable style of Boyz II men.

Their uniqueness lay in the avoidance of the trend of the time where other groups would have one or two lead singers and a choir. A music critic observed: "The multiple-lead arrangements became a Boyz II Men trademark, and it became typical to hear Wanya Morris' vibrato-heavy tenor, Shawn Stockman's smoother tenor voice, Nathan Morris' baritone, and Michael McCary's deep bass (often used in spoken-word sections of many Boyz II Men hits) trading bars in each song. Their flawless four-part harmonies blend so smoothly that most of the general public would be hard-pressed to name any of the group's individual members."

Most of the early songs by Boyz II Men are groovy and funky; a style related to new jack swing style, which they christened "hip hop doo wop". They later carved out their niche in soulful ballads which a Ugandan night show radio presenter would later call "the right music for all the lovers in the house!"

The next album, 1997's Evolution didn't meet much success but gave us the sweet and heartfelt A Song for Mama which today is arguably the number one dedication to mothers. The follow-up album three years later also sold few records but the class and passion on a couple of its songs such as Pass You By and Thank You in Advance helped confirm that Boyz II Men are the true manufacturers of romantic music.

These Philadelphia natives last year released the LP Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville USA, with songs originally performed by greats such as Marvin Gaye (Mercy, Mercy Me), Just My Imagination by the Temptations and the Commodores' Easy, to honour the legends that "paved the way with their style of music, their lyrical content, just the spirit of those songs actually gave you another vibe… those artistes became the soundtrack to our lives."

Boyz II Men are bringing with them a 20-year music experience and songs that millions of people worldwide have loved and related to. Will it be the groovy and funky types like Beautiful Women and In The Still of the Night (I'll Remember) or will they take it slow throughout the concert, resurrecting their Midas touch on classics like End of the Road, Doing Just Fine and Dear God?

Or will they put Kampalans in a Christmas mood with The Christmas Song and with their version of The First Noel? It may not be the same without Michael McCary, who retired from the group in 2003 because of back problems, but when Boyz II Men do step up on the stage, many will remember and cry over the golden days when music was still real.

--Sunday Monitor, November 30, 2008

Rapping his way to international stardom

DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

Eric Twizera, whose stage-name is Ddosa, is a 13-year-old rapper. He was the youngest rapper during the British Council-organised event code-named Words and Pictures (Wapi) show at Hotel Africana recently.

A Primary Five pupil of Stathasius Primary School, Eric said he was taught how to rap by his father at the age of five. He would rap and dance at weddings and birthday parties and for his parents whenever they seemed unhappy.

When asked about his dreams, Eric smiled and confidently said: “I want to do music forever. I want to be a star like Lil’ Bow Wow and Rocky Giant.” Bow Wow is an American hip-hop artiste who became a star at a tender age and Rocky Giant is one of the loved Ugandan rappers.

Eric has done songs like Gy’akola, Tetwagala Tunyoma and Mwekolele. Eric is the son of Maraji and Modex of Kisenyi.

--Sunday Monitor, November 2, 2008

Sebunjo, Sundiata in concert

By RAFSANJAN ABBEY TATYA & DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

The world over, folk music is often performed by professional musicians and Uganda’s Joel Sebunjo is indeed one of them.

Fresh from a successful tour of Finland, Sweden, Belgium, England, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, Sebunjo and his band Sundiata will be live in concert at Alliance Française offices in Nakasero tonight.

The Alliance Française-sponsored show starts at 7:30 pm and entrance fee is Shs4,000 for non Alliance Française (AFK) members whilst AFK members will go in for free.

The musical credentials of Joel Sebunjo are quite admirable, having learnt his trade with notable folk music masters such as Alagi Mbye (Gambia), Albert Ssempeke (Uganda) and Toumani Diabate (Mali).

The 24-year old composes in a number of languages and incorporates a variety of rhythms and styles into his music. His music is defiantly diverse, musically and linguistically. He sings in the indigenous Ugandan language of Luganda and in Wolof of Senegal, Mandinka (Gambia/Guinea). His kind of music a little sophisticated for the ordinary Ugandan, the very reason he’s not very popular.

His support cast, Sundiata, is a trio of young Ugandan talent also dedicated to folk music. Sebunjo is arguably one of the leading world exports from Uganda and has played at numerous stages around the world alongside the likes of renowned world music names such as Salif Keita (Mali), Ba Cissoko (Guinea), Cheb Kaled (Algeria) and Niger’s Etran Finatawa.

A holder of a Bachelor’s degree in music from Makerere University, Sebunjo spends a great deal of time composing and arranging his material. He draws on styles from the different regions of West Africa, rather than solely on the native music of Uganda.

His repertoire is varied between own compositions and Ganda-Mande folk music standards that are self interpreted and given fresh harmonies, mixing the sounds of Africa with folk, jazz and blues from around the world.

A percussionist, Sebunjo also emphasises a tight acoustic sound, showcasing some unique traditional instruments from East and West AFrica.

--Daily Monitor, Friday September 19, 2008

Real talent yet to come out of Wapi

DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

“Fear or Respect?” was the theme of the third Words and Pictures (Wapi) event at Hotel Africana’s people’s space last Saturday. It was chosen out of the realisation that many confuse fear with respect and so would this be captured in the different presentations?

Yes, because upcoming poet Ronald Kiyemba recited a rhythmic and rhyming poem about the theme that earned him resounding appreciation from the audience while graffiti artists led by painter, designer and reggae artiste Xenson Ssenkaaba sprayed the stage dexterously bright as if to say that respect is radiant and upstages fear.

Otherwise, there was little change from the previous dos. We saw nearly the same faces, same acts and nothing extraordinarily fresh. It was however established that the Wapi advisory board is doing everything to ensure the monthly event helps the industry.

With hip-hop and other music genres dominating the programme, the biggest challenge facing the organisers remains that of artistes miming thereby making it difficult for the scouts in the crowd, if any, to spot real talent from the pretenders. Abramz Tekya who co-emcees at the event with Rachel K says this is what they have been discouraging artistes from doing.

“We’ve told them that this is a talent show and there’s no way people are going to know your vocal ability and your live performances if you just come and start miming your music,” he says. “We are heading to that kind of show were everyone will be doing it live with only an instrumental because we want to create a standard.

“We want to have a place where artistes can drop their music way before Wapi and then we can know who is to perform because if we are giving a platform to talent, then it’s fair to give a platform to people who are talented than to people who will just say ‘yeah, I can do that.”

A British Council initiative, Wapi was launched in Kenya in 2006. Besides Uganda, it has since extended to Tanzania, Nigeria and Ghana to help underground (undiscovered) artists display their creativity using words or pictures.

At Wapi Uganda however, writers, filmmakers, photographers, poets, dancers, painters, animators, emcees and sculptors are very few, leaving music, in particular hip-hop, to eclipse everything else. To inspire them to utilise the opportunity to the full, Tekya says they are planning to have what he calls “skill factories” whereby experts from the diverse art forms both foreign and local will within three months start equipping these young visual and verbal artists with skills that will help them ably compete at a professional level.

Meanwhile, they will continue to perform, network and engage the audience with something new in the best way they know how. At the Saturday event, Wapi established artistes performed alongside the upcoming which ideally is a good thing for the latter that still have more to learn. Talent, lots of energy and fast minds are at large as seen during the “raving mic session” where emcees pass the microphone around for interested parties to express themselves spontaneously with anything they like: A rap, a poem, a short story or a song.

This event is clearly viewed as a goldmine judging by the numbers that turn up. With a first-come-first-serve procedure, some have to be pushed to the next event because not all get the opportunity to perform on the day.

It cannot be denied that Wapi has great potential. Rapper Navio of Klear Kut says the “most important thing for upcoming artistes is getting the platform to be heard and British Council provides that in Wapi.”

It’s a platform on which many mingle and exchange notes; learn from one another, perhaps form groups and nurse their stage fright and look at each other as belonging to one formidable family.
Navio also admits he has seen some youngsters that with time will give him a run for his money. One of these could be 16-year-old Charles “Uncle 33” Ssebbowa who hypnotised the audience with his electric Luga-flow (hip-hop in Luganda) while performing Kigambo – a rap song in which he says he’s the next big thing on the hip-hop scene.

Tekya claims a certain American lady interested in African fashion and design was blown away by the creations she saw and promised to work with some of the designers. This could be a signal for something bigger.

--Daily Monitor, September 20, 2008

Uncle 33 is the rapper to watch

DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

During the Wapi (Words and pictures) show at Hotel Africana, a new face drew the attention of the audience like no other. It took Charles “Uncle 33” Ssebbowa a few seconds into his performance to send the viewers wild with excitement.

The 16-year-old, in an army green T-shirt, faded jeans; a light green rucksack on his back, electrified viewers with his warp-speed rap style and dramatic hip-hop gestures. He was rapping in Luganda; what is known here as Luga-flow.

Later, back stage, the first question was why he calls himself Uncle 33 when he’s evidently not.

“Because I have 33 secret brains,” he said and laughed. “It’s just a name!”

Then he talked about his dynamic performance of Kigambo: “That record is ‘bout street hip-hop. It’s ‘bout free style. It’s ‘bout myself being a bad boy ‘cause I’m a hot rapper!”

In his self-made dictionary, bad boy means “being stylish, musically speaking.”

Uncle 33, an S.3 student of Chwa II Memorial College, Namungoona, also calls himself a soldier “cause I do terrible things in music.” He began rapping in 2006 and says he has performed many times at school shows but never before a huge crowd as was at Wapi.

“The response was good; now I have many fans,” he said happily. “I hope to get a sponsor so that I can go to studio; I’ve written so many records which need to be recorded.”

Besides Kigambo, Uncle 33 has another song called No Refuse about poverty, corruption, wars and bad governance.

The first born of five, Uncle 33, lives with his single mother, Rose Kajoina, a small restaurant owner in Kasubi. Growing up without a father (he abandoned them) proved difficult for Ssebowa forcing him to find solace in rap music.

“I could express myself better that way even when I was a little boy,” he said. “I’m a hip-hop boy and I want to be like Jay-Z because he raps marvellously.”

Uncle 33 promises to help Luga-flow get high: “I’m the hip-hop riser,” he says. “I want to be on a higher level like Bow Wow.”

The absence of a father pushes him to read and work hard: “I really love it and I want to get money so that I can also develop my family.”

With the incredible gift of self-expression and stage charisma, it may not take long for all eyes to turn on young Uncle 33. Then Wapi organisers who gave him a platform can brag if they like.

--Daily Monitor, September 20, 2008

Using holy hip-hop to win some for Jesus Christ

DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

In a world many call crazy, youth culture has found its match in Renee ‘da preacher’ emcee of the Levite Clan, formerly Badda emcee of the Almighty TEAM, both hip hop crews that he has represented. The former is his current band and the latter is his old school band before his epiphany.

As a teenager, Renee yearned to live the American dream; drive fast cars, kick it with beautiful girls, grace the front pages, and pursue happiness with all his soul. But the tables turned round and next was his metamorphosis from a rollercoaster life to “holycoaster”, the latter coined by him to mean his journey with God.

Before that, Tupac Shakur, his idol, had inspired him to start writing his own rhymes and spitting them at school concerts. Soon, his walk morphed into the ubiquitous gangster swagger and buggy clothes became his fad, with chains around his neck and bandanas and baseball caps looking back on his head. He couldn’t afford the tattoo but he drew one that read THUG LIFE on his abdomen using a marker anyway.

Like all “Gs’ in da hood”, he became rebellious and often fought with school authorities and at one time with the police. Clever in class and dramatic on stage, Renee became popular among students and soon all the girls in the neighbourhood wanted to date this “young Mbarara nigger” (No offence intended).

But like the Damascus experience in the Bible, Renee got saved in 2000 and realised that: “Life is about more than beautiful girls and riding in a Benz; we all can’t achieve the American dream, but we can all achieve the supreme dream” – which he defines as being faithful to what God has called him to do.

What he does however has not gone well with some people because it doesn’t really put bread on the table like being a medical practitioner. As an urban missionary and hip hop minister, Renee has to wait on God to send him ravens with meat and bread like his Biblical hero the Prophet Elijah. But the ravens always come as God is faithful. Last year, for example, Renee spent three months in the UK and his ministering led many young people to the Lord.

“God used me mightily,” he says. “I prophesied over pastors and challenged their lukewarm culture of drinking wine; I was like, God wasn’t stupid when He juxtaposed the Holy Spirit with wine (Ephesians 5:18).You are either drunk with the wine of the world like those without Jesus, or you are drunk with heavenly wine (the Holy Spirit) and shaking the nations for Jesus, but you can’t have both.”

When Renee, whose real name is Richard Tumukunde, returned from Canterbury, he testified about his experience during Gospel Night at TLC and provoked young people to seek God. That’s how he got to be invited as guest preacher to a youth meeting at Jesus Alive Centre along Nkrumah Road. He is today the prayer leader of these weekly meetings called Change on Thursdays.

“We’ve been challenging the youth to embrace prayer and it is working. God is raising a generation of prayer warriors that will bring down the strongholds over our nation and the nations,” he says. “I’ve seen children weeping before God and some have spoken in tongues at the meetings.”

Though naturally talented as a speaker and rapper, it’s the spiritual element that makes listening to Renee’s sermons and music an uplifitng experience. In church when he leads worship or prayer, many get stirred to seek with depth for God.

“Some come to tell me about their little failings and I try not to make them feel condemned; I share about my own struggles and then we pray together,” he says. “Once you are struggling, do not allow the devil to put you in a corner alone where he’ll knock you out. You just need to stay in fellowship and seek God’s grace to continue standing.”

Renee’s leadership of urban youth began in 2003 in his first year at Makerere University, where he initiated the mass communication fellowship that helped transform many lives.

To hear this young minister confess that he’s a born-again Christian, with cornrows, clad in baggy jeans and a coat, an ear pin on his left ear, may get the book-cover judge posing questions; but Renee believes his style appeals to the youth – his target audience.

“I’m more burdened towards those who would rather not look God’s way and I’m talking about young children who don’t want to come to church, whose role models are 50 Cent and other Hollywood icons,” he says. “The ‘streets’ are my vineyard and ‘streets’ represent a platform beyond the four church walls, explaining my unorthodox way of discipleship – using holy hip hop to win some for Jesus.”

After the success of his band’s first album in 2007, Renee has embarked on a solo album, which he says was inspired by men like Leonard Ravenhill, A.W. Tozer, and the revivalists of old in Christendom who have mentored him in his spiritual journey.

He recently released his first music video off the album titled 'Glory 2 You Jesus' which talks of growing up as a young thug doing hard liquor and living on drugs, and how HIV/Aids killed many of his peers. He thanks God for transforming him from “a thug to T.H.U.G. (Totally Humble Unto God).”

It’s Renee’s grace and consuming zeal for the Lord that has stirred up many to turn to God.

--Sunday Monitor, September 14, 2008

Original reggae comrade vows to help Uganda find its reggae roots

DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

“Well, reggae music is created by Rasta people, and it carries earth force, people rhythm...it is a rhythm of working people, movement, a music of the masses, see?” – Bob Marley (1945-1981).

True music lovers find it absurd that many years after those words were first uttered by the man that is globally recognised as the father of reggae music, Uganda has not felt the sweet tremors of that genre like Jamaica or South Africa have. And it’s largely because of this that Edson Nimwesiga, known onstage as Jare, set out to help Uganda find its reggae identity.

The lean Kampala-based singer and composer recently released his debut album titled Bad Man’s State.

“I’m the original reggae comrade; I call my music truth and roots reggae,” he said with a Jamaican twang. “No nation can live without reggae music and it’s historically known that it’s only through reggae that we can strengthen our roots and cultures.”

Jare’s music comes with mellow choruses and a militant message that reflects a strong awareness of betrayal on earth, the suffering of people and the unfairness of life. In Take It or Leave It, he has a sermon to the different political camps: “Togetherness is still needed for the common vision for it is the common vision that made Romans make Rome look like it is now,” he sings.

Listening to Jare’s music, one almost feels the spirit of Peter Tosh, Bob Marley and Lucky Dube floating by. He actually tributes them in Back to Babylon, a song he was forced to do after Lucky Dube was murdered.

“The people who have really struggled to fight for the black man’s peace have been killed – Patrice Lumumba, Martin Luther, Lucky Dube…” he says. “In the song, I say worse shall come to worst if the Rastaman hates another Rastaman, worse shall come to worst if the Rastaman fights another Rastaman, worse shall come to worst if the Rastaman kills another Rastaman; who’s gonna stand to fight for our rights and freedom when the Rastaman is gone?”

So, does approaching his music in a Rastafarian fashion make Jare a Rastafarian?

“I really wouldn’t mind someone calling me a Rastafarian as long as he sees the true colours of a Rastaman in me,” he says humbly. “Rastafarianism is a conscious movement whose slogan is love, peace and maximum respect. And whoever brings all the three to light is a true Rastaman.”
Interestingly, Jare is not a man with rugged Rastafarian dreadlocks, and this he attributes to his beliefs as a Christian. Ugandan politicians will particularly not like listening to Which God is 4 yo Country. Jare sings: “They say for God and my country as if they have no eyes to see disadvantaged children sleeping on the streets, starving, burning, dying, whose parents still live but split because of adultery…they say abortion, lesbianism and homosexuality should be legalised; are we gonna be ruled again by mercenaries? Because procreation definitely is gonna be less or no more…and they say for God and my country but remember they shall be cursed if they used My name in their wickedness…”

Another song, We are One, draws from the violence that followed the last presidential elections in Kenya. It reminds the listener that we all are children of God - “big up people, stop the violence, we are brothers and sisters”.

A computer Engineer, Jare began singing in primary school, and often courted trouble for skipping school to listen to reggae music. But it was not until 2005 that the 32-year-old started composing his music.

“It’s not been easy, because in Uganda you have to first pull crowds before sponsors can step in, and what’s more, some artistes want to do music for business so they do one reggae song and switch to other genres of music; which is why reggae music has not taken root,” says Jare.

“The Holy Spirit connects my words to rhythms that’s gonna impact and gain me worldwide respect,” he says. “I’ll continue to do this music till I can breathe no more!”

--Sunday Monitor, August 31, 2008

Wapi brings out youthful vitality and talent but...

DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

The second edition of ‘Words and Pictures’ (Wapi) concert kicked off with hype on Saturday at Hotel Africana’s People’s Space. Performers competed to live up to the do’s theme, “Gwe Ani? Define your identity” as they flashed unique identities in the way they were dressed, performance styles to their stage names and hip-hop parlance.

“Word for real, hip-hop in the buildin’,” rapper 2-Xtrim shouted as he swaggered cross the stage. He was right.

Hip-hop dominated the repertoire of creative acts. But that’s not to mean it was the best. Some songs carried a message on cross-generational sex, the dangers of drugs and generally advocated social change. However, everyone was miming.

How then is the British Council initiative going to help the industry by bringing out the best in these budding artistes if all they can do is mime? Perhaps we should let that slip as music is but a tiny strand of Wapi as a whole.

In fashion and modelling, creations by Mukisa Harriet Nagaya from Natty Fashion House, with their original African touch, casual as they came, stood out. The audience were particularly drawn to the Ethiopian scarf designs and the wedding attire.

The ‘bride and groom’, dressed to high heavens, slow-walked on stage in the radiance of all as real wedding couples do, to the beat of P-Square’s Do Me, a song which added a comical twist to the affair. Ugandan rapper Saint CA, did something different –recited a poem about victims of crime that truly was a revelation.

Art lovers were also captured by the expressive live paintings of Rolands Tbirusya Roldan, particularly the piece that preached against homosexuality: “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman;” it was written on, “that is detestable” –Lev. 18:22”

You could read the hunger and thirst for fame in the eyes of the youngsters who performed at Wapi. Many echoed the same sound –that of gratefulness for the exposure and for the neutrality of the event.In that way, the British Council gets the plaudits for creating a forum through which these young and talented visual and verbal artists join artistically to express themselves.

However, more professional assistance must be put in place to propel these youngsters into the mainstream limelight and be appreciated on the world stage.

--Daily Monitor, August 23, 2008

Angella Katatumba returns with 'Glad I’m Alive'

DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

After a two-year “disappearance”, Angella Katatumba is back with her second album, Glad I’m Alive. The 10-track album, she says, is purely inspirational.

“As Africans, we’ve had so much pain so I set out to do something that will make you appreciate life more and feel good.” The title track validates her words more.

She sings beautifully on this one about “a brand new day,” the happiness of living and the powerful feeling inside that makes her feel like she can “move mountains as high as the Rwenzori...”

She strikes a balance in that half the recordings are disco-like with much emphasis on the beat that will compel audiences to get on the dance floor. In this category are Set Me Free, a gospel-inspired hit that has the vibrancy of Mary Mary’s Shackles, and Success styled like Sikyetaga, her “oldie” with Bebe Cool.

Angella decided she needed Navio’s (of Klear Kut) rapping skills on Feel Alright and together, they plead with patrons to sway and feel the vibe while the deejay plays the record to the end.

She features First Love on A Better Place, a therapeutic reggae jam that preaches togetherness and asks “soldierman” to put the gun down and give a little love instead. It’s a rhythmic song; lots of guitar sounds, drums, and recorded live to fall into contemporary Caribbean music. Forgiveness is a politically conscious song about displacement, bloodshed and the Rwanda genocide.

It prescribes love and mercy for pain. The strumming, the saxophone, soft claps, drums and rattles, finger snaps and other computer generated sounds alongside the choir are maximised to bring out the freshness on songs like Thank You, Without You, Wind Beneath Your Wings and Pledge; melodies in the league of her first single, Standing in the Rain.

Pitted against Glad I’m Alive, her first album, Peace, is an underdog. The singer has a more focused message and has matured vocally although I got the feeling she struggles on one or two songs especially when she tries to build to a crescendo only Whitney Houston is capable of.

One must however appreciate her dynamism in combining different elements from different genres of music to create something that somewhat embraces the demeanour of American R‘n’B but also retains a heartbeat-like-rhythm Ugandans so love.

Produced at First Love Records, the album, if you ask me, deserves space in the CD jacket of those who like to dance, love and get inspired.

--Daily Monitor, June 28, 2008

James Wood belts out tunes for Jesus

DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

This was not the usual kind of rap music. It was not about sex, crime and such lyrics common with rap geniuses. James Woods who calls himself Jamez Woodz was launching his debut album last Sunday evening at Kampala Pentecostal Church [KPC].

By 4 p.m., the pews were mainly crammed with youths who had come to support the Briton, mostly seniour six vacationists.

After a series of curtain-rising performances from Kezia Mbabazi and Louis Kyaligonza, who two weeks ago won a gospel hip-hop singing search competition organized by Alpha One Records based in Ntinda, the lanky white rapper jumped onto the stage to tantalize the audience with his music.

Dressed in buggy track pants, sneakers and a red tee-shirt, he sung Set Free which is the hit title of the 14-track album. His legions of fans couldn’t help flirting with the chorus as his musical baritone rambled out the deeply didactic lines done in an old-school rap style reminiscent of former rapper Vanilla Ice.

However, the strong speakers distorted the performance with their burst-like intermittent sounds. The animated lights though were a good idea. They would change from moonlike illumination to waning candlelight as the concert blazed on.

Wood sung a number of songs with Ugandan artistes. He sung I’m Blessed, a song in which he features Ugandan sensation Michael Ross.

As the emcee Saint CA, a gospel artiste herself said, the show was about the “Jesus of Nazareth,” which is why it was free of charge.

The CD that comes with hits like Ryde for Jesus, Return to Me, which features former Project Fame Ugandan representative Yvonne Nabeta, and sound tracks like Save Me Lord, was on Sale outside for Shs12,000.

In Not a Game, Wood features Uganda’s coca-cola pop maestro, Cindarella Sanyu while Dear God and Outlaw are two songs the young artiste performed to make one feel the power of those lyrics that praise Christ.

“My music is about setting people free,” Wood said after the show. He hinted at many people bound by habits like sex, those torn apart by poverty, sickness, death and wars, saying: “It’s not this gospel music that sets such people free; it’s the message in it.”

The music was produced by Moses Sabiiti of Vocal Justice Studios.

--Daily Monitor, Saturday August 7, 2004, page 22

Jet 1 launching album this Easter

By DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA

Ever heard of a Samia contemporary music group? It does exist and it is made up of seven Samia young men. Jet 1 Crew is their group name and they sing gospel music in nearly all genres from Pop to Afro-jazz to Rap, which makes it appealing to people of all age groups.

But this group was not born singing in the church. They lived in the same neighbourhood, with a friendship so strong they took themselves far more than brothers. And they drank themselves silly with the money they made, smuggling goods from Kenya into their hometown, Busia.

"I don't know what would have happened to us if God hadn't arrived in time to rescue us," group member Joseph Masiga says.

It was the beginning of a life-changing journey that, like a floodlight, continues to shine on the lives of many others.
The ex-lost boys joined Busia Miracle Centre, buffed their dancing shoes, then danced and sang for the Lord. The response was instantaneous and profound, they decided they could use their potential to "smuggle" God's life-giving message to wider audiences. So they formed the JET 1 crew.

"JET 1 is an acronym for Jesus Team One, which signifies the oneness of the group in that we belong to the same church, and with a single mission to represent Jesus Christ all the way," Masiga said.

They are members of Tororo Busia Group [TBG], a Makerere University mission team that holds crusades in countryside schools to take the gospel of Jesus to the young generation.
The seven-member group has through music and dance also ministered in Mukono, Malaba, Tororo and performed in Nairobi.

But it is a chance hearing of their song, by a big-hearted lady that turned their fortunes around.
The song, Yiwuma Ali Koti Ewe which in Samia means "There's None Like You," touched and inspired Ms Catherine Piwang to start supporting the group. She introduced them to Principal Judge James Ogoola, who then invited them to his home to sing for him.

"He was so impressed by our music and he went around boasting that he had met the first Samia contemporary gospel artistes," Masiga says.

Ogoola organised a fundraising to help the group raise money to record their first album. Produced at Fenon Studios by popular local producer Steve Jean, this seven-track album will be launched on Easter Monday, March 24, at 3p.m., at University Community Fellowship, off Sir Apollo Kaggwa road, next to Garden Courts Hostel and entrance is free.

"All these are God-inspired songs," Masiga says.

--Daily Monitor, March 21, 2008

Spreading the Gospel hip hop style

By Dennis D. Muhumuza

It has been a three-year holy roller coaster as LVC members represented Jesus in the hip hop culture. LVC is an acronym for the Levite Clan, a music ministry whose members - Renee DA PREACH Emcee (Tumukunde Richard) and No Hell 01 (Ivan Wobusobozi) have passionately challenged the youths to shun the negative lures of worldliness.

"We are like watchmen on the graffiti wall of youth culture warning against entertainment icons whose bling-bling lifestyle seems right but leads to destruction," says Renee Emcee who recently returned from Canterbury, England where he spent three months as an urban youth missionary.

The group picked a cue from the Biblical Levites who were very well known and highly respected throughout Israel for moving about ministering earnestly in the name of God. So they study the gospel message, apply it to the contemporary world and deliver it in a style and language that urban youths easily relate to and understand.

"Urban youth are the audience that God has commissioned us to reach out to," explains No Hell 01. "Our slogan is 'Taking the gospel to the streets through holy hiphop' and hip-hop is the language urban youth speak."

The Levites who are popular performers at TLC during Gospel Night are particularly concerned about the deceptive message of secular hip-hop on the streets that leaves young people with no honour for God. And to counter that, they fuse holy rap in which they implore the young generation to spurn wrong models and destructive elements of the culture and instead embrace salvation through Jesus Christ.

Through their music, the Levites have ministered in schools, universities, churches, bars, on the streets, and at youth conferences and parties as well as the nations through internet media.

In some songs, they sing in retrospect about their 'bad boy' days when they were married to liquor and drugs, running from school and spending their nights in bars. That was before they saw the light and invited Christ in their lives.

"Now we are taking what the devil tried to use to destroy us (hip-hop) and use it as a prophetic voice in youth culture," says Renee Emcee.

They spot cornrows and dress in baggy jeans and oversize T-shirts. Commenting on the notion that society might misconstrue their sense of dress, the Levites stress that "people should relate to the spirit of the man and not his designer shell."

The group will be launching their debut album, Christ in da Youth Culture, at Calvary Chapel Kampala, located at Gardith House opposite Mutasa Kafero plaza this Sunday, December 16. The 15-track album has been summed as "a challenge to the youths to set their affections on Jesus Christ."

--Daily Monitor, December 14, 2007

Playing traditional instruments on the international scene

By Dennis D. Muhumuza

At the age of six, Joel Sebunjo used to play a small drum given to him by his grand father, a village court musician. His love of playing impelled him to pile dry sticks to make a xylophone. By 13, he had been noticed by respected palace musicians, who then initiated him into the authentic world of traditional folk music and performance and later allowed him to perform at several royal functions to entertain kingdom dignitaries.

Although he holds a musicology degree from Makerere University with a concentration in ethnomusicology (the study of world cultures and their music), Sebunjo insists going into apprenticeship under celebrated Ganda royal court musicians like Busuulwa Katambula, Dr. Albert Sempeke and Ludoviko Serwanga made him what he is today.

His dynamic and interchangeable playing of instruments such as the great west African Kora, endongo (bow lyre), endere (4-hole bamboo flute), amadinda (xylophone), engoma (conical drums), mbira (thumb piano), endingidi (tube fiddle) among others, has endeared him to innumerable folk music lovers.

Born in the mudfish clan, Sebunjo has played in some of the biggest afro-jazz outfits like Bakisimba Waves (Uganda) and Groovy Eldorado Ensemble (Finland).

At the 2006 Lola Kenya Screen film festival, Sebunjo was tasked by Finnish film director, Antonia Ringbom, to make the soundtrack to the film, Les terroristes de la terre (Terrorists of the Earth) by Finland Film Centre. The soundtrack, Akavela (polythene bag), sung in French, English, Wolof and Maninka, calls for the banning of plastic bags.

While on a West African tour in 2006, Sebunjo conducted inter-cultural music fusion projects with Senegalese musicians before embarking on an apprenticeship trip to Gambia, Mali, and Guinea to do an advanced course in Kora/ Manding music. It's in Gambia that he met his long time music mentor, Alagi Mbye, whom he considers one of the best Kora players in the world.

"He taught me to be a master Kora player, an instrument with which I best express the feeling of my music," Sebunjo purrs on about how he's an adopted Jali. "Jalis are the divine of the land in West Africa. To become a Jali you have to be accepted by the Jali families because they are responsible for keeping the tradition; they are storytellers and perform at important ceremonies. When you're an outsider they adopt you and give you a name. They named me Sundiata."

He claims to be "the youngest Ugandan Kora player known today on the international stage and one of the few Ugandan musicians with a broad knowledge of African music because over the years" he has "been in link with the rest of Africa trying to study their music and instruments."

Sebunjo, 23, has met and shared music with world music greats such as Yossou N'Dour, Didier Awadi (Senegal), Toumani Diabate (Mali), Ba Cissoko (Guinea), Oliver Mtukudzi (Zimbabwe), Jalibah Kouyateh (Gambia) and well-known Swedish musician Alle Moller.

Sebunjo who has performed, recorded and conducted workshops in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Kenya, Rwanda, Estonia and Senegal has since changed his style from folk music to world music to "suit my dream and the market today. World music is simple in terms of fusion which helps me to use African instruments and blend them with modern instruments to make it sound better."

He sings in his native language but his music has a rare feel to it that fires one's passions.

"My music covers a range of subjects from nationalism and neo-colonialism to poverty," he says. "I also try to bring the legends from the cross-cultural diversity in Uganda and sing about things like Wakadala – an old car that existed way before we were born."

His songs Mulilanwa, Kaira and Serukera are popular on Internet radios that promote world music.

Asked why it has taken him long to record an album, Sebunjo says world music is quite expensive to do: "Every instrument must be played live and the studios here can't produce that music to world standards, so one must do the recording and mastering in Europe. However, I hope to sign to a record label next summer through my agents in Sweden and Denmark. My target is to hit the world charts and follow in the footsteps of my heroes Yossour N'Dour, Salif Keita, Toumani Diabate and Samite, Uganda's leading world musician."

Sebunjo also wants to become a good will ambassador for the United Nations.

--Sunday Monitor, January 6, 2008

CD REVIEW

Artist: Emily Mwebaze
Album: Okurwana
Number of tracks: Six
Reviewed by: Dennis D. Muhumuza

She has just climbed the local music platform but judging the strength of her six-track, she could be a force to reckon with.
First is Okurwana (fighting), the title track of the album.
It's followed by the funky Tukore (let's work) in which the singer calls upon women to work hard and earn something for life to be fair to them, and to be assured of supper and tomorrow.
In Abasheija, she castigates men who batter their wives and yet women are their ribs. She sings that there are alternative methods of solving disagreements rather than violence.
Mama is a bittersweet ballad about women who walk out of the relationship to seek fresh love, leaving behind their children to suffer.
The album includes one gospel Luganda song, Akwetaga; the rest are in Runyankole-Rukiga.
At last but very catchy a tune is her first single, Kakwanjure, whose video enjoys prominent airplay on WBS' 'Late Show' program and 'African Rhythms', and on radio stations in western Uganda. It's a marriage song that shows the singer introducing her prospective hubby to her parents.
This TV anchor with WBSTV) sings rather nostalgically that if you don't fall for her seductive voice, you will love the fact that her music promotes positive valuess.

Published in Daily Monitor, May 26, 2007

Amazing Don Williams

By Dennis D. Muhumuza

Don Williams is a legend!

"With a warm hickory baritone that balances strength with gentle concern, he draws his listener into the intimate world of an old friend…" is the acclaim from his website.

Nicknamed the 'Gentle Giant' (probably from his imposing build), the music maestro has used his laid-back, straightforward vocals to inhale tenderness and concern into ballads that have endeared him to innumerable fans.

"Ideally, whether I'm in the studio or on stage, I'm totally into the story, or if there's no story, that emotion, that feel of what I'm doing at that moment is the only thing I want to experience," he once said.

Born in 1939, in Texas, Don Williams played in a variety of country, folk, and rock & roll bands until after high school (1964) when he formed his own folk-pop group called the Pozo-Seco Singers. The band signed a contract with Columbia Records and in 1966, their hit Time, climbed into the Top 50. A string of minor hits followed up to 1971 when the group disintegrated.

The singer, who had worked as a bill collector, drove a bread truck, worked in the Texas oil fields, in furniture retailing, in a smelting plant, and for Pittsburgh Plate Glass then fell to song writing until late 1972 when he signed with JMI as a solo artist. His debut release Don't You Believe, flopped but its follow-up - The Shelter of Your Eyes, climbed to number 14 at the beginning of 1973. The real breakthrough however came with his 1974 We Should Be Together, which reached number five. The single led to a contract with ABC/Dot.

I Wouldn't Want to Live If You Didn't Love Me, his first single for ABC/Dot, was top of the music charts in the summer 1974, opening way for his Top Ten hits that ran more or less uninterrupted until 1991.

As a child, Don Williams sang in a local talent contest and won an alarm clock - his first prize. He was a great performer too: "Whenever Williams plays, his audiences - even those who came to see another act on the bill, seem to react with an unusual amount of intimacy. His low-tech show inspires strong bonding between performer and audience," is an online post by one of his fans.

The most acclaimed country artiste since the 70s, his country-pop not only crossed over into the American pop mainstream but it also gained him a large following in England and Europe.

In addition to winning several country music accolades, Country Music Association named him Male Vocalist of the Year in 1978, the very same year his number one single Tulsa Time, was named Single of the Year.

Yahoo music notes that his ability to take any lyric and fashion it into a portrait of personal expression is amazing. The soft gentleness of his voice derives additional sensuality from the acoustic silvery instrumentation lightly surrounding his vocals.

The country boy has over the years built an enviable reputation from a combination of hard work, natural talent, and the kind of low-key charisma - both personally and musically.

The Chicago Tribune calls him the quiet man of modern country music while Country Music News & Routes (UK) sums him thus: "Don Williams must be the only country artiste around that almost gets a standing ovation just because he takes his hat off!"

-- Sunday Monitor, October 2, 2005

From timeless to tasteless

Geoffrey Latham called it 'the vernacular of the human soul'; Red Auerbach said 'music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life!' And it is because of music that the likes of Jose Chameleone, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Tupac Shakur are household names. From blues, pop, country, rock, gospel, reggae, rap, techno, opera, jazz, contemporary African and instrumentals, music is more than a concept.

The web generally defines music as 'organised sound' while music books put it as both 'an art and a craft, based on acoustic principles, yet subject to various interpretations, hence its artistic merit.'

In secondary school, we used to define music as "nothing but a psychological cantata made up of three dimensions X, Y and Z".

Ms Kate Kabagenyi, a music student at Makerere University, says music is the use of voice, instruments and body motion expressed harmoniously to educate or entertain people. She however, says that the advance in technology has changed the face of music so much that music critics and lovers are getting worried.

Save for old school, which lives on, many people would be averse to today's music. Studios are churning out stuff, leaving parents worried because the message, the videos, and the vocal skills seem to rotate on what has been termed 'dirty', as compared to old school music.

Ziggy Dee comes up with the steamy Eno Mic and becomes an instant star. Mr Wilfred Bangirana (Bangi) of Sanyu FM and presenter of WBS TV's Golden Oldies show attributes the prevailing situation to the changing trends.

"We've come a long way from waltz beats, kiri kiri, twist, bump, rock, disco, break-dancing, and whatever they call dancing these days...we have had country, disco, pop, rhythm and blues, reggae, Latino, funk, ragga, rap. People have had it all and today when they listen to music, they are looking for a good beat, maybe the message; the music flow and the instruments come later," he says.

Bangi reiterates that old school music remains far better because it revives the special memories: "The music these days is more high-tech than in the old days. This, however, is in no way meant to imply that it is richer. They use computers to mix the sounds and you don't need a whole band or orchestra like Barry White used to use or Donna Summer and the 70s singers. Where are the good old fashioned bands with drummers?" he wonders.

Bangi attributes this to production costs, which have soared: "It's expensive hiring a whole band to perform and to pay all the individual musicians, so musicians make is easier these days. Just use the computer to do everything and forget the band. It's much cheaper."

As to the musicians that are hired to perform at big events, Bangi is disappointed: "One feels cheated to see "stars" these days tell the deejay to play 'CD song number 4...' and people jump up and down to music from a CD. You could do that at home you know...give me my old-fashioned bands back any day," he says.

Good old days
Bangi attributes the power of old school music to hard work, talent and the ability to perform on stage.

And then came ABBA's 1979 Chiquitita video. Those Jesus look-alike dudes, one strumming away at the guitar and the other lost in the passionate play of the piano will certainly 'lift' you off your seat.

Then Michael Jackson performing Billie Jean in 1983 in honour of Motown's 25th anniversary - the undisputed "King of Pop" left everyone open-mouthed when he unveiled the memorable 'moonwalk' dance. Two decades later, his music still rules.

The world also knows the theatrics of Brenda Fassie (RIP). In Too Late for Mama, Fassie, commonly known as the 'wild girl of South Africa' assembles a string of background dancers led by her magical voice. Whoever called her the "Madonna of the Townships" was spot-on. With a career spanning from early 1980s till her death, it is amazing that few can resist the power of her best-selling wedding song Vulindlela. Unlike today's artistes, the award-winning Fassie didn't need technology to go to the top.

There are other timeless singers and performers such as Diana Ross, Bob Marley, Gladys Night, Pati la Belle, Marvin Gaye and Elly Wamala, whom Bangi calls the "Frank Sinatra of Uganda" and, of course, the Bee Gees. When they employ their tonal ranges while performing Too much heaven and they chorus, '...loving is such a beautiful thing...' you know these can only be the Bee Gees. The Bee Gees who have been in business for over 40 years, rank among the top five of the most successful recording artistes of all time!

Most of these artistes sung for the love of it; the industry was not looked at as a way of climbing the celebrity ladders. With unbridled originality, people got to appreciate music and identify with a particular kind.

The popular rock n' roll defined the rock and roll revolution because of the loud drums, the exuberance of the likes of Elvis Presley on stage, not forgetting the mind-boggling instrumentation. The music was contagious, when an artiste sung; the audience started singing too and bopped on the dance floor enthusiastically.

"Music will never be the same. Today's hi-tech will never be the same old quality such as the good old-fashioned music of the 70s and 80s had," Bangi says. He cites Alicia Keys' If I Aren't Got You as one of those great songs that sounds very rich and refreshing in terms of vocal quality.

"It adapts the 70s old style with its beautiful feel and reminds you of classics from the Commodores' songs like Sail On or Roberta Flack's Killing Me Softly ...those good old songs...the real good rhythms are getting rarer," Bangi laments.

It is out of the passion of the 60s that music fans were called 'cheesburgers' (the girls) and 'hamburgers' (men). So a singer would perform and ask the charged fans, "Who da man," and the crowd's reply would be, "You da man!" Such is how infectious the music and dance of early times was.

Manufactured music
Mr Alex Ndawula of Capital FM agrees that most modern singers have no wild musical imagination when it comes to writing lyrics, shooting videos, singing and, actually performing live.

Back in the days, singers knew how to play keyboards, drums, pianos, and also how to work the crowds. In Uganda, the new sensation, Morris Kirya can play and stroke the audience with his rich voice while Ragga Dee is famous for his showmanship on stage - at least his fans end up boogying especially when he breaks into Digida.

Songstress Julian Kanyomozi too can melt her fans but it all ends there. Dancehall music has taken over East Africa. Most musicians these days sing about nice bums, sex, and drugs. On EATV and WBS, especially Jam Agenda you get to watch the likes of Sean Paul surrounded by half-naked women.
Ndawula blames the scenario on the different musical tastes of different people.
On whether modern music thrives on studio work, Ndawula points out that the digital age is busy changing music both for the best and the worst.

"Music companies are at fault. So many things are done on the songs... today music videos are made just to win the hearts of the adolescents who are the majority. Also, musicians come from the ghetto; they grow up smoking weed, fighting and trying to survive. They sing about that. You cannot blame them..." says Ndawula.

Accordingly, Ugandans - just like Jamaicans, listen to a tune and worry about the lyrics later. Ndawula is worried by the inability by today's artists to produce an all-winning album. Luther Vandross (RIP) and Boyz 11 Men, says Ndawula, would release a 12-track album - all entirely good. Not today, where you will find only one track worth listening to.

"In Uganda, artistes cut one song and struggle to go from show to show. Quality has really reduced. I wish all music was like jazz because although jazz has been modernised, it has not been changed," he says.

Ndawula played a clip from African American award-winning comedian Steve Harvey, trashing modern music. In the clip, Harvey says that you can't understand what artistes sing about these days.

He also swipes at modern rock concerts where rock singers ask everybody to scream and they scream: "I pay my due and you tell me to scream...if you don't listen to old school music, you missed it," he says.

Mr Richard Tumukunde, a rap artiste and a music, dance and drama graduate says old school shames new school hip-hop: "In terms of message content, old school was more society focused. Today's 50 Cents are more into 'ma money; ma bitches' and making front-page news. For me the truest emcee dead or alive is Tupac Shakur. He rapped about his experience in a cruel world. His lyrics were intelligent, his rhymes captivating and he lived what he preached."

The multi-platinum Shakur, who has been dubbed the 'black Jesus' by his fans, was killed at the age of 25 by unknown gunmen in September 1996. He is in the Guinness World Book of Records as the most successful gangster rapper.

Bubble gum music
Singer Bobi Wine classifies Ugandan music as bubble gum and sandwich music. As to the changing trends that are making it tasteless, he says, "Artistes have become so many and must fight to survive. So they mix talent and marketing to make it."

He is unhappy that musicians are producing 'bubble gum music' which you put in the mouth, chew and spit not wanting to look at it again because it's outright tasteless.

"Sandwich music is what the likes of Elly Wamala and Maddox Ssematimba produced. You take a bite and you want to take another. It builds you," says Bobi Wine who is a graduate of music, dance and drama from Makerere University. He says music embodies voice, lyrics, style and the passion.

"Music is a feeling; the voice is simply an expression. You have to let it flow; bring the feeling straight from the heart," he says, adding that all good music comes from God. He talks of Chameleone's Kipepewo as one song you will enjoy but not feel, unlike Jamila which he says can be felt.

The Fire Base Crew boss argues that you must give people what they want: "Today, people listen to the beat, not the sound. Back in the days, people enjoyed instruments, live music. But the world has changed. That's why people enjoy songs such as kwata wakati (Ziggy Dee) or those suggestive ones from Abdu Mulasi," he says.

While the music in the United States is more appalling in terms of lyrical content and steamy videos, it is promising as far as sound quality is concerned. Record labels in developed countries hire talented producers who in turn shop for voice trainers to nurture talents. This is why Usher Raymond was spotted at a local talent show before he landed a deal with La Face Records. At 14, he was already working on his premier album - today Usher is arguably the best R&B singer.

As for Uganda, with modern studios such as Dream Studios in Kamwokya, Bava, AVI Recording Studio in Kololo, No End Recording Studio in Kamwokya and Fishnet among others, there is hope. Producers and promoters should as well do their best to promote the talented musicians. Juliana, Michael Ross, and Morris Kirya are natural thoroughbreds that, if promoted, can take the world by storm.

Mr John Musinguzi of Kampala Music School, says we can develop musically if we keep it local and stop being copycats obsessed with American music.

"You can't put feeling in an electronic instrument the way you do while playing the drum or the flute. The timbre (quality of music) of string instruments is better than that of electronic music," he observes. "Our music industry is young - these are just growing pains; 20 years ahead, we shall make judgment."

As such, American rap artistes have been able to make it despite the obscene lyrics because they keep it local. Rappers such as Dr Dre, Nelly, Nas, Fabulous, P. Diddy, Eve, Missy Elliot etc are ghetto sensitive and sing rough because it is the way they have been brought up. Trying to copy them will not work in Uganda.

We have to get grounded in traditional music; rich textured songs and impressively mature lyrics the way it is done in Tanzania with the Bongo Flava or the Jamaican dancehall. It is a matter of projecting the strength and confidence of the African performer and we shall stand proud in defiance of the American music culture that's fast eroding our own style and creativity.

When Mr Paddy Kaiwa, a producer attached to Dream Studios talks of people coming to him well knowing they cannot sing but nevertheless insisting that they want to be turned into stars the way Juliana and Bobi Wine have been, you learn that our music industry remains sorry because most singers don't know what they want.

Thomas Carlyle once said: “music is well said to be the speech of angels; in fact, nothing among the utterances allowed to man is felt to be so divine. It brings us near to the infinite.”

The sound of angels is good. Clean videos, the voice, the songs and the arrangements must be made perfect. Mariah Carey's advice sums it up: "A lot of people are singing about how screwed up the world is, and I don't think that everybody wants to hear about that all the time!"

Published in Sunday Monitor, October 2, 2005

Black Prince

His was a life caught up in the crossfire between good, bad and evil. A poet, an actor and a gangster rapper, Tupac Shakur inspired and angered many, but left behind a legacy that his worldwide bulk of fans will forever live to appreciate, writes Dennis D. Muhumuza.

Many Ugandan musicians sing for money, or to be drawn into the celebrity world. Others do it, just for the sake of it. Perhaps the reason we have music enthusiasts drawing pop or soul singers into the hip hop category for the Pearl of Africa Music (PAM) Awards.

Anyway, we could look around to see what moves the music planet. There is one man who has inspired many. His was a life caught up in the crossfire between good, bad and evil. A poet, an actor and a gangster rapper, Tupac Shakur inspired and angered many, but left behind a legacy that his worldwide bulk of fans will forever live to appreciate.

Even in death, he has made his mark as Guinness World Book of Records most successful gangster rapper. Despite not having graduated from high school, the power of Tupac’s lyrics and his poetry were to serve as the basis for his cult status, making him an icon.

Millions of people, whose lives were and continue to be touched by Tupac have for long been engrossed into digging for the pearls of hip-hop culture. Not that they have to smoke weed (marijuana), swing guns, worship sex, or brave jail cells like their hero; but they buy his music, bounce like him and try to speak like him.

"He sang with a passion," says Mr Jared Ombui, a Kenyan student at Makerere University. "His music came from the heart and his rhythms would penetrate one's soul."

Tupac died from gunshot wounds in Las Vegas in 1996 but even after his death, six CDs of his original material and a poetry book have been released.

In a New York Daily News article last year, Rebecca Louie wrote about how in "Tupac: Resurrection," a documentary that opened last year, "Shakur tells his life story, alternating between rage and joy and proving startlingly prescient about his fate...his narration is like a troubled voice from the grave."

At the time of his death, Tupac was a controversial figure who had been charged in the shooting of two off-duty police officers.

The fascinating thing is that even when he could pour violence in his hits, he still had a hold on his fans. "The true power of Shakur originated, somewhat ironically, in his physicality. His appearance evoked in women a combination of sexual attraction and maternal concern," writes John Mcwhorter, the author of Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America.

Tupac Shakur was born in 1971 as Lesane Parish Crooks to Afeni Shakur in Brooklyn. His mother changed his name to Tupac Amaru after an Indian revolutionary; a name that means 'shining serpent.'

As a child, Tupac was pet named 'Black Prince' by his childhood friends. He grew up distressed in a family that was always on the move from cities to homeless shelters.

"I remember crying all the time, I didn't have no buddies that I grew up with," he once said.

He didn't know his father until his jail days when a man claiming to be his dad came to see him. This was no big surprise for Tupac who exclaimed, "The niggah looked just like me!"

As a 12-year-old, Tupac enrolled at the Baltimore School for Performing Arts where he studied ballet and acting. He also started taking parts in drama. He later moved with his family to California where he began to hang with the 'wrong crowd.'

He started as a backup dancer for a California- based rap group ‘Digital Underground’ that was renowned for sex inspired songs.

In 1991 his first album, 2Pacalypse Now was released; it brought out talent but also took him into deep thug life. He once commented, "I didn't create thug life, I diagnosed it."

By the age of 20, Tupac had been to prison eight times. He released his second album, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.A.Z, a great success that brought him out as a violent rapper with his hardcore thug life hits about the troubled lives of gangsters.

In 1994, he was shot five times and later produced his 1995 Platinum album, Me Against the World.

Tupac was also arrested for sexually abusing a woman. After his release, he produced his best ever album, All Eyez on Me that sold six million copies.

His music and poetry raised many salient issues on media, politics, social life and women. For the politicians, he wrote poems, Liberty Needs Glass and Lady Justice; that politicians are blind and should be taken to an optician and be given two pairs of glasses for trampling on Nelson Mandela and other victims of political and racial injustice.

Tupac however didn't really believe in God and the devil. Religion was there to control people, according to him. You get a 'D' off Devil and you have 'Evil' add an 'O' to God and you have 'Good.' Basically, it is about what you do. Every bad thing you do comes back to you," argued Tupac.

"I have done good and I feel like I'm going to heaven," he once said.

Whatever his beliefs, Tupac's gift of expression is hard not to appreciate. Once asked about whether he believed in miracles, he said, "We do not turn water into wine but words into money, dope heads into productive citizens of America. I'm not trynna say I'm Jesus. We don't part the red sea but when we walk through the neighbourhood without getting shot, it's a miracle."

He also criticised one magnificent church building that occupied a whole block in New York saying, "Does God need to sleep in a huge building decorated with gold when black folks are homeless on the streets?"

He had a passionate way of recounting the sorrows of growing in the hood.

Songs like Something 2 Die 4, Last Wordz and Soulz highlight liquor, jealousy, and recklessness yet in Representin' 93, he pays tribute to black pop stars. In The Streetz R Deathrow he justifies thuggish behaviour as an inevitable product of fatherlessness while Papa'z Song is on family issues where he indicts and rejects an absent father who reappears.

But one of his most endearing songs is Dear Mama, where he touchingly shows respect, declares her love and raps on how hard he realised it is for a single woman to raise a son.

Sounds strange but last year, Tupac was named by Forbes.com as the eighth highest-earning dead celebrity. He pulled in $12 million between September 2002 and September 2003. He continues to inspire colleagues and apparently, Eminem will soon release an album titled Loyal to the Game. It is a product of Tupac's previously unreleased verses. We shall hold our breath as modern rappers continue to compete with the dead.

As for his acting career, Tupac had a certain charisma that always made him stand out in his films.

"Just imagine what would have happened if he had lived. Tupac was vilified in life but when he died, God gave him what they call an extra portion," his mother who is also CEO of Amaru Entertainment/Amaru Records that manages Tupac's works once said. "He just got lifted up," she said last year in an interview with New York Daily News.

In his love life, Tupac was engaged to Kadida Jones but also dated Jada Pinkett, now married to actor and rapper Will Smith.

Sadly, Tupac's lyrics upset and fueled his longstanding feud with the rapper Notorious B.I.G. who was killed six months after Tupac's death. Shakur's unsolved murder has also been the source of fascination. He was shot on September 7, 1996 and died six days later. Much of what happened remains a mystery.

It is said his death was related to the East Coast versus West Coast gang- a rival Bad Boy label with main players Sean Puffy Combs aka P-Diddy and rapper Notorious B.I.G. These theories however, remain legendary in the already twisted story of Tupac Shakur.

The rapper, actor, composer and poet who once said he would "spark the brain that will change the world," died and left a major vent in the rap world.

Rapper Jay-Z once said of rap, "You have to be fresh and sell to an audience that's 16 to 25. They demand that you 'keep it hood,' 'keep it real'." It is exactly what only Tupac Shakur could achieve. He produced music that lasts.

It's that controversial; the life and death of Tupac Shakur, a man who many believe still lives somewhere. A hero to some, a martyr to others and a legend to his fans, Tupac had the words, 'Thug Life' tattooed on his abdomen, and in most of his songs, he predicted his own death. He lived the "gangster" life celebrated in his songs until he was murdered.

His words; "All good niggas who change the world, die in violence..." were a prophecy that came true in his death.

Sunday Monitor, December 19, 2004