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Fate de la Musique 2016

The itinerant Kampala Symphony Orchestra plays the Colville Street/ Kampala Road Junction on World Music Day last Saturday  Alliance Francaise, the cultural and language promotion arm of the French Embassy, marginally pulled of its signature calendar event, World Music Day at the National Theatre last Saturday. There was little else beyond a stage, passable audio output and the delight that there…

My solemn prayer for 2016 is for the emergence of a band that can craft a Ugandan sound for export. That is a big ask of a nation that boasts being the most diverse globally in terms of ethnic representation. The UN did name Uganda thus owing to our 65+ ethnic groupings, each with its own signature cuisine and songs amongst other attributes.

But my New Year prayer request may turn out to be a tall order, what with most of the notable Kampala live music opting to settle for being extensions of the US music industry. The bulk of their repertoire comprises passable renditions of the American Top 40 playlist, a dictate of the venues at which the bands play. Apparently, the mostly weary corporates who are the principal audiences these city and suburbia hangouts need the alien songs as a salve to unwind from the office grind.

And so the career stagnation continues as legions of fine musicians are reduced to playing to a busy schedule of just aping songs to gleeful expatriates. Which is rather strange considering that the latter ought to cringe at being denied a taste of authentic Ugandan sonic ethno delights instead. The artistes though are quick to play the “bread and butter” card. After all gigging almost on the daily alongside the steady wedding bookings is no different from your corporate job in which the air-conditioned office is swapped for the stage. Yet the musicians hold a vital ace, one they can play to go one better and bite into the very pie that’s made Angelique Kidjo and Youssou N’Dour global cultural institutions.

Herbert Kinobe, a former member of the now defunct ethno-pop outfit Soul Beat Africa

Ace guitarist Myko Ouma was once a member of the now defunct Soul Beat Africa

We did have Soul Beat Africa once, an ensemble outfit that boasted sharing the same stage with some of the most notable World Music names around in a time past. That was before fractious band dynamics and egos splintered the group into solo acts that have not quite regained their clout as the famed and feted ethno-pop lads from Uganda on the global music stage.

The recourse for those bold enough to want to break out of the music-ape comfort bubble is to look to the likes of Sarah Ndagire. For a long time an Afrigo Band dancing girl, she went on to aspire for greater solo artiste heights and is now making a name for herself and The Pearl on the UK ethno-pop circuit as a bankable chanteuse. In the grander scheme of things, it may bode well for our musicians if they positioned themselves as low-hanging cultural exports. This may work better for them than having to ape Usher Raymond with a bad rendition of “Good Kisser”.

Text: Moses Serugo

Pix: Internet  

Qwela Junction III; The Divas Edition

Rather than dwell on the semantics of which among the Qwela Junction III line-up is a true diva or just a chanteuse, Qwanza Music’s Joe Kahirimbanyi prefers to dwell on the added value his event brings to the Kampala city cultural landscape. “Qwela Junction” is a quarterly showcase of collaborative concerts featuring handpicked artistes of a particular discipline. They all come together in a…

Global stage drama at Kampala theatre fest

A scene from the opening play Moi, Monsieur et Moi from Senegal  If you fancy teasing your artsy palate with fine stage drama, then the 2015 Kampala International Theatre Festival is your sort of indulgence. The second edition has lined up works from Iraq (ISIS hasn’t decimated the arts there just yet), Belgium (the arts aren’t o lockdown here either) and Kosovo (the arts definitely survived the…

All That Kampala Jazz

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Kampala Fashion Week; just another couture charade

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The Top 15 unmissable acts at #Bayimba2015

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Bollywood’s Zee World to spice up Francophone Africa

Gastronomy is an integral part of Bollywood culture and what better way for the Zee World channel to enchant than through a culinary Indian experience as an ice-breaker for discourse around its dynamic channel that’s been customized for mainstream audiences in Africa. Launched earlier this year by Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL), a leading television, media and entertainment company,…

A Lifetime of nuptials on DStv

Even a misogamist like me does occasionally appreciate the effort that goes into putting together a wedding. Nuptials are a whole industry of their own complete with a job ecosystem comprising designers, florists, caterers, beauticians and the like. Which is precisely what DStv’s Lifetime channel 131 aims to do; demystify weddings beyond begging meetings by thrusting viewers right into the…

DStv’s BBC Entertainment rebrands to BBC Brit

Those with a palate for snotty (and often-times toffee-nosed) British culture can indulge in the now rebranded BBC Brit DStv Channel 120 that promises “intelligent but irreverent” programming that gladly steers clear of the Keeping Up Appearances mould. The channel will mostly piggyback off its predecessor BBC Entertainment staples like Top Gear with all new episodes airing first on BBC Brit.…

Rekindle your baking mojo with DStv’s BBC Lifestyle channel

My fondest baking memories were looking forward to licking the baking bowl, what with that savoury sweet dough. This, despite spankings from my long-suffering mum whose warnings about a possible tummy upset from eating “raw cake” fell on deaf ears. I never got down to the “effeminate” indulgence that is baking seeing as it is that my generation’s males were persona non grata in the kitchen.…

Zambezi Magic, Maisha Magic East flex funny bones at MultiChoice Content Showcase

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Tanzania to get its own Maisha Magic channel, Uganda left in the cold

Ugandan DStv subscribers will have to wait a little longer for their own Maisha Magic channel even as Tanzania celebrates the launch of Maisha Magic Bongo starting October 1st, 2015. The creation of the Tanzania-centric channel is in light of M-Net’s vision to create channels for each homogenous target market for Southern and Eastern Africa by language, culture, taste or a combination thereof.…

Multichoice throws hedonistic content bash in Mauritius

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Perhaps Ugandan content producers will now rise to the challenge and craft content for DStv’s reconstituted Maisha Magic East channel 158 now available across all bouquets. The channel comes on the heels of the closure of the more upper-palate Maisha Magic (channel 161) that was retired on May 31, 2015. The new channel 158 is a re-formatting of Maisha Magic Swahili and now constitutes content…

Dance Week Uganda 2015 takes place this weekend (April 17-19) at Kampala’s National Theatre but low publicity will not see that many bums on seats this time around. Now in its 13th year, Dance Week Uganda has soldiered on as a calendar arts event showcasing contemporary dance. This even with the diminished opportunities for practitioners vis-à-vis its music and drama counterparts. It could be…

Nollywood ups ante with “Thy Will Be Done” UK premiere

Nollywood ups ante with “Thy Will Be Done” UK premiere.