Kimera provides shoulder to artistes

Born and raised in Kampala 29 years ago, the soft-voiced Sam Kimera has rich musical roots. This stems from his Christian family and later joining the worship team at Watoto Church. K!mera as he is fondly known, only began recording his music a year ago.
“I started doing music professionally last year, about the same time I got married. I recorded a song Gwe Wange. It was for our wedding but after that I decided to take it for recording.” You might have heard him sing a melodic chorus and hummed along to your favourite musician’s song, but cannot tell he is the voice behind it- thanks to his love for backing up other artistes.

How he does his thing
For K!mera, it is with passion for music that he enjoys doing backups for several musicians, including Ruyonga, Maurice Kirya, Holy Keane Amooti. “I wasn’t backing up so that one day I become a musician. Musicians call me up and ask me to back them up.”
While it is trendy for artistes to hit the studio often, K!mera does not buy into that. “I’m strict about lyrics content and I’m not in a rush. Sometimes it takes longer and quality is important.” Perhaps that is why the artiste, who is fond of R&B genre, is yet to release his first album.

What music?
His lyrical ability is evident in his hit single- Slow Down, a song that mainly takes couples on a reflective journey of dwelling first on the things that attracted them to each other and goes ahead to challenge them to reconsider their actions even when tempers flare.
“After a discussion, we discovered that couples give up on relationships early. Something annoys them and they decide to leave without giving chance to the other person to apologise. In the heat of the moment, there is anger. So it is premarital counselling of sorts. I believe there should be room for reconciliation.”
Despite spending more time in Christian circles, K!mera also believes music should be a ministry tool. “You cannot stop at singing in the choir. I sometimes get invites to different places but I turn them down. This is because you have to be wise on how you choose where to go,” he adds.
The artiste performed at last month’s Blankets and Wine where he did a song - Issue With Average. “We are satisfied with halfs but we cannot change the world if we are going to be average. We have to be excellent and that is what I do with my music. Sometimes I may say what another person may not agree with but think it is right yet I’m challenging them to another level,” he explains.
His music extends to patriotism too. Last year, he brought together several artistes such as Benezeri, Sheebah Kenganzi, Mun G, to show how their love for Uganda in a song So UG that was released on the eve of Independence. “Some people say they do not care about Uganda, but it is not true.”

Away from music
When he is not on stage and in studio, K!mera spends his time doing administrative work at Watoto Church where he facilitates childcare and the choirs. He also has a zeal for helping other artistes with projects such as Solome Basuuta who launched her first album in May. “I’m also part of Collective UG, a team of young Christian adults with different gifts for service.”
K!mera cannot point a finger at a specific challenge. “Sometimes my manager calls to inform me about an invite to perform. It is because of God’s favour that I work without the pressure for money and I’m privileged to have a job that I love.” However, he quickly adds: “Sometimes when God calls us to do something, we are afraid of doing it even when there might not be any challenges. So because you have not obeyed God things don’t happen.”
Five years from now, K!mera hopes to be influential in the music industry. “I want to be able to speak into the lives of upcoming artistes. The youth should not allow anyone to despise them. You need to trust God.”

Advice to artistes: Find out why you do what you do? Then you can figure out the how. Everything has got to be standard.
Fans: I’m always grateful. It is humbling when someone knows your song word for word. My music can be downloaded on itsretunes.com, my Facebook and Twitter accounts.
He looks up to: Lecrae, Propanganda, Mali Music. In Africa, Lota House with the likes of Abel Chungu, Pompi, Mag 44. Their songs give hope.

What another musician says
Solome Basuuta says, “I have been working with K!mera for about six months now and he is musical and creative. Working with him; you don’t take a lot to practice. He prefers music that impacts. He is supportive, gives ideas. His music is poetic.