Does Ugandan music need a sound?

“A sound implies a unique and outstanding sonic identity that represents and reflects a certain culture. We have a Ugandan sound. This is witnessed through our unique literature, stories, melodies, instruments and so much more,” says Martin Musoke, a Kampala-based record producer famously known as Artin Pro.

He notes that it takes daring minds to actually integrate native and contemporary sounds to a more authentic and appealing medium for the consumers, arguing that Uganda is a multi-cultural country but so is Africa, so generalising everything from Africa as Afrobeats is inaccurate.

Having made multiple hits for top artistes such as Fik Fameica, Spice Diana, Winnie Nwagi and others, Artin believes that in East Africa and Uganda in particular, people tend to largely produce for the available market first. He, however, acknowledges that the narrative is changing, as many creatives are currently targeting the global audience.

When asked about the ‘kidandali’ music that many purists often scoff at, Artin, whose touch is an amalgam of various cultural influences both native and global, retorted with a laugh: “Kidandali has employed many citizens, helped many through depression, connected many people, healed many and preserved our culture; even more than some of the prominent music genres. It is vital to appreciate its positive influence on our society without bias, but that does not mean it is our sound. We are blessed with a great culture as a nation and at some point with the right observations and guidance, we may have a name, if not names, for our sounds.”

Regional Identity?

Singer A Pass says a sound is a regional identity. It encompasses language, flow, patterns of how people speak, and what they talk about in any society.

“Uganda has a vast sound, because of the many regions it has; and this makes people think we do not have a sound. Each has an energy it brings in terms of sound. The instruments also contribute to what sound you create. If you make beats based off mainly Ugandan instruments such as Adungu and local drums, and less of piano for example, the song will sound more native. Music is global, so not everything we do comes from here. We borrow a lot from outside,” A Pass says.

“Afrobeats has borrowed a lot from Ugandan music, and from Congolese and South African sounds too. It is a sound that married a lot of others to create a single huge one which is now international. Uganda has its own thing; it is a matter of us borrowing other things and adding them to what we have so that we create something the people already know.”

A Pass goes on to blame the mindset of Ugandan creatives who think music is supposed to be boxed and that is why they are reluctant to jump into different sounds, because they fear to be judged. He advises that people should just make music.

“It is not like all Nigerians just woke up one day and decided to create one sound. They just followed a few leaders in the game. But the criticism has to be there when you do something your audience does not expect. They do not expect A Pass to be Wizkid,” A Pass adds.

He further states that even though language is an important aspect of what music is most appreciated by consumers in Uganda, melodies are the most important thing.

“Often, the regional identity thing comes in; because when people understand the song, it is better. That is why people vibe a lot with songs in Luganda, but English works too, because so many people in Uganda do not understand Luganda. We have so many languages, so you just have to find your way. The language of music is melody.

To the artiste, kidandali is a word intended to mock a certain sound. He notes that if we use more of our traditional instruments, we can have a Ugandan sound and he purposes to do that in his next album.

“I will be one of those guys who will create a Ugandan sound, because I get bored easily and I like to create the future. I will change Ugandan music; I will give it a sound,” he vows.

Deep-rooted cause

As artistes and producers make music, it is the music critics who keep them in check. Eddy Sendi, a celebrated radio personality from Dembe FM believes Uganda has no recognisable sound and the cause is deep-rooted.

“A sound is an identity. Uganda has no sound, and the problem started with colonialism. We have different tribes with diverse sounds: The Baganda with Nankasa and Bakisimba, the Bagisu with Kadodi, the Luo with Larakaraka, the Banyankole/ Bakiga with with Ekizino and Ekitaagururo. Colonialists crammed up all those sounds together, leading to failure to adopt one,” he says.

The critic was hard-hitting, sending blame to musicians who “do not understand some of these fundamentals”. He claims we have been brainwashed to think whatever is foreign is good, and whatever is native is bad, to the extent of ignorantly using the word ‘local’ as an insult; which it is not. He adds that our musicians have consequently become copycats of Jamaican, American, Congolese and Nigerian sounds and they often fuse those and come up with something that sometimes does not sound good.

Sendi narrates the famous story of how Mowzey Radio came up with Bikoola, a song featuring Irene Ntale, by simply staring at leaves outside the studio during a smoking break. He stresses that inspiration to create a signature sound can come from anywhere; just the way songs are made.

“You cannot just start a competition and task producers to create a Ugandan sound. It will never work. That said, I do not think we will ever get a Ugandan sound. The Europeans and Americans call anything that falls in genres they do not know ‘World Music’. Kenneth Mugabi, Susan Kerunen and Maurice Kirya, make different genres of music, but out there they refer to it all as World Music. So, everything by an African, unless it is very distinct, is tagged Afrobeats.”

“Our musicians are fond of fusing things into a sort of fisherman’s pie, with 10 different types of fish turned into one pot. Most of what we do here falls under the same category. Gravity Omutujju for example, identifies as a rapper, but would you call what he does hip hop?” Sendi asks.

He lashes out at veteran musicians who bloomed in the 90s and early 2000s for always taking credit for ‘chasing away’ Congolese music: “You cannot say you defeated colonialism when you still wear European clothes and have failed to replace your European name with an African one. The belief is a foolhardy fallacy. You cannot say that, when all your songs are littered with Congolese-influenced instrumentation.”

Copy and paste

Amapiano, a sound originally from South Africa, is lately being capitalised on by Nigerians such as Asake, Burna Boy, Davido and Wizkid on the international scene, a thing Sendi argues is a good strategy.

“The Nigerians are good at listening to a sound, understanding it, running away with it, tweaking it to the best of their ability, perfecting it and then making good use of it. Some of their sounds are sampled from our Kadodi. They also proudly sample Congolese music and are not shy about it. The Nigerians are very shrewd. They took Amapiano and ran with it; and are now laughing all the way to the bank. The problem we have in East Africa is, we do not copy with great analysis. It is a matter of one going to the producer and saying, make for me a beat like that one. I am not against young people, but what expertise does a 25-year-old music producer have to pick a sound and do justice to it, apart from copy and paste?”

In music production, there are studio technicians, instrumentalists, programmers/beat makers, back-up artistes, producers, plus mixing and mastering engineers. The producer is the one that makes final decisions about a song, and does not do any of the technical work; but down here, as Sendi says, one person assumes all the above roles. That is why many do not last more than a decade in the industry, because the workload causes them to burn out. Daddy Andre has been lucky and made a few hits doing this, but he would have been more successful if he let in other people.

“It is a vicious cycle of new producers that burn out after a short while. True, our people might not be willing to spend on a song to pay all the individuals supposed to be part of the process but like Chance Lubega famously sang, ‘atalina sente tafumita lindaazi’. Music is a business for those with money. We do not have a Ugandan sound, but you never know, someday someone might create one and others will run with it. It could even be that uptown sound on Nana by Joshua Baraka,” Sendi asserts.

The song in question was produced by 24-year-old Geoffrey Mukwaya, professionally known as Axon. He had produced songs before Nana that did not get much recognition.

For artistes such as Kohen Jaycee, a sound can mean a number of things,

“It can be a certain genre orientation that resonates with a given artiste. That is why you hear people saying this artiste has such and such a sound. As Ugandans, we are unique. Everyone is doing their own thing. There is the new generation with a certain sound that resonates with them and then there is the other side that also has its unique type of music. Everyone is adding something to the Ugandan sound,” he says.

Nana has got astronomical success, to the point of attracting big names such as Bien Baraza from Sauti Sol and Joeboy from Nigeria to jump onto the remix, after years of Axon staying true to his style no matter what,

“My musical style has a strong sense of dynamism while consciously avoiding any genre attachment. I rise to the occasion,” Axon says.

KOHEN JAYCEE SAYS;

I believe African music is way more than just afrobeats. However, the generalization and coining of the movement by the foreign media and others beyond the continent overshadows the existence of the other different genres of music in Africa. Criticism is part of the game. I respect artistes who try out different sounds. It shows confidence. We Ugandans love good music that we can groove to