From Alien Skin to Zari: Here is the A-Z of 2023

A – Alien Skin and Abitex

Alien Skin dominated the year in all aspects. He had wrangles with Bajjo promoter and then Bobi Wine over a number of issues. He even at one point asked President Museveni to give him a bulletproof car and a music collaboration. It is still Alien Skin who briefly resurrected Clever J’s music career with a song and then concert at Zoe Grounds. Alien Skin was also in the news for his refusal to take Champion Gudo to Kampala Parents School and what came out of that was a concert.
Abitex, after falling out with Alien Skin, instructed his lawyers to write an intention to sue the artiste over the Nkwacho festival.

 B– Battle between Cindy and Sheebah, and Bruno K 

After months of bickering and press conferences, the first female music battle between Cindy and Sheebah happened this year at Kololo Airstrip. This was the first of others to come. From different regions, the battle was taken to the UK and Dubai.
Bruno K was also among the headliners this year for reasons to do with women. He had several sagas with women who claimed he had used them.

C– clashing of
Concerts  
Pallaso had a concert at cricket Oval on the same day as Alien Skin at Freedom City. Geosteady did the same with Maurice Kirya and so did Navio with Gravity Omutujju.   It was also this year that Joseph Mayanja, alias Chameleone graduated with a Bachelor’s of Arts in International Relations and Diplomacy from Cavendish University. Chameleone also beat up a boda boda man for allegedly scratching his car.

D– deaths

The entertainment industry lost some people this year, including veteran stage actor, comedian, politician and singer Kato Lubwama, singer Evelyn Lagu, influencer and YouTuber Ismail Olaxess and TikToker Asia, among others.

E – Eddy Kenzo
Besides the federation, Eddy Kenzo will never forget 2023 after he was bashed for murdering the late Philly Bongole Lutaya’s  Born In Africa song and among these included fellow celebrities such as Irene Ntale and Paddy Man while Bruno K and Fresh Daddy decided to remake the song.

F – Federation 
It was in May this year that The Uganda National Musicians Federation was formed under the stewardship of Eddy Kenzo. The federation was formed with the aim to unite musicians and promote their interests in Uganda by bringing together all associations in the industry under one umbrella.

G – Grammys
For the first time ever, many Ugandan artistes submitted their projects for Grammy consideration and four of them got a nod.  Among these included GNL Zamba, Vinka, MC Norman Ganja Jose Chameleone and Eddy Kenzo but unfortunately, no one made it to the final list.

H – Hannah Karema 
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Miss Uganda had been last held in July 2019 but the pageant returned this year with Hannah Karema winning the title.

I – iron sheets

Without stressing you too much, we want to believe you heard about that iron sheet saga. Well, apparently a group of well placed Ugandans decided to serve themselves iron sheets initially meant for vulnerable Ugandans. After learning the hard way that assuming positions such as vulnerability was a hard task, they resorted to distancing themselves from the iron sheets, with some dumping them at schools and churches.

J  – Joshua baraka
We cannot ignore what Joshua Baraka has done and achieved this year. He has quietly made the right moves with his music career. Made the right collaborations especially with his Nana Rmx, has toured the right countries for his future glory and managed to tap into the right audience. The audience that streams music.  

K – Kats
It was this year that Mc Kats said he would hang up his boots at emceeing a two-day-event dubbed ‘King of the mic last dance’. It was also this year that Kats was taken off Geosteady’s stage by Alien Skin’s boys after he allegedly tried to stop Alien Skin’s performance.

L – Loukman Ali 

Loukman Ali yet again represented the film makers this year after winning two film awards in the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCAs), becoming the Ugandan filmmaker with the most AMVCA wins. He won the Best Director and Best Cinematographer for Brotherhood.

M – Magogo

Moses Magogo is at the helm of Uganda’s football. It is easy to say his house is always on fire. On fire for being the most supported local sport, yet their results are always disappointing. Anyway, this year, the man made promises, but the national team was in shambles, as were the stadiums. This year, Uganda hosted her home matches away from home. Outside football, though, Magogo’s name always shows up in parliament corridors; you will hear speakers of that building blaring his name without retreat.

N – Netball Uganda
Tell me a sport that delivered on the court and later washed their linen in the boardroom. You have to give it up for netball, they delivered in good and bad ways. From being the best African team at the Netball World Cup in South Africa, the netball federation’s president Babirye Kityo somehow managed to get herself in hot soup, got arrested, bailed and later dropping lots of online statements on how bad things are. She dropped many of these that you felt like a mixtape would follow.

O – Oh Uganda

Oh Uganda, no, we are not singing the anthem, but this year had us gasping and jaw dropping about Uganda various times. That is how the phrase ani afuga egwanga lino came about..

P – Pot holes

IIf there is one thing that got people in Kampala talking, it was definitely the potholes in the city roads. Whether you use a taxi, boda boda or a private car, you felt the wrath of the city potholes. The situation was that bad that when a pothole exhibition was organised by Prof. Spire Ssentongo, it immediately went viral. It is surprising that ever since, KCCA has been busy fixing roads and yet they are still bad. Or even worse.

P – Pot holes

IIf there is one thing that got people in Kampala talking, it was definitely the potholes in the city roads. Whether you use a taxi, boda boda or a private car, you felt the wrath of the city potholes. The situation was that bad that when a pothole exhibition was organised by Prof. Spire Ssentongo, it immediately went viral. It is surprising that ever since, KCCA has been busy fixing roads and yet they are still bad. Or even worse.

Q – uhhhhm!

Things in Uganda never start with Q and neither did Alien Skin release a song starting with the letter. So we shall sit Q out.

R – Records galore 

Ugandans usually move with trends, it starts with one person deciding to do one extraordinary thing and before you know it, everyone is trying. This year, the trend was the Guinness world record. Well, it started sometime during the pandemic when one Raymond Kahuma dared to make the world’s biggest rolex. He achieved that, and this year he continued chasing more records. However, what got Ugandans talking was the clapping marathon (ok, that is not the name they gave it). The clapping was this massive clapathon for Jesus, mainly spearheaded by the flock from Phaneroo. After that, other Ugandans tried to chase records by hugging trees and cooking.

R – Records galore 

Ugandans usually move with trends, it starts with one person deciding to do one extraordinary thing and before you know it, everyone is trying. This year, the trend was the Guinness world record. Well, it started sometime during the pandemic when one Raymond Kahuma dared to make the world’s biggest rolex. He achieved that, and this year he continued chasing more records. However, what got Ugandans talking was the clapping marathon (ok, that is not the name they gave it). The clapping was this massive clapathon for Jesus, mainly spearheaded by the flock from Phaneroo. After that, other Ugandans tried to chase records by hugging trees and cooking.

S – Spire ssentongo

One personality who has dominated X, formerly known as Twitter is Prof. Spire Ssentongo. He was behind the famous road exhibition that did not only expose the dire situation of Kampala roads but also got the President reacting. But that was not all, Spire kept many public and private institutions on their feet with various exhibitions. From NGOs to ministries, each got their act together whenever an exhibition was announced.

T – triplets
Ugandan dance group Triplets Ghetto Kids made their debut on popular television show ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ on the 15th of April. They did not just stop at performing but received a Golden buzzer from judge Bruno Tonioli that sent them past the boot camp stage of the competition. The Uganda dance group however did not win the competition as the 16th series was won by Norwegian comedy performer Viggo Venn. Still the Ghetto Kids made headlines yet again with an incredible performance at the Confederation of African Football awards (CAF) on the 11th of December at the Palais des Congrès in Marrakech, Morocco.

U – UPRS 
We cannot really count the number of times artistes brought up UPRS, everytime they said copyright, UPRS was next in line. 

V – Victoria University

Well, this remains one of the most confusing institutions in Uganda. From the time they appointed questionable influencers to spearheading one of the biggest music showdowns this year. Whatever it is with VU, we may find out in 2024. .

W – whose stage?

It was this year that Chameleone’s stage collapsed just a day before his concert. The stage erected by Fenon Events was destroyed by heavy rains and winds. This was during a time when there was a battle for supremacy for stage erecting. ATS had erected a magnificent stage for Spice Diana while Fenon Events were responsible for Chameleone’s stage   

X – x (formerly twitter)

There was a time when it was cool saying you were a big deal on Twitter, people earned their badges and egos were built in the process. Could you even talk to a person whose account was verified. Then Elon Musk happened, bought Twitter and named it X, yeah, like an X-rated movie. He took away the verifications and brought some back, but above it all started selling them. 

Y – YouTube

Needless to say, YouTube is the most visited website the world over, and as a phone application, it is one of the most downloaded. YouTube has been picking up in Uganda, and we can solely say it has crushed Uganda’s social life this year. It looks like everyone goes to concerts to record content. They took over Nyege Nyege that someone was forced to wear a Spiderman suit to party without regret.

Z – Zari

The self-proclaimed ‘Boss lady’ walked down the aisle this year with his husband Shakib Luutaya in a ceremony held in Pretoria, South Africa.