"Everyone believes the big city has to approve of an artist before the rest can follow suit, and yet the hurdles some of these artists go through to reach the top, only to be fought and ignored by the same city that once looked like a pot of gold is so demeaning".
As Ugandans, we talk about ‘Ugandan music’ and yet it is really ‘Lugandan’ music particularly from the central, and then get disappointed when the products we market fail to impress on an international scene/stage. It is time we have these hard conversations before we wake up too late. How many acts from here do you see play frequently on international media? Recently, I took time to watch the segment ‘Trace muzika’ on Trace that plays East African music and to be honest ,it is the usual Kenzo, Bebe cool, Chameleone and the works of the late Mozey Radio having traces. And yet some of the content is given screen time because of the quality videos only these top acts can afford to shoot, meaning there could be better content somewhere that is not being given the same attention.
Truth is Kampala had and still has the advantage of the capital city status which has made it rule the industry. It is like as an artist, if you can’t move to the city lights, then you won’t have media play, can’t play in clubs and neither can you be recognized in awards… and so we have seen determined artists cross from various regions in the country to prove they are stars in Kampala. Sadly these very regions only start acknowledging their own stars when they make it in the big city. There was Jackie Chandiru and Coco Finger from the North, Nutty Neithan from the East, Latinum from the West and lately Free Boy from West Nile plus couple others I may not mention. Everyone believes the big city has to approve of an artist before the rest can follow suit, and yet the hurdles some of these artist go through to reach the top, only to be fought and ignored by the same city that once looked like a pot of gold is so demeaning.
What is the problem?
The industry is about money lately, reason why pure talents find it impossible to penetrate and sustain themselves. Those who can afford the brown envelope easily manipulate the media and unfortunately influence the audience to follow a funny taste of music. (Wrong messiah)
What Uganda (Kampala in this case) considers as good music can hardly play beyond East Africa; just two weeks of excitement to kidadali beats and then you hear no more. If the taste in music was well influenced, then artists such as; Peter miles, Maurice kirya or the new school A Pass would be topping local music charts but instead you hear a certain Gravity being awarded as the best Hip-hop artist! No disrespect but tell me there are no rappers in other regions that can still uphold the legacies of the Babalukus’ or GNLs’ nation wide. These other regions equally have real sprouting talents that need to be watered and given the opportunity to showcase what they have without limits of any kind. How long are we going to keep saying Chameleon is the best artist? It is time legends claim their spots and retire just as we expect politicians to do the same. There needs to be transition of mental power too, such that the next generation of entertainers is refurbished with new energy.
If you want to argue out the fact that we are musically stagnant, GNL Zamba took a 10yrs break out of the country to hustle and upgrade his career, he made a return and in less than a year, he has evolved, upgraded and most importantly monetized his brand. He is still bold enough to claim he is king of the mic and one can only wonder what other hip hop acts have been up to all this while. Shows you how dormant the industry is, right?
Who will save us now?
There has recently been a state of confusion in this country on how the government interacts with creative people especially on which is the recognized channel government uses to reach out to the industry stakeholders. Last July, a hotel in Gulu was the center of scuffle as a group of musicians jostled to enter. Inside, some other local artists were coming to the end of a two weeks workshop on ‘Strengthening the cultural and creative industry in Uganda’ organized by Gen Salim Saleh, the head of operation wealth creation. Artists from Northern Uganda protested this, sighting that only artists from central were invited meanwhile the big dogs from central disagreed over what platform was appropriate and worthy of engaging the government on behalf of artist affairs.
One party still clung to Ykee Benda as the president of Uganda music association while another group embraced the newly appointed Cindy Sanyu administration. A third party under Jose Chameleone claimed that the true artist union is Uganda Music Superstars association; all these in a bid to access some funds from the government to sustain artist brands during the pandemic. This should show one the level of disorganization in the industry made worse by government involvement through people who do not even understand how the music system operates. This is a regional problem in East Africa. Governments in this region hardly have a hand in the success of creative people. Most of the success stories are individual efforts and the very governments have a habit of appearing on the scene to take credit for what they hardly contribute to build. A good example could be Diamond Platinumz of Tanzania who relentlessly built and sold his brand to the international market before being widely recognized back home. Estimated to be worth a whopping 7 million dollars, the Wasafi owner is a popular name on the list of the top 20 richest African musicians and the only one from East Africa on the West African dominated list.
In a more recent regional scandal, Kenyan comedian Eric Omondi was arrested in November 2021 as he attempted to lead music artists to parliament in a demonstration agitating for better pay at events and demanded that they get the same amount for curtain-raising as foreign acts get paid. These examples should act as evidence on how the various governments have played a major role in the generally weak creative/entertainment systems in East Africa. It has made it practically impossible for entertainers from this region to fairly compete on the continental scene with their counterparts in West and South Africa, who have some support from their respective governments that must have noticed and recognized the creative industry as a huge boost to their economies.
According to the Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) global media and entertainment outlook for 2020-2024, Nigeria’s media and entertainment industry has the potential to become the country’s greatest export, with a projected annual growth rate of 8.6% from 2018-2023. It is needless to point out that the current system in East Africa cannot be changed overnight, so I suggest we find a way around the barricade.
The mess has been done, the focus should now be on how we can move about uniting the industry and revolutionizing it to get results. This move can be championed by the media since they hold a pivotal role in determining who gets attention and the platform. As opposed to the prevailing system where platform is given to those who can pay for it, media houses need to invest in doing research across the nation. Identify at least 2 or 3 genuine acts from each region and give them equal attention like any other entertainer then evaluate results to determine the next course of action. This will help build morale and enable entertainers leave their comfort zones knowing that they have a partner in the media.
The entertainment management acts of the various entertainers on the other hand should embark on a digital revolution. The pandemic must have taught several creatives the need for other sources of income as events were sabotaged for 2years.Therefore, the digital platforrms should be utilized to engage with the audience and inturn create demand. I know of some artists who go weeks without checking their social platforms yet this is the most accessible and reliable channel for keeping up with the audience. Individual artist camps therefore need to embark on intensive digital marketing which entails more of appealing visual messages inform of videos, photos, documentaries and more.
It has been a norm to complain of having no external support for the industry but investors cannot just pick one up from zero level, some necessary baby steps need to be taken before getting noticed. One major step is to get the entertainers legally registered and visible in the business world, this means documents such as National ID’s, Passports, Bank accounts and others should be available. This is to make it easy to represent entertainers as business entities and to access legal services in a given economy. Such simple steps can actually expose the hunger of an entertainer to achieve, portraying them as focused people.
To sum it up, there needs to be more regional cohesion amongst entertainers that can combine a huge force and increase target markets. East African entertainers should establish a union that can amicably represent all the countries and this will improve coordination for both the industry and the art to grow. Imagine if creatives from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan could collaborate on projects more often amongst themselves and combine forces in marketing the industry jointly, then soon enough the region can become such a force because we have what it takes, only the efforts need to be stepped up. It logically sounds like a simple venture but one that requires effort and so the question still remains, 'who is responsible?’; Shall we wait on the governments to intervene? Or industry stakeholders ought to sacrifice and take up the fight for a better regional entertainment system for us all?
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are all from a personal perspective and therefore are not to be considered neither as an attack nor a liaison with any parties referred to in the article.
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