Music star Philly Bongoley Lutaaya’s music will officially be available on digital platforms through Africori, a leading digital music company for artistes and labels in Africa and Sweden. It will be releasing a music collection of the icon.
Lutaaya is keenly remembered as one of the first African music stars to reveal he was living with HIV/Aids and he lived positively, using his status to build awareness across Uganda and Africa. His song alone became an anthem to drum up efforts to stump the scourge out of Africa.
Africori has carefully selected across Lutaaya’s four albums, to get what they have they have dubbed Born in Africa: The Greatest Hits of Philly Lutaaya, which anthologises the best recorded works from the musician and social activist. It has 20 tracks, including songs such as Born in Africa, which was released in 1986, and thereon becoming a celebratory anthem.
“Prior to his death Philly Lutaaya had not secured a record deal with which to protect his music and advance his career. His son Lennon Lutaaya, now in charge of his music estate, is tasked with seeing to it that his father’s music legacy lives on,” a statement from Africori, reads in part.
“The tracks maintain their original lyrics and music. However, they have been re-mastered from the original master copies and given a face-lift to fulfil the high audio quality standards today’s music market demands,” Lennon Lutaaya reveals.
Upon release, Philly Lutaaya’s entire catalogue will be available for download and streaming across all major digital platforms, including iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, Spinlet.
There are also songs from his perennial favourite 1987 Christmas Album and for Alone and Alone II The legacy, released in 1988, which are watershed momentin Uganda’s socio-political history as they denote the brave and tireless crusade Lutaaya undertook after publicly declaring his status of positively living with the Aids virus.
Philly Bongoley Lutaaya would have turned 64 this year on October 19. His activism made history, and now finally, Ugandans can access the music that made him a true legend and national treasure.
rbatte@ug.nationmedia.com
