Ykee Benda
YKEE BENDA: For three months, Wycliff Tugume, known to many as Ykee Benda, has been preparing for his debut concert set for tonight at Kampala Serena Hotel. Isaac Ssejjombwe caught up with him.
1.You first named your concert ‘Kireka boy, and now Singa. What informed the name change?
I had a listeners’ party named Kireka Boy in 2017, which many mistook for a concert, so to remove the confusion, we decided to go with Singa and besides that, Singa is a personal song that relates to many people. That is why we asked the public to send us pictures with their moms to be screened on the day of the concert, just to give a personal touch to the concert.
2. Some artistes tend to relax after their concerts, will you also be among those?
No way. I will be doing more music and some of my big collaborations might also be dropping soon. Tekno will be in the mix somewhere. I will not mention more names but just know we are not relaxed. In fact, we did these projects sometime back and decided to hold onto them because we wanted to release music when everyone was ready to embrace it.
3. With the first concert out of the way, are we seeing you having annual concerts from now?
That will not be the case. I will have another concert every after two or three years. We want to show growth in lyrics, in content, performance and other things. You cannot do that every year because it becomes boring.
4. You have been on the music scene for three years and you have Studio Mpaka Records to show for it. How did you do it? And the rumour that there is a female sponsor…?
Teamwork makes the dream work. Everyone on the team plays a vital role in my career. About the female sponsor, those are rumours. People cannot believe that someone can achieve so much in a short time. If you have the right team, you can put all pieces of the puzzle together.
5.Your big brother, Michael, has been your manager for over two years now. Do you think it’s a good idea mixing family with business?
For all the time he has been managing me, I have never complained. We are on the right path and that means we have an understanding. We both know that when it comes to business, it is serious work.
