Courtesy photo of Cranes band where Gitta was a member
The tendency of politics falling into collision with the creative art industry didn’t start yesterday that even-though pundits assume that the banning of artiste Bobi Wine’s concert is the genesis of art-political persecution, similar incidences have always been reflected from the days of Idi Amin Dada that saw artistes like Byron Kawaddwa pay with their lives.
A music docudrama ‘Bwana Jogoo’ alias the ballad of Jessy Gitta will be screened 16th July 2019, at the National Theatre in Kampala. The music docudrama tells a story of legendary musical Jessy Gitta Kasirivu who in the early morning of August 4, 1974, gets violently arrested and killed by Idi Amin’s infamous State Research Bureau (SRB) agents.
Jessy Kasirivu
At the center of Bwana Jogoo is a love triangle between Jessy Gitta, President Idi Amin and Sarah ‘Suicide’ Kyolaba, a then 19 year old go-go dancer. Directed by Dutch journalist/filmmaker Michiel van Oosterhout who has lived in Uganda since 2001, the Documentary shows Gitta’s pandemonium when he falls for Sarah who later attracts the attention of Amin leading to deadly consequences.
In the Documentary, Old musicians, family members, Amin associates and analysts are piecing the deadly puzzle together of this unresolved murder mystery. Bwana Jogoo unravels a dramatic love story under an intimidating political constellation. After years of muffled silence, family and fellow musicians are finally lifting a tip of the veil. Will it be possible to find closure with new answers to old questions?
Short synopsis
A love triangle between a musician, a president and a queen dancer, leading to the brutal death of the musician at the hands of Idi Amin’s State Research Bureau henchmen.
Director : Michiel van Oosterhout
Cinematography : Cyril Ducottet
Producer : DFH Uganda/Freespoken Films
Duration : 67 min
Ugandan premiere: 16th July 2019, National Theatre 19.00 hrs
