Ugandan musician Eddy Kenzo. PHOTO/FILE
When Eddy Kenzo released Sitya Loss at the start of 2014, he was an improvement on an unknown quantity. His debut single, Yanimba—done alongside Bobi Wine’s brother Mikie Wine—had brought him some success. He had also basked in the glory of the soundtrack to the 2011 General Election—Stamina.
Stamina had initially received a lacklustre reception from the audience. Yet when Abdul Karim, alias Producer Didi, tweaked a few things and changed the tempo of the song, it gained a cult hero following. Neither Stamina nor Yanimba was the beginning of Eddy Kenzo. The man who has made history by becoming Uganda’s first Grammy nominee, started out as a footballer, training with SC Villa in his formative years.
Starting out
In the early 2000s, TV personality Straka Mwezi, alias Straka Baibe, organised a singing competition. She wanted to unearth talent for her band. Eddy Kenzo was one of the finalists. On Monday morning, the man who was born and bred in Masaka as Edrissa Musuuza could wake up a Grammy Award winner.
Gimme Love song
At the start of 2014, the fact that Eddy Kenzo had barely managed to stay relevant was not entirely his fault. The music industry had been partitioned between Moses Sali, alias Bebe Cool; Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, and Joseph Mayajna, alias Chameleone. Goodlyfe or Mowzey Radio [Moses Nakintije Ssekibogo] and Weasel [Douglas Mayanja] claimed the crumbs that remained.
Whereas Eddy Kenzo’s two initial songs did not pick any steam, Sitya Loss didn’t come up against only local artistes. It was workshopped to capture the minds of music fans when Nigerian artistes had started mapping the continent as their playground.
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