Western Uganda artiste Ray G pulled a historical crowd at Lugogo Cricket Oval. PHOTOS /COURTESY/ISAAC SSEJJOMBWE
BREAKING THROUGH: For years, many upcountry artistes have found trouble tapping into city audiences. Could this be due to the concentration of financial, technical and human resources in the city holding them back? Writes Kevin Githuku & Patrick Ssentongo
Artistes in Uganda, especially those based in Kampala, have enjoyed the central language, diversity of producers, and crowds, which are equivalent to popularity and everything that comes with the ‘big city vibe.’
Majority of the ‘big’ artistes in the music industry specifically, have for a while been known to base in the capital, Kampala, most of them singing in Luganda, while some mix both Luganda and English.
This trend has, however, started to see dynamics shifting from the traditional ‘city’ musicians electrifying the masses to a new breed of artistes from different parts of the country proudly singing and entertaining masses in languages from different regions.
Before you get it twisted, the regions far away from the city have always had good artistes, some heard out loud, but with the shift in dynamics as evidenced in the past few years, the country is beginning to notice and take more seriously regional (local) artistes who stand out, regardless of whether they actually understand the language or not.
A good example in this analysis would be western Ugandan singer, Ray G, who has had his successes over time and recently shut down Lugogo Cricket Oval with a concert that saw revellers from all corners of the country, and a good number of those travelling from western Uganda.
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