Uganda's one hit wonders

I read this article in the New vision of saturday 10 April 2010 and thpought you too would enjoy it

Music- Where are they now?

Publication date: Thursday, 8th April, 2010

Lady Mariam Tindatine

THEY fizzle out as fast as they breeze onto the music scene. One day they are household names, the next we are wondering what their last names were. Among the most famous ones the world has known is Australian-British singer, Peter Andre, who hit us with Mysterious Girl in the mid 1990s and is, to date, more famous for his social misdemeanours than for his music. In Uganda, we have had our fair share of one hit wonders. Michael Kanaabi looks at the most outstanding ones over the past decade.

Napoleon (More Money)
It is true ladies want more money and guys keep saying no money, but the man who brought that to light is no more. Criticised for rhyming like Red Banton on his break out hit, Noonya Money, Napoleon’s More Money nonetheless went on to become a big hit on the local scene. However, he faded into oblivion. The last we heard of him, he had abandoned secular music and was born-again.

Prossy Kankunda (Akalulu)
Does any of you still remember the KADS Band? Probably few of you. This was a band led by John Kahwa (R.I.P) one of Bunyoro’s musical geniuses. Dropped at the beginning of this decade, Akalulu enjoyed massive airplay and critics predicted that Kakunda had what it took to become one of Uganda’s greatest singers of all time. She tried a follow-up song that never did well and went down with the collapse of the band.

Red Banton (Noonya Money)
Abayimbi Balogo might be receiving some airplay at the moment, but might never cut it to become a big hit. Red Banton burst onto the scene with his unique rhyming style in the hit Noonya Money that took Kampala by storm in 2001. He followed it up with songs like Kivebulaya and Pony Tail but they did not get there. Critics blame this on his very obvious rhyming style, which could not attract attention.

Fred Maiso (Ekimuli Kya Rosa)
During the late 1990s, no concert organiser would hold a music show minus inviting Fred Maiso, the man behind Ekimuli Kya Rosa, one of the biggest hits at the time. Although he is back into singing with Eagles Production Band, Maiso is yet to have an effect close to the one he created with Ekimuli Kya Rosa.

Mad Tiger (Obulamu Bwensi )
His real claim to fame was his song Obulamu. The song got so big that it was on top of every club deejay’s play list every night. But one year in the lime light, Mad Tiger was no more. He tried to put out another one in the later half of 2009, but it failed to pick.

Romeo Akiki (No Parking)
Alongside Prossy Kankunda, he is one of the few voices that stood out before KADS Band hit hard times. Akiiki went on to try out a solo career that did not go very far, but produced one of the songs we all danced to at the beginning of this decade. No Parking was a hit not only because of its somewhat controversial meaning, it was a great song to dance and listen to.

Sylvia Kyansuti
(Okunsunasuna)
It is one of those many collaborations that finally led Ugandans to appreciate Bebe Cool after a long struggle. It was also one of the few songs from Busoga that received massive appreciation back in the early 2000s. To date, no one can reliably inform you about what the songstress from Busoga is up to or when she will drop her next hit.

Lady Mariam (Tindatine)
She was the PAM Awards western artist of the year 2007 for one reason — Tindatine. The first mega hit song in Runyankole to rule Uganda’s airwaves, its video, which had herds of boys falling in love with this higher status girl, thrilled us with Ankole culture on our TV screens. From Kampala to Mbale, all the way to Juba, fans loved Tindatine. She tried following up with Sirikusuula, a good song going by the common standards, but it just did not measure up to Tindatine.

Clever J (Manzi Wanani)
The first time everyone heard this monster hit, they attributed it to singer Jose Chameleone. Little did they know that it was done by his cousin and then member of Leone Island. This guy cut out a name for himself just sounding like Chameleone and will forever remain in the shadows of the heavy weight until he maps out his own identity. Although Clever J has tried to do other songs, the fans know Manzi Wanani even more than Clever J!

Ziggy Dee (Eno Mic)
The year was 2001 when Ziggy Dee, the then Tanzanian-based Ugandan artist, hit the local scene with his controversial Eno Mic and boy did we dance to this jam. The airplay was massive and he was at every concert you went to. Bobi Wine later collaborated with him on the mediocre hit, Sunda, and they soon had a fight over who owned the song, which actually helped boost its ratings.

This article can be found on-line at: http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/9/513/715606

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