Music is a nostalgic memory that never fades; you’ll agree with me after reading this article. You will also detect a trace of pain in my heart that I am trying to lay bare. A pain that, after many years of listening to fine and addictive music on Ugandan FM stations through the late 1990s, it rubs my heart the wrong way that most of my favourite oldies artistes never feature in today’s old-is-gold events and radio mixes. Uganda only seems to appreciate Philly Lutaaya, Elly Wamala, Paul Kafeero, Fred Ssebatta, and Herman Basudde.
My feelings are hurt that every time Kampala announces a Kikadde concert, you already know the line-up before the poster even drops: Afrigo Band, Eagles Production, Maddoxx Sematimba, some surviving Kadongo Kamu artistes, yuck yuck! Same names, same nostalgia, recycled year after year until it starts to feel less like a celebration of oldies and more like a closed shop.
But ask anyone who actually grew up glued to a radio in the 90s, and they’ll tell you the “soup of oldies” is a lot bigger than that. A whole other Kampala was happening outside the audience of CBS, that was the Capital Radio and KFM audience, and the music they listened to never quite made it into the Kikadde canon, mostly because of where it was playing, not because it wasn’t loved.
A lot of this music traces back to Peter Ssematimba; Pira is known to Gen Z as the ‘process by process’ protagonist. But to older generations, he is the pioneer of Valentine’s Day in Uganda, and the man who made Capital FM sound the way it does, you know, the accent and whatnot. That’s not all, though. He is a Ugandan music root too. A tap root, to be specific.
The story goes he came back from the US after his own Michael Jackson dream didn’t pan out, linked up with Steve Jean, and they started building Shanks Vivie’D, Rasta Rob MC, Red Banton, etc with a template like this: fuse simple African proverbs and lyrics from folktales with rap and rhyme.
They also created the Americanized girl-group wave that was huge in the States at the time, pasting it onto Kampala. That wave gave us I-Jay (Iryn Namubiru & Juliana Kanyomozi duo), later Blu*3, Obsessions, and the rest of that generation of girl groups.
Peter Ssematimba did this almost immediately before Bebe Cool and Jose Chameleone left for Kenya; and knowing that Bafudde and Atakogga-atagejja looked up to Shanks and Rasta Rob, perhaps they felt the space at the top in Uganda had been filled with lots of Shanks and Rasta, and seeing as they did that they could not topple them from their high horses, they deemed it necessary to poach a virgin land in Kenya. And we all know what that trip to Kenya did for our industry. It changed it 360-degree-ly.
70% of the names below came straight out of the Ssema-Steve pipeline. A few didn’t, but the important observation here is they all got swept up and forgotten in the same wave.
Here are 20 oldies that should be headlining shows, not footnoting.
#1. Fiona Mukasa: Before Judith Babirye and Pastor Bugembe, there was Fiona Mukasa, daughter of Elly Wamala. She’s the voice behind gospel staples like Ekilibeera Mu Gulu, Tambula tambula Yesu, and Mweyambise. Most Gen Z either know her name and not her music, or her music and not her name. Even the music they know is the recent singles she released long after she had given us the hits of the 90s. Here are her hits of the 90s.
Fiona and David Bweyinda were literally the first gospel artistes a whole generation ever heard. David Bweyinda, who is now known for Egologosa, was then barely 11, singing alongside his mother, Nakafeero Zelubabel Sifa, on the Birigwawo album that included songs like Yagulawo and Silimu. Sadly, most of David’s songs are not available online. David Bweyinda is also a brother to the famous Betty Namaganda.
#2. Betty Namaganda: This Gospel legend, alongside her husband, Pastor Robert Ssenyonga, graced our hearts with untold musical benedictions. They hit a few years after Fiona Mukasa. Betty’s signature songs, Nali Ntambula Mu Kubo and Yesu Anatela Okuda, have been church gospel staples since 1994. Sadly, she is known for only these songs now and a few others, but she has a whole bunch of 90s hits that we don’t hear today. Get some of her other hits here, and Robert Senyonga’s here.
#3. Betty Nakibuuka: Sadly, Nakibuuka is now mostly identified as the mother of Baby Gloria. At age 14, Betty was working after school with her mother to sell second-hand garments to generate funds to support the family. When her mother began experiencing joint swelling, Nakibuuka worked alone.
In 1991, while carrying out her regular trade, Nakibuuka encountered preachers who convinced her to “entrust all her burdens to Jesus Christ.” She encountered admiration for her singing talent, and her story shaped the direction of Luyimba Lwange, an album that brought a different sound to gospel music: young, beautiful and smooth.
Some of us first heard Betty Nakibuuka’s music, much of which is not known to Gen Z, on those famous light-green cassette tapes!
#4. Akiiki Romeo: No Parking won him the Pearl of Africa Music Award for Best Live Band Single back in 2003. That record was inescapable on Capital and KFM in its time. He also had other classics like Garuka and Genda Mpora, for which Capital FM-groomed fans never get a proper concert. Here is Akiiki Romeo’s nostalgic music.
I used to think Capital FM’s Olanya Columbus of the ‘I am not a fool’ fame and Akiiki Romeo were the same person.
#5. Sylvia Kyansuti: She should have been crowned queen from Busoga, going toe-to-toe with Racheal Magoola, except her lane was completely different. While most Basoga acts were into traditional mbaire and band music, Sylvia Kyansuti’s sound was groovy, danceable, made for the dance floor rather than the village square. Her duet with Bebe Cool, Okunsunasuna, was a national anthem in 2002. Then she had Kitumbugulu and Kadalidali.
#6. Saida Karoli: Technically Tanzanian but coming from a Luganda-like language in TZ, Uganda claimed her the way it did Mr Nice. Saida Karoli’s breakout hit, Maria Salome, was so beloved here that she picked up the nickname “Wanchekecha” from Ugandan fans.
#7. Emperor Orlando: His 1997 duet with the late Menton Summer, Sirikawo Baby, was hot. He later gave us Nakonkona and the 2005 Mama Wange with Jose Chameleone and Nsaba Onsonyiwe with Saida Karoli. Emperor Orlando is one of those names that lived on the airwaves and never made the leap back into the concert circuit. We sure need a one-man concert from Emperor Orlando.
#8. Mega Dee & Menton Kronno: Long before Firebase’s In A De Dance and Ate Oba Wankyawa, Gen Mega Dee had In Heaven No Beer and Lwali lumu nga bbiri under one of the most iconic dynamic duos in Ugandan dancehall and reggae history with Menton Kronno.
#9. Yvette Sseguya and Queen Bella: Before Dodo, Queen Bella had Anekutte with little-known Yvette Sseguya. Yvette had another monster hit titled Ngenda Mukyaalo.
#10. Steve Jean: This is the MVP who worked with Maddox Ssematimba to make half the magic on this list. He is a soft-voiced RnB producer who could sing as well as build, with his own hits like Osobola Otya, and collaborated with Shanks Vivie’D on Bundu and Kakokolo.
Steve Jean also produced and co-wrote, alongside Silver Kyagulanyi, A Little Bit of Love, an all-star song on AIDS struggles.
Steve wrote and produced half the hits of that generation: Blu*3, Juliana Kanyomozi, Michael Ross, Halima Namakula, Iryn Namubiru, Akiiki Romeo, and also Dole Y’omwana album by Fred Ssebatta.
#11. Felippe PIF: The one-hit wonder behind Niiwe Magara Ganje, a song he reportedly wrote in 25 minutes for a couple’s studio dedication before Capital FM turned it into a regional hit for the Soroti-born artiste. It’s not every day that a Soroti artiste sings Lunyankole.
#12. Obsessions: The Weekume singers were the second biggest gal group, and it’s not that their name isn’t known to Gen Z; it’s just that the song House Girl, a monster hit, is never mentioned among their popular hits, the same way Abalongo, Bageya, and Gwe Wange are to Chameleone.
#13. Ronnie Kavuma: Do you remember Mujune, that everyone still remembers even if the artiste’s name never quite stuck the way the song did?
#14. Mad Melon & Mountain Black: These are not even Ugandan artistes, but Kampala embraced their song Kpolongo, that even Red Pepper coined the term “Gologo” for what the paper was best known for.
#15. Pastor George Okudi: This is the man behind Wipolo, and arguably the reason Bebe Cool and Jose Chameleone made Talimba Yesu and Yesu Bwomwekwata.
Pastor George Okudi was named Best Male Artist in East Africa at the 2003 KORA Awards in Johannesburg, where the two superstars lost badly. After that KORA Night, Bebe Cool and Chameleone started rethinking their own direction enough to try gospel themselves.
#16. Red Banton: An artiste Jose Chameleone genuinely looked up to, alongside Shanks Vivie’D. His 1998 breakout hit and album, Noonya Money, was recorded by Steve Jean and made Red Banton the biggest name in Ugandan music that year; he even became the first Ugandan artiste to travel to the UK on an Artist Visa. For years, he was the go-to voice whenever WBS needed a station anthem. Remember WBS Eyange? Here are some of Red Bunton’s hits.
#17. Sseku Martin: Basically, the father of dancehall gospel in Uganda, he taught us that Christians could also do a few acrobatic dance moves. Pretty sure Father Anthony Musala borrowed a leaf or two from him. Sseku Martin’s two hits were Koona Endoongo and Siritya.
#18. Rose Muhando: Tanzanian too, but her gospel cut straight through Ugandan audiences, energetic dancing and all. Rose Muhando’s Uwe Macho album opened Ugandans to this energetic gospel diva.
#19. Rasta Rob MC: Do you know a song called Kirikiri Mabero?
#20. Chance Nalubega: At a time when women were mostly relegated to backing up Fred Ssebatta and Kafeero rather than fronting their music, she was here in full force. Following Chance Nalubega’s 1999 debut album Guma Omwoyo, she graced Uganda with anthems like Yiga Okwagala and Abakyakala Mukyakale, Okomawo Nebase and Abatesi ft Radio & Weasel. It’s genuinely strange that her music barely gets radio or TV rotation today, let alone a proper concert.
If there’s one name on this list that deserves an actual honorary award for sheer nerve, it’s Chance Nalubega.
Compiled by Mwesigwa Joshua
