Karole Kasita has urged fellow musicians to expand their ambitions beyond Uganda, arguing that local success and popularity are not enough if artists want to grow their careers internationally.
Speaking during an appearance on the Musoga Eclipse Podcast, Karole acknowledged that Uganda has a valuable music audience that supports local artists financially but challenged musicians to stop limiting their ambitions to the domestic market.
She made the remarks while sharing an experience she had in a foreign country, where she discovered that a song she considered a major hit back home had little recognition among the people she encountered.
According to Karole, she travelled abroad expecting people to be familiar with her music, only to realise that some did not even know who she was or recognise the song.
“Sometimes, no matter how big your song is in Uganda, those people don’t want to know. I went there with a hit song thinking they would be excited, but they don’t even know some Ugandan musicians. I told them about the song and they asked who I was,” she narrated.
Karole argued that although Uganda’s music audience is worth fighting for because it provides artists with income and support, musicians should be equally determined to attract listeners from other countries.
She also pointed out that international musicians are actively pursuing the Ugandan market, questioning why local artists should be comfortable targeting only their home audience.
“One thing we need to do as Ugandans is we should stop fighting for only our audience. Our audience is very good to fight for because it’s what gives us money. Even those international artists are fighting for our audience, but for us, why are we comfortable fighting for only our audience? We should fight beyond borders for other audiences,” she added.