One thing that you need to have in mind and never let it pale off is that Uganda’s music industry is as unpredictable as Uganda’s meteorology. I mean, it can rain anytime of the day and the sun still staggers out of the sky and melts on you. Now, the Ugandan music industry is akin to that. When a musician with flaring nostrils announces himself to the public and churns out some awesome ballads, the jury (read Ugandans) will come out and wait for his musical demise. But when the said musician sticks around a little longer and lasts more than Ugandan relationships, you should slowly, privately too, doff your hat for him.
Eddie Kenzo has swiftly registered himself as one of the thought-after musicians that has managed to defy Uganda’s judgmental populace. He came. He sang. He stuck there. He is still singing and, surprisingly, he has booked a place in people’s hearts where he has remained a calm resident.
His new song “Sitya Loss” has not only made Ugandans roll their heads furiously but also, it has gotten a Visa and crossed boarders and the whole world is on its knees dancing and wobbling like penguins. It is catchy, really. Danceable too.
The video is shot in humble countryside precincts; you can actually stare at the shrubs around and the people dressed in tattered clothes mulling over the vicinity, gawking at the happenings. Even the brown murrum road says it all. As other artistes fall over themselves looking for posh, high-end places where they can shoot their videos from, Kenzo woke up out of slumber, slipped out of his skin and decided to take the shooting to the village. Now that’s a tankful of creativity. He fits in the smart lingo of thinking out of the box. And indeed, Eddie Kenzo thought out of the box in this video.
Due to the catchy song, the equally catchy beat that doesn’t leave your legs and limbs intact, the video was bound to be on the same path; catchy too. Eddie Kenzo has mastered the art of coining his dance styles which, before everyone knows it, spread out like an air-borne endemic. He did it with “Sitamina”. He, ladies and gentlemen, has done it again with “Sitya Loss”. The dances, therein, boarder on the incredible. The cast in the video, strapping little kids seeming impoverished with sunken looks, danced there limbs lame. The choreography was pretty incredible. The insanely talented little lads, innocent as they looked, gotten the song, slung it on their brittle shoulders and crossed the proverbial Red Sea with it. They danced, rolled on the brown murrum.
Though the shooting was a little meh, somewhat lacking. The editing was a bit wanting. Perhaps they never wanted to cut out some parts which might come off as half-baked. The picture, at first. Seems blurred a tad. But the incredibly explosive dancing over-shadowed the negativity that lies in the video. The little girl that sticks out like a sour thumb, rolling her eyes seductively, tended to say, “I am an African and I am happy. Now what?”
The video, for the most part, pegs and brings with it a traditional setting that tends to flaunt the African culture. Over the time, most Ugandan videos have copied and pasted what we see on the telly as Jamaicans and Americans dance in their videos. But goal posts, lately, have swiftly shifted and Eddie Kenzo takes the credit in this video. The dance skills don’t seem to be coprighted, no. They seem natural. They seem, well, like a breath of fresh air; fresh and unadulterated like an apple bite. Isn’t what Uganda, over the past years, needed?
Very creative video that will paint, not in crayons, Uganda’s picture and showcase it on the world market. And indeed, it has already done it. Good video, this one.
Reviewed by Edd.