By Maurice Kirya
Before going on stage last night, Pragmo and I had a chat with the legendary Moses Matovu of Afrigo about what he thinks about our generations direction in music, it was clearer then that we have the right tools but not the right mental attitude to steer our generation to greatness, our music industry has been blinded by fame, money, and egos,… we are using less passion, losing the message, failing to inspire.
Efforts of great musicians have been flashed down by the media in light of selling what’s commercial.
In the midst of wanting to fit in, artistes have lost the soul and essence of why they sing, after all not much musicality is called for in the commercial world, but then a question bugs me, all the famous legends from back in the day were soulful, but they were still commercial, and yet today we still dance to their work and sing their praises!
Could it be that it’s the media, corporates and audiences that have lost heart for what’s pure talent, or could it be some form of inferior complex where by the listener does not believe that they deserve a well-served and well-presented not half baked meal?
Could it be that pure talent has been watered down by the corporate world in form of endorsements to the what music purists would call burble gym? Would the talented artiste have to get scandalous just to be heard? Date someone famous? Pick a public fight? Sing about hating one another? …get rowdy? Get shot?
I could almost see the tears fighting to get out of Moses’s eyes when he said, ‘it makes me sad that you young talented musicians are being blinded, how will you look back to the work you’re doing today?’
Pragmo and I looked at each other feeling like we probably let everyone down, now Moses’s band is the reason most of us are here as the kind of musicians we are, Afrigo is the ultimate band, they played with passion and purpose!
Then it hit me, we are too afraid as artistes to step out in the unknown and deliver beyond expectations, we have been filled with greed for money and fame that talent isn’t important anymore but which ass you kiss.
Personally, I understand that the world we live in is a commercial one, but I also know that the preacher will take tithe with some level of integrity, and that’s what we need, fit in, but don’t lose the essence of the music!
For now, I am sure some big shots in Uganda are reading this and developing a lamp in their throats, knowing that at some point they will cease to have that powerful position in that powerful corporate office, and at some point they will sit down and want to listen to some music that’s relevant and never fading, but then… that won’t exist, because they will remember then that when they had the power to build a bright and melodic musical future, they trashed down all the artistes could have brought peace to their minds!
The music goes on, and grows on, how you raised a child is more important than the fact that you ‘raised’ a child.
I am thankful to all the great Ugandan musicians that have inspired me, and those that play besides me, for now I can only hope to use what I have now to positively inspire those that will come after me!
