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By Bash Mutumba

Alexander Bagonza aka A Pass had promised his followers on Twitter that he would never open the app again this year until he has a hit song. Well, this was no bluff, and the hinted Ykee Benda collabo turned out to be a hit, by the name “Turn Up The Vibe”.

Since its release, the hard-hitting banger, with a thumping bass line has been perceived as a rip off from older songs, like “Singa” by Bobi Wine. Clearly, this is a rather selfish opinion, and if you ask me, it doesn’t hold any water. The masterpiece produced by Nessim is testament that he understands the two musicians. He singlehandedly built both their careers during their time at Badi Music, before the trio left to start their own enterprises.

The collabo was long overdue, so none of the three was going to disappoint. The catchy hook sang by Ykee Benda, which gets a chorus “Linda ko” response from A Pass, accompanied by a brief sax solo on every call, gives the Ugandan dancehall song some sleek flair. Not only is Ykee’s execution commendable, but A Pass too with his attempt at a suave falsetto, and his usual witty lyrics, can’t go unnoticed.

The video by flamboyant Swangz Avenue Director Marvin Musoke, was equally great, with nice locations, beautiful lighting and a befitting color grade; the only downside being with costume choice. After deciding to give the music video a vintage theme, a few characters in the film were off by a couple of decades: the sax girl’s dress, the cobbler’s clothes, and the haircut and shirt of the man carrying a batch of green banana; all looked a tad bit misplaced in the kind of 70’s theme.

Ultimately though, “Turn Up The Vibe” is an awesome song, which deserves all the massive airplay and hype it is receiving.

Watch the video here.

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By Our Reporter

After a long spell of silence in West Africa, super talented diva Irene Ntale has returned to Uganda both physically and musically with “Nyamba”.

In the Afro Pop masterpiece, she appeals to her lover to help her believe in her love for him. Ntale fuses styles from East and West Africa, which explains the fact that she got signed to Universal Music Nigeria, which is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group.

On a modest beat prepared by the talented Marcel Akunwata, who also did backup vocals, Irene pulled off vocals that prove her musical maturity over the years, and we hope she produces more music now that she has broken the silence.

Listen to the song via Tidal or iTunes. 

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By Our Reporter

Tyler Himself is now a staple in the dancehall world. He is not stopping to release bangers. While we were still dancing to his collabo with Mun G, Like Glue, he dropped another one entitled, Interesting. The latest on the menu is Enswa, and it gets you dancing at the first listen. This makes him the quintessential dancehall artist.

In Enswa, Tyler delivers a siren song. One whose chorus you get easily to sing along. The chorus registers great cadences, which is uncommon with other dancehall artistes here.

In luganda, Enswa means, white ants, but he only used it as a reference to mean girls. I don’t get the connection, but that’s the thing with dancehall artistes, they create their own jargon. He is a ladies man, and he praises them generously on this one.

The track was produced by Artin Pro and the video was mastered Trend Films.

Watch the video below.

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By Bash Mutumba

When he chose to focus on dance music, Eddy Kenzo wasn’t given much encouragement by the Ugandan audience. His efforts were however undeterred, since he had noticed a trend of virality among his music that leaned towards that style. Even though his breakthrough was “Yannimba”, a mainstream Afrobeat ballad, his first mega hit was Stamina, a dance song. Sitya Loss, another dance song etched his name on the international scene, regardless of initial doubts by local critics and media.

At over 538,000 subscribers on YouTube, Eddy is the most sought after Ugandan artiste on the platform, and you would be shocked to find that many of the most viewed videos on his channel are not the official ones, but those of comedians dancing to his songs. This is something many look down on, but it is the reason why he was contacted by Chris Brown, to feature in the American artiste’s “Back To Love” music video.

One unique thing about his latest release “Signal” is the fact that it is not heavily riddled with beats like the likes of Sitya Loss, Wankulira or Ogwo. Kenzo goes ever so calm on it, begging his lover to stay with him. Justin Campos, with his minimalist video color grading technique, did justice to the song, and the cinematic concept of a country mansion with high renaissance portraits and models clad in posh dresses, softly swaying to Eddy’s Signal, is utterly therapeutic.

Musuuza, posing as a mason in the indoor scenes, shocks the viewer when he pulls an early 2000’s RnB stunt of singing in the rain on the second verse. Generally, it is such a beautiful song, with a beautiful video, and how I wish we could appreciate our biggest musical export in recent times, a little bit more.

Watch video below.