Robert Kalumba
10 October 2008
opinion
Patience pays, an adage says, and with a growing interest in world music, contemporary musicians are at last getting their share of limelight.
World Music fans have routinely found themselves frustrated with the current crop of artistes dominating the concert scene in Uganda. If it's not international import Shaggy performing at Lugogo Cricket Oval, then it's Orlando's album launch at God knows where. But with the new interest in alternative music as opposed to populist music, is the tide turning for world music fans?
World music has a definition clouded in obscurity. There are several conflicting definitions. According to some, world music constitutes any traditional music of non-western countries for example South African "township" music or kadongo kamu music popularised by the likes of the late Paul Kafeero, whereas others would define world music as, pop music of non-western cultures, the kind promoted by the likes of Bebe Cool, 2Face Idibia and Angelina Kidjo.
One thing for sure is that world music doesn't constitute; Western popular music - the kind played by the Britney Spears' of today, or Western art music (i.e. European classical Music), any genre of Jamaican music, be it roots Reggae or Ragga, and finally Reggaeton, the kind played by Daddy Yankee.
So one would say there are two forms of world music; pop world music, the kind promoted by Angelina Kidjo or most of today's mainstream Ugandan artistes, and acoustic world music which relies heavily on live instruments-the kind promoted by the likes of Herbert Kinobe, Suzan Kerunen, Sarah Ndagire, Oliver "Tuku" Mtukudzi, and many other artistes.
Whereas world music could be at crossroads, our main interest here is in acoustic world music. The Ugandan music lover who appreciates live instrument driven - concerts headlined by instrument playing artistes has been at a loss with more and more artistes of mainly Jamaican or American music genres holding massive concerts here.
From New Year's Eve's Brick and Lace concert, the 2008 Ugandan entertainment witnessed performances from artistes like Kci and Jojo and Akon, whose show was followed by the Wyclef Jean and Benny D concert. A week after Wyclef, Shaggy was in town for the Passa Passa concert. And if we are to go by the press reports, Rihanna and Boyz II Men are all being lined up for concerts in the coming months.
On the local music scene, the usual album launches have kicked off in earnest, with the usual formula of - one artiste launching their album, accompanied by a host of local artistes - and when a local artiste has deviated from the usual, an international artiste of a Jamaican genre is invited as the headliner of the album launch. Case in point is the recent Mega Dee album launch which was headlined by the Jamaican Mr Vegas.
But not all is doom and gloom for the real bastions of world music. World musicians like Eric Wainaina, Omega Bugembe Okello, Hugh Masekela, Papa Wemba, Suzanna Owiyo, and the performers at this weekend's Jazz festival including the legendary Miriam Makeba and Oliver Mtukudzi have started to trickle down to Kampala, holding concerts which have been well received by the public. But what has led to this emergence of world music concerts in Kampala?
Richard Kawesa, a well known world music artiste, and one of the organisers of the Zamani concerts, attributes the emergence of this music to satisfying a niche among Ugandans who yearn for a different sound.
"Most expatriates who come to Africa and some Ugandans want to hear something originally African which is as authentic as possible and of high quality," says Kawesa. It is that niche of people who according to Kawesa "don't appreciate what the local mainstream artistes are offering; that is Jamaican influenced music," who are behind the emergence. "You can never catch such a person at these biggundas because that is not their music," he said.
But the so-called biggundas have critical mass appeal as evident by the huge numbers of Ugandans that flock the venues where they are held. And they have the financial backing of the telecommunication companies which look for numbers when it comes to what entertainment function to sponsor. So this begs the question, how do the world music artistes then survive?
According to the 2008 Kora Award nominee Kerunen, who defines hers as African contemporary music, most survive on album sales and touring abroad. "Most world music artistes' albums are not pirated because they don't have the mass appeal so the people who understand the music buy them. And one can live off those sales, as they are preparing for their next move. Personally, I'm still living off my 2006 album," she said. Another financial earner for the artiste is the world tours.
Gareth Wood an established world music producer and the man responsible for producing one of Uganda's leading world music artistes, Kinobe claims the earnings for such musicians relies on European touring. "We produced Kinobe's 2007 album called Soul Language, and ever since then, that album has taken him to Australia, America and Austria to sold out concerts. He is so busy touring." He goes on to add that unlike mainstream artistes, the lack of an extravagant lifestyle enables their income to sustain their livelihoods.
But does world music have a future in Uganda, where urban music, the kind promoted by the likes of Bebe Cool and Bobi Wine has the mass appeal? "It depends on whom you are targeting," says Sewanyana, the conga player of Afrigo Band, and leader of his own group Percussion Discussion.
"Personally, I believe there are two kinds of markets, those who want what is constantly played on our FM stations and other people who like to see us play live. So the debate of whether world music has a future doesn't arise. The two markets have two different crowds which appreciate what they do, and commercially support them. We just have to give our crowd the kind of music they want, and the future will take care of itself," he said. As for Kawesa, the future of world music concerts is unquestionably bright.
"There are individuals and companies with high disposable incomes who have been exposed to high quality entertainment and are eager to join hands when it comes to world music concerts. The testament I have has been the successful Zamani concerts, with the likes of Emin Pasha Hotel, Air Uganda and Club Pilsener coming on board to support the project."
World music is having a renaissance of sorts in Uganda and whereas the future of its commercial viability is still debatable, one cannot deny the fact that having the likes of Miriam Makeba perform is such a breath of fresh air for those who have been suffocated with what some call "pop" World music.
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