The Weekly Observer (Kampala)
Simon Musasizi
3 December 2008
Musician Joseph Mayanja, popularly known as Jose Chameleone's recent sleepwalking story reminded me of fallen singer, Geff Rushton a.k.a John Balance.
In 2004, the founder of Coin and occasional member of Zos Kia, Psychic TV, Nurse With Wound, Current 93, and Death in June, fell from the second floor of his house.
It was about 5.30p.m. on a Saturday evening that Balance under the influence of alcohol, fell hitting his head on the floor some 15ft below. He became unconscious and was rushed to hospital, where his condition deteriorated, and he died soon after.
Well, Chameleone was very lucky to fall through the window of the third floor of a hotel in Tanzania and escape just with broken legs.
But what does the incidence speak of our musicians? For a long time our musicians have been feeding on drugs. You have heard of many fights propelled by drug abuse.
Drug abuse was initially a secret thing but musicians have made it a 'cool thing'.
It's now common to find Peter Miles & Menshan, Bobi Wine and the Fire Base Crew taking weed backstage before getting on stage. Yet these are some of the role models for the young people.
You have heard of the Uganja Republic and seen cars painted with marijuana freely moving through the city.
The self proclaimed ghetto president Bobi Wine has a minister for 'Agriculture' charged with promoting the growing of marijuana. That is the level our society has plunged to.
You remember the Jamaican artiste, Elephant Man who smoked on stage, in the presence of Police, during Club Silk's street jam?
Drug abuse is a leading cause of mental illness, accounting for about 20% of the total number of patients admitted to Butabika Hospital. It is also partly responsible for Kampala's rising crime rate.
This year's nomination of Mr. Wind and Main Ben for Best Reggae Group in the Bell Pearl of Africa Music awards exposed the music sector - how it has been abused to promote drug abuse. The duo was popular this year for their single Juba, which proclaims their love for marijuana.
It was amazing that the group couldn't even pronounce some of the words in the song when they performed at the awards final gala which was attended by the Nnabagereka of Buganda, Sylvia Nagginda, and the commander of the Land Forces, Lt. Gen. Katumba Wamala.
And their track lists a number of artistes in the business: Jose Chameleone, Bobi Wine, Bebe Cool, Titie Tabel, Bella, and others.
Turning to drugs
The new edge musicians believe drugs give them self confidence needed for stage performances. For many upcoming artistes, the solution to stage fright is drugs.
Drugs are also said to improve the voice.
In the valley between Bukoto and Ntinda near Kampala Pentecostal Church (KPC) North, a new crop of young musicians gather every morning to smoke marijuana in the name of nurturing their voices.
In America, one of the more remarkable social changes in the 1960s was the widespread use of illicit drugs, primarily the hallucinogens, marijuana and LSD.
When the Beatles, once marketed as clean-cut youths, started publicly acknowledging using Cannabis, many fans followed suit.
However, drug abuse has left many popular musicians dead.
Moments before pop diva Brenda Fassie collapsed in her brother's arms, News24.com reports that she threw a cocaine pipe onto the kitchen floor of her home in Buccleuch.
This tragic scene took place on the morning of April 26, the day Fassie, 39, was admitted to Sunninghill Hospital where she died 13 days later.
Closer to home, one of Uganda's most promising stars ever, Shanks Vivi Dee almost lost a whole career to drugs, and admits he was admitted to a mental hospital in the UK over the same. So why do we behave as if drug abuse is tolerable among musicians in Uganda?
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