Moses Opobo
4 July 2009
opinion
Kampala — Wafagio, that was formed about a year ago, was catapulted to fame by their hit Mukidongo.
FIRST impressions! I still somewhat hold them about the Wafagio song, Mukidongo, when it dropped last year. "Yeah yet another pop song off the Kampala musical conveyor belt," I had sighed. My second reaction was to trash it. I found the girls' vocal delivery a little lacklustre, a little un-spirited. Above all this, the song's groovy beat seemed to drown out the girls' voices. Sometimes I thought I was hearing one of those "remixes" that are done at those CD recording shops on Majestic Plaza. Would it survive? Would it catapult Deyna Keitsi, Esther Nalubega and Jackie Nakitende onto the mainstream? That was the tough question that time had to settle.
I was soon to learn that my opinion had come too soon. Perhaps it is not a wise decision to stamp one's feet on a song's fortunes just weeks into its release. The average Kampala music listener will take about six months to take a position on a new song, whether to like it or not. The fact is that most people religiously rely on the frequency of airplay on FM radio stations to determine a song's popularity. Very few songs defy this formula to achieve instant hit stardom with fans like Sweet Kid's Brenda, Ziggy Dee's Eno Mic, and Radio/Weasel's Nakudatta.
Mukidongo has never shot too high or too low since its release. Its intensity is more or less the same, one year later. What makes Wafagio stand out from the sea of girl groups in town is the fact that whereas some girl groups I know rely heavily on a hefty budget, Wafagio rides more on goodwill and passion. It's a combination of goodwill from their fans and passion from the one chap who made the Wafagio dream possible in the first place - group's manager, Emma Carlos. Ever the playful, beaming one, once he and the girls bumped into me at Wandegeya last weekend, they literally dragged me to their concert at Entebbe Botanical Gardens.
A lot has changed about Carlos, and indeed Wafagio, from our last sitting at Club Cascades in February. Then, Carlos hardly hid his unease at my move to speak to the girls. They are not yet ready to field questions from journalists, his body language seemed to scream. As I talked to them, he sat through it all, with undisguised discomfort. Not this time.
I sat with Deyna, Jackie and Esther in one car, while Carlos and DJ Ivan of Club Silk, who also deejays for Wafagio, trailed us in another. Was he sending me a subtle signal that the girls had finally come of age? The girls sampled me their latest release, Love Doctor, which is a marked departure from the fun-party Mukidongo theme. It targets an older crowd and weddings, to be exact.
If latest trends are anything to go by, this is a sign that the group has now gone fully commercial. Wedding songs are the latest sub-genre in local music, as concert rates from show promoters and corporate endorsements dwindle by the day. About the only person that will pay a local artiste up to sh5m to play a particular song today is a rich man at their wedding. Chameleone's Nkwagala Nnyo is not by coincidence, neither was Sweet Kid and Juliana's Sirina Mulala. DJ Michael's Muko Muko is raking in more dime from kwanjulas than concerts.
Mukidongo might be hot, but the bitter truth is that it is a party song whose appeal hardly spreads outside Kampala. Carlos knew this full well. He runs Wafagio on a day-to-day basis, although he has a silent business partner. He believes he is giving it his all, while the girls contribute the talent.
"I did not give them a beginning like other groups and they know it. I showed them a future instead. I adopted the tagline of discipline, hard work and commitment. I told them I want to be their friend and teacher because they have the talent, while I have the experience. I know the industry. My life-long passion has been creating and putting up a star. Theirs should be being those stars."
Although Wafagio has just made one year, its formation was the culmination of eight years of dream-chasing by Carlos. "I started nurturing this dream in 2000 while still in my first year at campus. I concretised this dream one night while in Club Silk with Roger Mugisha (then known as The Shadow). His Shadow's Angels were on stage performing. When I met Roger in the washrooms, I told him that my dream was to set up the biggest girl group in Uganda one day. Eight years down the road, I think I am already on the way to that."
Between the birth of this dream and now, Carlos worked with the PAM Awards and managed Phina Mugerwa for a year before moving on to manage the Dream Galz. "From Isaac Mulindwa (PAM Awards), I learnt business and from Eddie Yawe (Dream Galz), I learnt the music. They may not have been the best teachers, but I was a good student."
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