Kampala — MAURICE Kirya has not resigned himself to criticising today's "lack of real talent", or "CD musicians" who only "pretend" to sing just because he does live music, Moses Opobo writes.

MAURICE Kirya is one of those local musicians who seem like they have been around forever. The name looms large and back into time. Although he has never really hit the big time, one thing seems to set him apart from many other musicians of his year. He has simply been doing his thing, as if to say that the talking had better be left to the music.

Many of the musicians I talk to who his kind of music spend too much time spitting venom at today's popular musicians. They charge at their supposed lack of musicianship, they call them attention whores, musicians who can't play a single musical instrument or sing live.

Maurice is refreshingly different. He actually surprises me when he tells me (and visibly means every word of it) that he has no qualms with current trends in local music. He uses his sleek iPhone and my cheap Nokia ka-torch to compare his live instrument-led Mwooyo (Maurice's way of defining his fusion soul sub-genre) and the current CD music.

"You should not do away with the ka-torch simply because there is a better phone. The iPhone is more profitable because of its sophistication, but it needs much more money and aggressive promotion to generate awareness about it," he says, almost philosophically. "The people doing what we deem bad music have done a lot to promote it down at the grassroots, and it has paid off.

"We've not been marketing ourselves enough," he goes on, in reference to he and his fellow live music acts. "We've been egotistical and full of it, while the other guys have been marketing their music."

It is against this background that he decided to embark on The Maurice Kirya Experience,/i>, a monthly live music gig at Club Rouge. His new year's resolution has been to "stop complaining and sing, and it's made a whole world of a difference."

That difference can be seen already, if his new album is anything to go by. Actually, it is Maurice's very first ever studio album. All the songs he did before this have been coming to us as singles. In total, he has 19 tracks preceding this album. A compilation album has been put together from all these loose singles that, in a trail-blazing move, will be offered free of charge for each Misubaawa,/i> album purchase. Misubaawa is the name of Maurice's new project, and also the title track to the 11-song album. It is Luganda for "candles".

The singer describes himself in this album as "a more revised Maurice Kirya". "There is so much music I did in the past, that was a journey to my growing up. It reflects my inner feelings. It is me singing about how I perceive the world and myself. I meant it as some sort of classroom for people."

The title track, a smooth, soulful ballad, encourages people to live life to the fullest. No, not in that familiar Ugandan way as is proclaimed in the happy-go-lucky songs off the local musical conveyor belt. Maurice is a little more philosophical.

"By living your life to the fullest, I mean to be honest with yourself, to love someone and let them know that you love them, because we are all candles. We shine, but eventually melt out. It would be so sad if, after melting out, you found you had been living a lie."

It is a relief that the song retains a light, happy feel to it, where it should have sounded like a lecture.

There is another song called Bodaboda, in which Kirya dialogues with a boda chap about love. The singer says it's his attempt at promoting a distinctly Ugandan feel abroad. Songs like I'll Sing ,/i>encompass themes of global relevance. It talks about how people do not need to be poetic before they realise the need for world peace, how we don't even need to be intelligent to call for harmony amongst one another. "It's a universal language," he quips, "calling for peace in the world, based not on political or religious strategies. It's simply a human voice."

Kirya's core fan base is primarily made up of people who have come to like his music because they liked him as a person. He is the kind that can announce an upcoming concert by way of sms notifications and manage a decent turn out.

"I have a good following of fans who understand me," he says. "They value the fact that I am not down for half-baked stuff. It's like getting an award that is rigged. I like to make money, but at the same time I like that what I use to make this money is genuine."

He attributes this attitude to the fact that his experience with performances and music and dealing with the crowds is 15 years older than him. "This means that the things I do on stage and the way that I handle fame are things to be done by a person 15 years my senior."

Is that to say he is a precocious child, who acts like a 40-year-old, considering he is 24?