Who Will Be Uganda’s Real Star?

Oct 26, 2003

For the first time in Uganda, one lucky individual with a singing voice will not have to beg anybody for the recording studio fees.

By Denis Jjuuko
For the first time in Uganda, one lucky individual with a singing voice will not have to beg anybody for the recording studio fees. One won’t have to beg the local producers to allow them use the recording studio facilities on credit either.
This lucky person will be able to record a song for renowned South African record label Gallo Records. Africa’s golden boy Lucky Dube and Kenyan duo Gidi Gidi Maji Maji of the Unbwogable fame are signed to Gallo Records.
Well, Capital FM and Coca Cola have been on the look out for raw music talent in all parts of the country. Ugandans above the age of 18, who could sing a popular song or their own compositions were given chance to do so. They wanted a person who had not recorded any songs before.
So, who will be Uganda’s real star? That was the question on everybody’s lips on Friday night at 91.3 Capital FM’s base on Cooper Road in Kisementi. The invite-only affair was intended at presenting the 51 finalists who had to be cut down to nine. And every guest was a judge. Forms were given out to the patrons to vote for who they thought should be among the final nine stars.
The nine finalists will get a chance to be watched on WBS TV on weekdays starting at 6:30pm. If you have watched the different versions of Pop Idols, you know what we are talking about.
On Friday night, MC or usher Karitas Karisimbi as she introduced herself, appeared on stage and announced the first performance of a popular singer Akiki Romeo, whose brief was to show the Club Beer-guzzling crowd what to expect. With Columbus Oulanya providing live ‘mouth’ beats, Romeo sung No Parking without accompaniment. It is not easy to sing without instruments, but it was a nice act from him and especially from Oulanya, the Morning Crew wit.
After their inspired performance, it was time to see the real stars. Mourine Nakasujja was the first contestant and she showed the way to go. She performed Whitney Houston’s On My Own. I think her choice of song blended well with her melodious voice and even if she does not win, she can still offer something. There are so many who tried with a number of songs, but, it was clear some were not “singing.”
There was a contestant who did Chaka Demus and Pliers’ Woman Smarter. He did it well. Another contestant did a hip-hop song that praises condoms. It was an original composition and since the song talked about HIV/AIDS, my kudos for him.
But my real star was a lad who did Cry by Michael Jackson. Unlike some of the contestants who started well, but sucked along the way, he was consistent throughout. With instrumentation, I am tempted to write that MJ would even thank him.
Juliana Kanyomozi’s music interlude was another highlight. Kanyomozi has got a silky voice and then a body to match. She exhibited real talent in Say It. Then she teamed up with Martha, the girl who has been training the Real Stars to do When You Believe, the soundtrack to the movie The Prince of Egypt. The duo perfectly sounded like Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey and they did it without accompaniment.
Bebe Cool also did his Tuwagire Gae before Christine Mawadri came on stage to sing the Greatest Love of All by Whitney Houston. A good try I would say since she plays the songs every morning. Alex Ndawula was the one next alongside Oulanya to do some rapping. But he first made some noise proving to everybody that he is Kampala’s loudest mouth.
After the contestants had shown us what they were capable of doing, Steve Jean jumped on stage to do Mwana Gwe before Michael Ross performed Hey Senorita and How To Love Somebody. However, the disappointment of the night was the announcement that the nine finalists would be announced in the following week. It seems the patrons wanted them known there and then.
Ends

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