Emma Mugalya’s "Nina Okwagala": Strong vocals, weak production

Music Review: Emma Mugalya – Nina Okwagala

Emma Mugalya is passionate about everything. He is passionate about his music, and he is certainly passionate about love, which probably explains the inspiration for this song.

He might need to become a little battle hardened about both those things if he is to grind something out of them. But this write up is about the music, so let’s delve there.

Nina Okwagala is your run-of-the-mill pop love song which dropped around the Valentine’s Day hullabaloo, and got some attention because of that, I guess. Love songs will do that in this market.

Musically speaking though, I think the song reflects something of an upward curve for  Mugalya. It is not a simple melody to carry, even though the arrangement seems straightforward.

 
 
The fact that he carries it with relative ease shows that those pipes are getting some exercise and building some oomph.

I also like the mid-tempo approach to this particular piece. It lets you focus on the song’s lyrical approach which is one of the song’s strengths.

That said, you always get the feeling that Mugalya can do lot more with his music. He could go with a lot more sophistication to his production process – the production behind Nina Okwagala feels like a studio session with one chap handling everything, from the rudimentary groove he puts together to the conventional laying of tracks the producer pulls off. 

A little more invention within his craft from a production perspective and even from a song writing perspective would go a long way with regards to enabling Mugalya follow his musical passion to where he wants to take it.

My takeaway from this? Great work on upping your pipes, but give the support structure to your music a little more substance, Emma.