Titi treads on forbidden ground!
Jun 17, 2004
You might have heard it in a taxi, at a filling station or maybe a friend has told you about it –– a new song in which a married woman is confessing adultery to a priest in a confession box. As it turns out, she is in love with another man, so much it is threatening to wreck her marriage.
By Sebidde Kiryowa
You might have heard it in a taxi, at a filling station or maybe a friend has told you about it –– a new song in which a married woman is confessing adultery to a priest in a confession box. As it turns out, she is in love with another man, so much it is threatening to wreck her marriage.
She abandons her children without care and scuttles off to look for this mysterious man who is rocking her world.
Surprising? It must be. For a society like ours where it is unimaginable for a married woman to have feelings for another man, a woman is confessing it out for all and sundry and, on radio?
But it is 2004 and anything can happen.
The song is Nsonyiwa Faza, Titi’s latest release. Titi was voted best female artiste at last year’s PAM awards.
Like a freshly lit bush fire, it is slowly but surely taking over the airwaves.
However, unlike Makanika Wange and Ssegwanga, her previous hits where Titi, the unofficial queen of sexual controversy employs more imagery and euphemism, Nsonyiwa Faza is more forthright.
It is no wonder that after only a week on radio, Nsonyiwa Faza is already turning heads and has so far received its fair share of controversy with some people saying Titi is treading where angels dare not. For many women however, Titi’s song is a turning point in the struggle for their emancipation.
“The issue Titi addresses is certainly an emancipation issue.
Women’s sexuality has always been denied a voice. Traditionally, married women are NOT supposed to have feelings for other men. If they do, they are not supposed to acknowledge or speak about it.
For Titi to sing about a married woman who comes out and dares to openly declare she is in love with another man, is courageous. I know this song might not go down well with some men but I think it is a realistic portrayal,†says another married professional woman who prefers anonymity.
“This could do for our struggle what Kazibwe’s public confession about domestic violence against her in the bedroom did. It is bound to open up men’s minds. We women are human and open to temptation just like men.
Why should dealing with extra marital feelings be outlawed for women when it is the norm for men?†reasons a prominent woman activist who preferred anonymity.
Conservationists aside, some are accusing Titi of poking fun at penance, a vital Catholic sacrament. Radio Sapientia, a Catholic Church-founded commercial station plays the song but from the look of things, it might not be for long.
According to Brother Rogers Kazibwe, the station managing director, complaints about the song are starting to trickle in from their listeners:
“I have not sat to listen to the song and I do not know how it came on to the station but three people have so far called me complaining that the song shades the sacrament of reconciliation in bad light.
Confession is confidential and if someone bares all to the public, it defeats the whole essence. I’m going to listen to this song and if it is not in tone with the rules, I’ll take it off our play-list immediately.â€
“I have not heard the song much myself because it never quite got to me at the first listen.
But I thought it diverted from the norm. I know that whatever touches religion or peoples’ faith is bound to raise controversy and though we have not yet started playing the song, I believe some sections of our listeners, especially Catholics, might have a problem with it,†says Collin Mutambo, the programmes director at Simba FM.
Mutambo, however, denies that this fear factor is why the station, well known for its support of local talent, has not yet started playing the song.
“All songs go through a certain process before we play them on air. Nsonyiwa Faza is definitely one of the songs we are currently researching on with the street vendors. We are watching it closely and soon, we shall have it on air.â€
“In fact, I believe that the controversy surrounding this song might bolster its success. This happened to Mu Gulu Teriyo Mwenge by Menton Krono and General Mega Dee,†Mutambo says.
While radio stations debate whether or not their audiences would be comfortable with the song, an equally large number feel Titi is spot on with her message: “I see nothing wrong with what Titi is singing.
The bible says we should confess our sins to one another and pray for one another that we may be healed.
So, I think this is a good thing. I think that people who say she is poking fun at confessing sin because she is either not Catholic or is doing it publicly, are being unnecessarily radical,†says a female born-again Christian journalist.
But the furore sparked off by Nsoyiwa Faza takes Titi by surprise. She never set out to spark off debates or controversies.
When she set out to write the song, it was one of those reflective outpourings an artist has when a muse visits her. As it turns out, Titi is the proverbial artist who sheds her sickness in her work.
All she was trying to do is purge her own emotions. Like most of her successful but controversial songs in the past, this song was inspired by Titi’s own real life experience.
“I was dating this guy with whom we were making plans to kwajula. I loved him so much I had to sing a song (Dan) to lure him back when we had split sometime in 2002.
However, three months ago, right after he had left the country, I met Titus. My relationship with ‘Dan’ was well-known among his and my friends and relatives and I never thought I would feel like that about another person.
But there was something about Titus that swept me off my feet. I couldn’t resist him,†Titi narrates.
Titi says her fiancé was too protective, overbearing and paranoid, especially about her meeting other people, a thing she could not avoid as an artist. He also did not seem to understand or appreciate that singing was her calling and passion and treated it disdainfully.
“Titus does not freak out about my upcountry trips. He’s secure, trusts me and understands me.
He is also supportive, especially when the press write nasty things about me. In him, I find comfort, care and love, which I can’t say of my fiancé,†says Titi.
Although Titi is not a married woman who is abandoning children for another man, the level of commitment she is betraying feels just as strong. But, she says, it is now beyond her control.
“My friends have told me it is an infatuation and that I’m going to get over it but I don’t think so. I love Titus. I didn’t ask for this and it is out of my control. What can I do when my heart decides otherwise? It is not about what my family likes anymore. It’s about my happiness. It’s my life!â€
That sounds as bad as it gets but Titi is yet to face the worst possible scenario.
Her fiancé has never been told that Titi got cold feet on him and will find out from this article! Is that appropriate? “I have never had the courage to tell him. No one has ever seriously taken me to task about why I sang Nsonyiwa Faza.
Born Tabel Tendo in the mid 70s in Kampala (she will not talk about her parentage), Titi has been practically singing all her life.
From primary, through secondary school she did it all –– everything from mass choir to mushrooming youthful musical groups of the mid ‘90s.
Professionally however, her first singing stint was with Bandidaz, a band put together by the late Tony Sengo, in 1997/8. She then moved to Vibrations Band before joining KADS Band where her musical career blossomed with such hits as Manika Wange and Segwanga.
Titi later quit the band and is now a solo musician. Nsonyiwa Faza, a seven-track album is Titi’s maiden solo album. AKM Music Centre in the old taxi park will soon release it.
Half of the songs, most of which were recorded in Dar-es-salaam, are in Swahili. Besides recording with Jay Dee, Tanzania’s biggest selling artist on Makini, a Swahili offering, Titi also experiments with Kyakacha music, a native sound that has been employed by Congolese songstress Tshala Mwana.
The title track (Nsonyiwa Faza) almost never made it onto her debut album because she initially never thought highly of it.
She first recorded it in Dar-es-salaam but had to redo it in Uganda because she never liked the version she recorded in Dar-es-salaam.
Produced by Shadrack Musoke in A.K Communi-cation Studio, Lugogo showground, it is uptempo and has highly catchy hooks and keyboard stabs, making it a likely dance floor success.
The rhythm is essentially Afro beat.
It is not so much the pulse of this song that makes it stand out. Not even Titi’s self-proclaimed “sexy, husky and vibrant tenor voice†does that much magic here. The strength of this record lies in the message. period!
You might have heard it in a taxi, at a filling station or maybe a friend has told you about it –– a new song in which a married woman is confessing adultery to a priest in a confession box. As it turns out, she is in love with another man, so much it is threatening to wreck her marriage.
She abandons her children without care and scuttles off to look for this mysterious man who is rocking her world.
Surprising? It must be. For a society like ours where it is unimaginable for a married woman to have feelings for another man, a woman is confessing it out for all and sundry and, on radio?
But it is 2004 and anything can happen.
The song is Nsonyiwa Faza, Titi’s latest release. Titi was voted best female artiste at last year’s PAM awards.
Like a freshly lit bush fire, it is slowly but surely taking over the airwaves.
However, unlike Makanika Wange and Ssegwanga, her previous hits where Titi, the unofficial queen of sexual controversy employs more imagery and euphemism, Nsonyiwa Faza is more forthright.
It is no wonder that after only a week on radio, Nsonyiwa Faza is already turning heads and has so far received its fair share of controversy with some people saying Titi is treading where angels dare not. For many women however, Titi’s song is a turning point in the struggle for their emancipation.
“The issue Titi addresses is certainly an emancipation issue.
Women’s sexuality has always been denied a voice. Traditionally, married women are NOT supposed to have feelings for other men. If they do, they are not supposed to acknowledge or speak about it.
For Titi to sing about a married woman who comes out and dares to openly declare she is in love with another man, is courageous. I know this song might not go down well with some men but I think it is a realistic portrayal,†says another married professional woman who prefers anonymity.
“This could do for our struggle what Kazibwe’s public confession about domestic violence against her in the bedroom did. It is bound to open up men’s minds. We women are human and open to temptation just like men.
Why should dealing with extra marital feelings be outlawed for women when it is the norm for men?†reasons a prominent woman activist who preferred anonymity.
Conservationists aside, some are accusing Titi of poking fun at penance, a vital Catholic sacrament. Radio Sapientia, a Catholic Church-founded commercial station plays the song but from the look of things, it might not be for long.
According to Brother Rogers Kazibwe, the station managing director, complaints about the song are starting to trickle in from their listeners:
“I have not sat to listen to the song and I do not know how it came on to the station but three people have so far called me complaining that the song shades the sacrament of reconciliation in bad light.
Confession is confidential and if someone bares all to the public, it defeats the whole essence. I’m going to listen to this song and if it is not in tone with the rules, I’ll take it off our play-list immediately.â€
“I have not heard the song much myself because it never quite got to me at the first listen.
But I thought it diverted from the norm. I know that whatever touches religion or peoples’ faith is bound to raise controversy and though we have not yet started playing the song, I believe some sections of our listeners, especially Catholics, might have a problem with it,†says Collin Mutambo, the programmes director at Simba FM.
Mutambo, however, denies that this fear factor is why the station, well known for its support of local talent, has not yet started playing the song.
“All songs go through a certain process before we play them on air. Nsonyiwa Faza is definitely one of the songs we are currently researching on with the street vendors. We are watching it closely and soon, we shall have it on air.â€
“In fact, I believe that the controversy surrounding this song might bolster its success. This happened to Mu Gulu Teriyo Mwenge by Menton Krono and General Mega Dee,†Mutambo says.
While radio stations debate whether or not their audiences would be comfortable with the song, an equally large number feel Titi is spot on with her message: “I see nothing wrong with what Titi is singing.
The bible says we should confess our sins to one another and pray for one another that we may be healed.
So, I think this is a good thing. I think that people who say she is poking fun at confessing sin because she is either not Catholic or is doing it publicly, are being unnecessarily radical,†says a female born-again Christian journalist.
But the furore sparked off by Nsoyiwa Faza takes Titi by surprise. She never set out to spark off debates or controversies.
When she set out to write the song, it was one of those reflective outpourings an artist has when a muse visits her. As it turns out, Titi is the proverbial artist who sheds her sickness in her work.
All she was trying to do is purge her own emotions. Like most of her successful but controversial songs in the past, this song was inspired by Titi’s own real life experience.
“I was dating this guy with whom we were making plans to kwajula. I loved him so much I had to sing a song (Dan) to lure him back when we had split sometime in 2002.
However, three months ago, right after he had left the country, I met Titus. My relationship with ‘Dan’ was well-known among his and my friends and relatives and I never thought I would feel like that about another person.
But there was something about Titus that swept me off my feet. I couldn’t resist him,†Titi narrates.
Titi says her fiancé was too protective, overbearing and paranoid, especially about her meeting other people, a thing she could not avoid as an artist. He also did not seem to understand or appreciate that singing was her calling and passion and treated it disdainfully.
“Titus does not freak out about my upcountry trips. He’s secure, trusts me and understands me.
He is also supportive, especially when the press write nasty things about me. In him, I find comfort, care and love, which I can’t say of my fiancé,†says Titi.
Although Titi is not a married woman who is abandoning children for another man, the level of commitment she is betraying feels just as strong. But, she says, it is now beyond her control.
“My friends have told me it is an infatuation and that I’m going to get over it but I don’t think so. I love Titus. I didn’t ask for this and it is out of my control. What can I do when my heart decides otherwise? It is not about what my family likes anymore. It’s about my happiness. It’s my life!â€
That sounds as bad as it gets but Titi is yet to face the worst possible scenario.
Her fiancé has never been told that Titi got cold feet on him and will find out from this article! Is that appropriate? “I have never had the courage to tell him. No one has ever seriously taken me to task about why I sang Nsonyiwa Faza.
Born Tabel Tendo in the mid 70s in Kampala (she will not talk about her parentage), Titi has been practically singing all her life.
From primary, through secondary school she did it all –– everything from mass choir to mushrooming youthful musical groups of the mid ‘90s.
Professionally however, her first singing stint was with Bandidaz, a band put together by the late Tony Sengo, in 1997/8. She then moved to Vibrations Band before joining KADS Band where her musical career blossomed with such hits as Manika Wange and Segwanga.
Titi later quit the band and is now a solo musician. Nsonyiwa Faza, a seven-track album is Titi’s maiden solo album. AKM Music Centre in the old taxi park will soon release it.
Half of the songs, most of which were recorded in Dar-es-salaam, are in Swahili. Besides recording with Jay Dee, Tanzania’s biggest selling artist on Makini, a Swahili offering, Titi also experiments with Kyakacha music, a native sound that has been employed by Congolese songstress Tshala Mwana.
The title track (Nsonyiwa Faza) almost never made it onto her debut album because she initially never thought highly of it.
She first recorded it in Dar-es-salaam but had to redo it in Uganda because she never liked the version she recorded in Dar-es-salaam.
Produced by Shadrack Musoke in A.K Communi-cation Studio, Lugogo showground, it is uptempo and has highly catchy hooks and keyboard stabs, making it a likely dance floor success.
The rhythm is essentially Afro beat.
It is not so much the pulse of this song that makes it stand out. Not even Titi’s self-proclaimed “sexy, husky and vibrant tenor voice†does that much magic here. The strength of this record lies in the message. period!