The Ganda Boyz to highlight Uganda on musical map

By Pidson Kareire
TWO years in the making, and many concerts later, the Ganda Boys (formerly known as Da Twinz) have expanded their sound and vision for an international audience.

The duet has been signed up by a British Band headed by former producer Craig Pruess. They signed a 25-year contract.

Taking off  from where their debut album, "The War of Love", left off, their latest well-crafted songs engage political and global themes, including some loved tribal songs from Uganda, which brought up to date with sparkling arrangements; contemporary, punchy and authentic percussion; and state-of-the-art mixing and productions.

 Besides, their string arrangements with a bona-fide string orchestra, yield extra emotion, and they are tastefully incorporated. The current album has both vocal maturity and instrumental excellence, and the block tribal vocal harmonies are evocative and pleasing.

This is a complete re-working of an iconic "white man's" song about Africa, Toto's well known 80's "Africa" track is turned upside down in its message: "They talk about Africa, they say they love Africa, but do they know there is war down in Africa?". The song hits the chorus with the passion of an African choir belting out: "I bless the rains down in Africa". Chills up the spine; these are the Ganda Boys.

A big breakthrough happened during the final stages of finishing this album (before the mixing): a performance for the Queen of Uganda in London, July 2011.

The new songs on this album, like "Kachiiko" and "Lumonde" and "Body of Africa", touched her to her soul, and the whole band met with her privately for at least an hour after the performance, where she told the band that the Ganda Boys are putting Ugandan music firmly on the international map.

This has since been followed by massive national radio play all over Uganda with the release of their new album there. This is a new sound for a rising global consciousness.

The Ganda Boys take their responsibility even further with their humanitarian work, the Ganda Foundation, which has been bringing new and desperately needed hospital equipment into Uganda and materials for schools.

They are founders and organisers for the Foundation's activities, which include fund raising concerts in Europe, media campaigns and social networking - tied in with creating documentary films on the Foundation's work and challenges - bringing First World awareness to the dire conditions that exist in much of the Third World.

For over 13 years the UK-based Ugandan singers popularly known as Da Twinz aka Ganda Boys because of their Ganda Foundation, stayed in London for Kyeyo and efforts to bring them to perform in Kampala were fruitless because they allegedly did not have proper papers.

When they got papers, they started moving freely and recently they jetted in to the Country to donate two medical-theatre operation tables, each worth $15,000, to Kawolo Hospital in Lugazi. The duo handed over the tables to the management of the hospital on April 24, 2012.