Chameleone, Mr Nice to set Kampala jigging

Nov 04, 2004

Jose Chameleone and popular crooner, Mr Nice, will entertain fans at Blue Africa, Crested Towers, tonight in a VIP show of the same title. Entrance will be sh20,000. MTN Uganda and Nile Special are the show sponsors, while Fanda Family and Leone Entertainment are the organisers.<br>The two singers

By Ssebidde Kiryowa

Jose Chameleone and popular crooner, Mr Nice, will entertain fans at Blue Africa, Crested Towers, tonight in a VIP show of the same title. Entrance will be sh20,000. MTN Uganda and Nile Special are the show sponsors, while Fanda Family and Leone Entertainment are the organisers.
The two singers arrived in the country on Wednesday.

Chameleone was returning from a European tour which took him to London and Sweden. The singer, who completed a joint record with Stockholm-based Nigerian-born international singer/rapper, Dr Alban, last week, was also honoured with an award as Best African Artiste at the Sweden African Awards, last month.

According to Omulangira Ndawus, “Mr Nice also wanted to join his friend in celebrating his victory and appreciating his fans.” The two singers toured Tanzania together on the Mbwembwe Za Safari (Tour of the giants) sponsored by Tanzania Breweries in September. The tour took them from Dar-es-salaam to tanga, Mbeya, Morogoro, Dodoma and Shinyanga, among other places.

Chameleone went ahead to win Best International Artiste at the Tanzania Music Awards at the Golden Jubilee in Dar-es-salaam.

He is also a nominee for Best Male Artiste, East Africa, at this year’s Kora all Africa Music Awards slated for December in South Africa. Mr Nice (real name Lucas Mikenda, 27) Chameleone’s guest this weekend is no stranger to Ugandans. A top artiste himself in his native Tanzania, Mr Nice who commands a gigantic following here, first ventured into Uganda in May this year.

He performed at Sheraton, Kampala Hotel and Nakivubo Stadium. The Tanzanian crooner has built himself a mammoth fan base across the Great Lakes region with a style he calls Takeu. ‘Takeu’ is coined from the three East African countries, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.

Mr Nice’s music incorporates elements from the three countries.

His most popular songs to-date include Fagilia, Kidali Po, Kingast, Mama Kikulacho and First Lady, all from the album, Rafiki (friend) fall within this style and are radio darlings in the region. Besides his successful tour of Tanzania last year and again this year (with Chameleone), he reportedly had five phenomenal tours in Kenya last year.

All these shows received a minimum of 7,000 people, while on average, 15,000 people attended. He has also been to Rwanda and Burundi.

At $4,000 per show, the highly sought-after Mr Nice, is reportedly the highest paid entertainer in East Africa, beating Chameleone, who at $3,000 per show, was until last year, the highest paid entertainer in the region. Mr Nice started his music career at the age of six. He started singing in school and performing with local bands.

He broke into professional music in 1999, with the release of his maiden album Kidali Po. Towards the end of 2002, he released his second album, Rafila, which dominated the airwaves on Tanzanian radio, spawning the hits songs Kingast and Fagilia.

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