Winnie Munyenga defies one-hit wonder tag
Oct 27, 2005
EVERY performing artiste dreads the term ‘one-hit wonder’. Simply put, it means a musician who zooms to the top of the charts on the strength of one mega hit, and then suddenly falls with a resounding thud, never to be heard of again.
By Joseph Batte
EVERY performing artiste dreads the term ‘one-hit wonder’. Simply put, it means a musician who zooms to the top of the charts on the strength of one mega hit, and then suddenly falls with a resounding thud, never to be heard of again.
Recently some critics tagged Winnie Munyenga one such musician. Her crime? Last year she released an album that spawned only two hits -Ssasira and Superman, then vanished from the scene!
The critics did not stop at that. They even prophesied that she would never come up with another hit in the mould of those two monsters.
I agree. Though Joe Tabula brilliantly produced Ssasira, musically it had significant flaws that also prevented me from enjoying it wholesomely. The rest of the tracks had little substance.
Winnie’s singing, at some point, sounded very weak, too. It is these inconsistencies, and more, that made the rest of the tracks on Ssasira descend into boredom.
But after scrutinising it with enough attention, and Winnie waiting for more than a year before coming up with another release, it leads to the obvious question. Does that really make her a one hit-wonder? No it doesn’t.
First, among the disadvantages of releasing one album after the other, every year, is the fact that one’s music tends to sound similar. That, perhaps, explains why every visitor to this country observes that ‘Ugandan music sounds very similar as if it was crafted by the same bunch of people who endlessly repeat the same limited repertoire of chord progressions.’
A new album often kills the sales of the previous one. But above all, one risks burning out artistically. Munyenga was quite (down) since last year but she was not out. Instead, you can say she was wiser.
“Actually, I was taken up by business; with music you need time and concentration. But after helping to put the business right (from selling mobile phones to importing high-quality second-hand goods from the UK) for the last eight months, I went and locked myself up in the studio and started working on my new album because I knew what I wanted,†she says.
“My debut album was a lesson to me. It is true it had only two hits, Ssasira and Superman. My new plan was to come up with a hit album and think of something, a new style that would distinguish my tunes from the thousands of similar ones on the local scene. I’m proud to say that Tonkadiya, which the press and a few invited guests listened to at Sabrina’s Pub recently, is it.
At song-by-song level, Tonkadiya seems to be a more consistent and accessible statement than Ssasira in many places. All the six tracks, Nkoye Okunvumanvuma, Twagala Baavu, Mulamu Wange, Omulembe gwa Bakyala and Sorry To say Goodbye are listenable and entertaining with the ‘women liberation’ as the main theme.
Rhythmically there is not a single boring second on the album. And by the way, no lethargic stuff like Ssasira’s ‘Manichio’ here; just solid Afro pop, where everything is thrown together with that rare live feel.
There’s soukous, rumba, and reggae, which makes Tonkadiya, a curious and competent ragbag of styles, but with her unmistakable identity etched into every single tracks, thanks to producers Jude Mugerwa, David Mukalazi, Henry Kiwuwa, and Paddy Kayiwa. This time when Munyenga sings, too, a hypnotic arrangement of melodies and words seems to command the attention of anyone within earshot.
Ends
EVERY performing artiste dreads the term ‘one-hit wonder’. Simply put, it means a musician who zooms to the top of the charts on the strength of one mega hit, and then suddenly falls with a resounding thud, never to be heard of again.
Recently some critics tagged Winnie Munyenga one such musician. Her crime? Last year she released an album that spawned only two hits -Ssasira and Superman, then vanished from the scene!
The critics did not stop at that. They even prophesied that she would never come up with another hit in the mould of those two monsters.
I agree. Though Joe Tabula brilliantly produced Ssasira, musically it had significant flaws that also prevented me from enjoying it wholesomely. The rest of the tracks had little substance.
Winnie’s singing, at some point, sounded very weak, too. It is these inconsistencies, and more, that made the rest of the tracks on Ssasira descend into boredom.
But after scrutinising it with enough attention, and Winnie waiting for more than a year before coming up with another release, it leads to the obvious question. Does that really make her a one hit-wonder? No it doesn’t.
First, among the disadvantages of releasing one album after the other, every year, is the fact that one’s music tends to sound similar. That, perhaps, explains why every visitor to this country observes that ‘Ugandan music sounds very similar as if it was crafted by the same bunch of people who endlessly repeat the same limited repertoire of chord progressions.’
A new album often kills the sales of the previous one. But above all, one risks burning out artistically. Munyenga was quite (down) since last year but she was not out. Instead, you can say she was wiser.
“Actually, I was taken up by business; with music you need time and concentration. But after helping to put the business right (from selling mobile phones to importing high-quality second-hand goods from the UK) for the last eight months, I went and locked myself up in the studio and started working on my new album because I knew what I wanted,†she says.
“My debut album was a lesson to me. It is true it had only two hits, Ssasira and Superman. My new plan was to come up with a hit album and think of something, a new style that would distinguish my tunes from the thousands of similar ones on the local scene. I’m proud to say that Tonkadiya, which the press and a few invited guests listened to at Sabrina’s Pub recently, is it.
At song-by-song level, Tonkadiya seems to be a more consistent and accessible statement than Ssasira in many places. All the six tracks, Nkoye Okunvumanvuma, Twagala Baavu, Mulamu Wange, Omulembe gwa Bakyala and Sorry To say Goodbye are listenable and entertaining with the ‘women liberation’ as the main theme.
Rhythmically there is not a single boring second on the album. And by the way, no lethargic stuff like Ssasira’s ‘Manichio’ here; just solid Afro pop, where everything is thrown together with that rare live feel.
There’s soukous, rumba, and reggae, which makes Tonkadiya, a curious and competent ragbag of styles, but with her unmistakable identity etched into every single tracks, thanks to producers Jude Mugerwa, David Mukalazi, Henry Kiwuwa, and Paddy Kayiwa. This time when Munyenga sings, too, a hypnotic arrangement of melodies and words seems to command the attention of anyone within earshot.
Ends