Chameleone wins BBC award
Local artiste Jose Chameleone’s career continues to soar in 2005 with one success after another.
By Sebidde Kiryowa
Local artiste Jose Chameleone’s career continues to soar in 2005 with one success after another. Not only have the albums he has churned out in the past made him a millionaire; they have also won him critical acclaim and numerous accolades in the region.
The latest comes in from Tanzania’s Radio One — an affiliate station to BBC World’s Swahili service. The Muzik Dindwa Tanzania (Music Champions of Tanzania) Awards are popular awards voted for by the public through text messages and letters to the station.
With an overwhelming 80% of the votes, Chameleone’s Jamila won the Wambo Bora Wamwaka Kutoka Nchi Jirani (Kenya, Uganda, Dr Congo) Award.
This is the award for Best Foreign Song of The Year category.
Chameleone edged out Koffi Olomidde (Congo), Necessary Noise (Kenya), Awilo Longomba (Congo) and Ziggy D (Uganda) to get the award.
He also won the Mwana Muziki Bora Wamwaka Kutoka Nchi Jirani (Kenya, Uganda, Dr Congo) Award. This is for the Foreign Artiste of the Year.
Ali Saleh, BBC senior producer, recently delivered the awards to Chameleone at the BBC office at Ruth Towers in Kampala.
“This means a lot to me because those awards were independently voted for by fans in Tanzania which is really amazing. But, most importantly, it shows that the standard of Ugandan music is going up. If they vote for Chameleone, they vote for Ugandan music,†said the youthful singer, shortly after the hand-over ceremony.
This is the second time Chameleone is winning Tanzanian awards. Late November, Chameleone was voted the Best International Artiste at the Kili Tanzania Music Awards held at the Golden Jubilee in Dar-es-salaam. He also won Best Foreign Album of the Year for Mambo Bado.
Shortly after that, the singer won Best African Artiste at the Swedish African Music Awards during his tour of Sweden late last year. He recorded a song with Nigerian dance/reggae international star Dr Alban.
About the same time, Chameleone was nominated for Best Male Artist in East Africa at the 2004 Kora All Africa Music Awards in South Africa.
Back home, the lanky star had earlier won the Artiste of The Year award for the second year running at the Pearl of Africa Music (PAM) Awards 2004. He also won Song of The Year for the immensely popular message-laden Jamila.
Chameleone has also featured on a documentary on Channel O, M-Net’s continental music channel.
Ends
Local artiste Jose Chameleone’s career continues to soar in 2005 with one success after another. Not only have the albums he has churned out in the past made him a millionaire; they have also won him critical acclaim and numerous accolades in the region.
The latest comes in from Tanzania’s Radio One — an affiliate station to BBC World’s Swahili service. The Muzik Dindwa Tanzania (Music Champions of Tanzania) Awards are popular awards voted for by the public through text messages and letters to the station.
With an overwhelming 80% of the votes, Chameleone’s Jamila won the Wambo Bora Wamwaka Kutoka Nchi Jirani (Kenya, Uganda, Dr Congo) Award.
This is the award for Best Foreign Song of The Year category.
Chameleone edged out Koffi Olomidde (Congo), Necessary Noise (Kenya), Awilo Longomba (Congo) and Ziggy D (Uganda) to get the award.
He also won the Mwana Muziki Bora Wamwaka Kutoka Nchi Jirani (Kenya, Uganda, Dr Congo) Award. This is for the Foreign Artiste of the Year.
Ali Saleh, BBC senior producer, recently delivered the awards to Chameleone at the BBC office at Ruth Towers in Kampala.
“This means a lot to me because those awards were independently voted for by fans in Tanzania which is really amazing. But, most importantly, it shows that the standard of Ugandan music is going up. If they vote for Chameleone, they vote for Ugandan music,†said the youthful singer, shortly after the hand-over ceremony.
This is the second time Chameleone is winning Tanzanian awards. Late November, Chameleone was voted the Best International Artiste at the Kili Tanzania Music Awards held at the Golden Jubilee in Dar-es-salaam. He also won Best Foreign Album of the Year for Mambo Bado.
Shortly after that, the singer won Best African Artiste at the Swedish African Music Awards during his tour of Sweden late last year. He recorded a song with Nigerian dance/reggae international star Dr Alban.
About the same time, Chameleone was nominated for Best Male Artist in East Africa at the 2004 Kora All Africa Music Awards in South Africa.
Back home, the lanky star had earlier won the Artiste of The Year award for the second year running at the Pearl of Africa Music (PAM) Awards 2004. He also won Song of The Year for the immensely popular message-laden Jamila.
Chameleone has also featured on a documentary on Channel O, M-Net’s continental music channel.
Ends