What Helped Okudi Win KORA Awards
Dec 11, 2003
The news of Pastor George Okudi’s exploits in the just concluded KORA Awards were met with mixed emotions of shock, surprise and boundless joy.
By Joseph Batte
The news of Pastor George Okudi’s exploits in the just concluded KORA Awards were met with mixed emotions of shock, surprise and boundless joy.
Many were shocked because they did not expect him to beat stiff challenge from seasoned veterans like DR Congo’s Koffi Olomide or H. Masekela of South Africa.
It was even harder to believe that a musician, who sung Gospel music sprinkled with exotic lyrics, some of which sounded like as mixture of Gujarat and Greek, would sail past a more mainstream Jose Chameleon, winner of four PAM Awards, and a resurgent Bebe Cool.
How then did he do it? Was it because he ‘sung Gospel and bribed’ as some confused heads on the sidelines are darkly muttering? It was his showmanship, music and video to blame. Period.
Everyone who has seen Okudi strut his stuff live on stage or watched his video concluded that the singing Pastor rightly deserved it.
Okudi’s showmanship, more often than not, sweeps the audience off its feet, has it eating from his paws and leaves it yearning for more.
The first time I heard Wipolo in 1999, it wove an exotic tapestry of beats and rhythms that tugged at my heartstrings. They still do today.
A review of his Things are already Better album revealed the good beats, the inspiring lyrics and the energy all there in one nice package. In short, his music has a pulsing heart and a brain.
He relies on creativity, borrowed styles of folk tunes and music that he played while still looking after cattle in Teso.
Okudi is to hold a show on December 21, at Hotel Equatoria, poolside.
Of all the shots that helped Okudi win the two KORA awards, the best was delivered by the sizzling hot six-track video. It worked perfectly for Wipolo – the maize-roasting clips, the Nile Perch frying on a roadside market, singing on mukokoteni, the dikuula comic dancers, all conveyed the simplicity and beauty of the real African lifestyle. It is this that sucked in all the viewers who voted Okudi the Best East African and Best African singer.
All said, Okudi's success is what one can describe as profitably using one’s roots. His journey to the awards started way back in the villages of Katakwi.
Ends
The news of Pastor George Okudi’s exploits in the just concluded KORA Awards were met with mixed emotions of shock, surprise and boundless joy.
Many were shocked because they did not expect him to beat stiff challenge from seasoned veterans like DR Congo’s Koffi Olomide or H. Masekela of South Africa.
It was even harder to believe that a musician, who sung Gospel music sprinkled with exotic lyrics, some of which sounded like as mixture of Gujarat and Greek, would sail past a more mainstream Jose Chameleon, winner of four PAM Awards, and a resurgent Bebe Cool.
How then did he do it? Was it because he ‘sung Gospel and bribed’ as some confused heads on the sidelines are darkly muttering? It was his showmanship, music and video to blame. Period.
Everyone who has seen Okudi strut his stuff live on stage or watched his video concluded that the singing Pastor rightly deserved it.
Okudi’s showmanship, more often than not, sweeps the audience off its feet, has it eating from his paws and leaves it yearning for more.
The first time I heard Wipolo in 1999, it wove an exotic tapestry of beats and rhythms that tugged at my heartstrings. They still do today.
A review of his Things are already Better album revealed the good beats, the inspiring lyrics and the energy all there in one nice package. In short, his music has a pulsing heart and a brain.
He relies on creativity, borrowed styles of folk tunes and music that he played while still looking after cattle in Teso.
Okudi is to hold a show on December 21, at Hotel Equatoria, poolside.
Of all the shots that helped Okudi win the two KORA awards, the best was delivered by the sizzling hot six-track video. It worked perfectly for Wipolo – the maize-roasting clips, the Nile Perch frying on a roadside market, singing on mukokoteni, the dikuula comic dancers, all conveyed the simplicity and beauty of the real African lifestyle. It is this that sucked in all the viewers who voted Okudi the Best East African and Best African singer.
All said, Okudi's success is what one can describe as profitably using one’s roots. His journey to the awards started way back in the villages of Katakwi.
Ends