Ziggy D is the Ugandan sensation in Tanzania
If you have been within the vicinity of radio or television of recent, you would be a big, fat liar if you denied this
By Joseph Batte
If you have been within the vicinity of radio or television of recent, you would be a big, fat liar if you denied this. Tanzanian musicians have invaded our rooms, and zoomed into our lives with more ferocity than the Tanzania liberators who broke us free from the shackles of Amin’s dictatorship in 1979.
But the surprise act among the cream of Swahili crooners is called Ziggy D. He has blown us way with his cracking dancehall hit Eno Mic ya Ziggy D. As the title of this track aptly suggests, he is Ugandan.
Presently, it is hard to explain his appeal beyond just stating, he is hot.
Let us take a quick glance at the music first. Everything is on the mark. The wicked lyrics sound fresh out of the ghetto and are delivered with an uncompromising attitude and attack. The beat is a curious mix of polished Caribbean dancehall and South African kwaito.
The nagging questions in our minds are what is a Ugandan musician doing in Tanzania, belting out songs in Luganda, when the lingua franca of the land is Swahili? And how the hell did he score a hit in a country crawling with talented young and old artists?
To answer the two questions, he rewinds the tape of his intriguing story. Ziggy D was born Adam Mutyaba, 26 years ago on the shores of Lake Victoria. Ggaba, to be more exact. He went to Shimoni PS, St. Francis SS, St. Lawrence and Central Academy.
His first love then was fine art and he nursed dreams of making a good living on it. After his S6 in 1998, he packed his bags, hopped on a plane and headed for South Africa in search of greener pastures.
But life in the Rainbow nation turned out tougher than he had imagined.
“I tried to survive selling my paintings, but I was always on the run because the South African Immigration department required a lot of paper work to allow me conduct my business in the country. To evade the immigration authorities, I hid in many places — Soweto, Durban and Swaziland,†he says.
Tired of hiding Ziggy D returned to Uganda in 2003. A month later after his return, he received an invitation from his sister who lives in Tanzania to go and study computer programming.
“In Tanzania we lived behind a recording studio. After seeing young Tanzanians scoring success in music, I also decided to try out my luck. I first recorded two singles in Swahili, Macho kwa macho, unfortunately I could not crack stiff market with them.â€
“I decided to write a Luganda song Eno Mic ya Ziggy D. My fellow artists in Tanzania laughed at me, saying Luganda would not sell. ‘Stick to Swahili’, they advised. But I was determined to do something different.â€
In the studio, instead of going for the local R n B and hip hop-flavoured Bongo beat, he concocted a cross-fertilised dancehall beat together with producer Mika Mwamba of Royal Productions.
Eno Mic zoomed right into the hearts of every Tanzanian who heard it because it sounded new and it also had a solid, unfamiliar dancehall beat. It has since topped the charts in Zanzibar and in Uganda, its on the play-list of almost every FM radio station.
Ugandan fans with perverted minds have even turned the lyrics upside down to mean something more vulgar, yet all he is saying in the song is his prowess the microphone. Ziggy D says his phone is now busy receiving invitations to perform in Tanzania. On December 13, he will be the main act on the second Park Yard Bash to be held in Ntinda.
It will be a rocking experience. “I’m going to disprove many artists who have stayed in the business for long,†he says.
If you have been within the vicinity of radio or television of recent, you would be a big, fat liar if you denied this. Tanzanian musicians have invaded our rooms, and zoomed into our lives with more ferocity than the Tanzania liberators who broke us free from the shackles of Amin’s dictatorship in 1979.
But the surprise act among the cream of Swahili crooners is called Ziggy D. He has blown us way with his cracking dancehall hit Eno Mic ya Ziggy D. As the title of this track aptly suggests, he is Ugandan.
Presently, it is hard to explain his appeal beyond just stating, he is hot.
Let us take a quick glance at the music first. Everything is on the mark. The wicked lyrics sound fresh out of the ghetto and are delivered with an uncompromising attitude and attack. The beat is a curious mix of polished Caribbean dancehall and South African kwaito.
The nagging questions in our minds are what is a Ugandan musician doing in Tanzania, belting out songs in Luganda, when the lingua franca of the land is Swahili? And how the hell did he score a hit in a country crawling with talented young and old artists?
To answer the two questions, he rewinds the tape of his intriguing story. Ziggy D was born Adam Mutyaba, 26 years ago on the shores of Lake Victoria. Ggaba, to be more exact. He went to Shimoni PS, St. Francis SS, St. Lawrence and Central Academy.
His first love then was fine art and he nursed dreams of making a good living on it. After his S6 in 1998, he packed his bags, hopped on a plane and headed for South Africa in search of greener pastures.
But life in the Rainbow nation turned out tougher than he had imagined.
“I tried to survive selling my paintings, but I was always on the run because the South African Immigration department required a lot of paper work to allow me conduct my business in the country. To evade the immigration authorities, I hid in many places — Soweto, Durban and Swaziland,†he says.
Tired of hiding Ziggy D returned to Uganda in 2003. A month later after his return, he received an invitation from his sister who lives in Tanzania to go and study computer programming.
“In Tanzania we lived behind a recording studio. After seeing young Tanzanians scoring success in music, I also decided to try out my luck. I first recorded two singles in Swahili, Macho kwa macho, unfortunately I could not crack stiff market with them.â€
“I decided to write a Luganda song Eno Mic ya Ziggy D. My fellow artists in Tanzania laughed at me, saying Luganda would not sell. ‘Stick to Swahili’, they advised. But I was determined to do something different.â€
In the studio, instead of going for the local R n B and hip hop-flavoured Bongo beat, he concocted a cross-fertilised dancehall beat together with producer Mika Mwamba of Royal Productions.
Eno Mic zoomed right into the hearts of every Tanzanian who heard it because it sounded new and it also had a solid, unfamiliar dancehall beat. It has since topped the charts in Zanzibar and in Uganda, its on the play-list of almost every FM radio station.
Ugandan fans with perverted minds have even turned the lyrics upside down to mean something more vulgar, yet all he is saying in the song is his prowess the microphone. Ziggy D says his phone is now busy receiving invitations to perform in Tanzania. On December 13, he will be the main act on the second Park Yard Bash to be held in Ntinda.
It will be a rocking experience. “I’m going to disprove many artists who have stayed in the business for long,†he says.