i remember when maurice kirya was first introduced to the masses on that hit track with AY back in 2004.we were all smitten, for not only was he an amazingly talented artist with mad guitar skills, he was hotness ugandan monster sent from above to fill our teenage dreams. he was the next big thing, no question about that.we waited eagerly for his songs to burn up the charts and when he dropped his next single, the saying, 'be careful what you wish for' begun to make sense. maybe 'dress in the closet' was not a particularly bad song, but for some one who had raised our hopes so high, it was an epic disappointment. there was another single after that but it isn't even worth remembering. in reinventing himself, he decided to take a road less travelled, hence the maurice kirya experience, a once a month live show played by him and a host of other artists which sought to give ugandans a new musical experience other than the local kidandali music.with this new project, maurice was able to experiment with other genres such as rock and soul. currently, his music is a fusion of soul, afro and rnb which he refers to as mwoyo.
and now he is the Radio France International Discoveries award winner.i first heard about maurice's involvement in this competition on kfm breakfast show when maurice was soliciting for votes.honestly, i didn't think he would win mainly because i don't believe in maurice's music.yes, his instrumentalists are really good, but for the genre of music that he does, his lyrics have always come off as a bit, well, shallow,especially in comparison to other fusion artists like suzan kerunen and tshila.there's a lack of depth and poetry. however,my personal opinion not withstanding, i was really excited to learn that he had won the FDI prestigious award.while his music may not be the best, maurice has been a hard worker whose won't quit,can't quit live music attitude is very commendable.by winning this award, he hasn't brought the limelight on only himself but on ugandan music as whole.
success was not handed to maurice on a silver platter so its good to see that people are finally taking notice. congratulations maurice!!!
Due to financial constraints, I usually get to read magazines atleast a month after they have come out - cue the City Beat magazine featuring the Rachel K spread.The whole article was about the paradox that while Rachel K is Uganda's reigning Jane of all trades, doing everything from singing, MC- ing, TV and radio presenting to being the face of Pepsi in Uganda, she has failed to make a real impact on the entertainment scene.(btw, I say there's no need for this paradox. Rachel just has horrible songs. She needs to stop pretending that she can write music because if Liar is anything to go by,song writing is something she should never be allowed to do again).