Music of Uganda - Popular Music

Popular Music

Due to Uganda's turbulent political past, there was never enough time for there to be a thriving pop music industry until relative peace was restored in the late 80's. By then, musicians like Philly Lutaaya, Afrigo Band and Elly Wamala were the few Ugandan acts to have had mainstream music success. Jimmy Katumba and his music group the Ebonies were also popular at this time, especially towards the 90's. The 90's saw Uganda's love affair with Jamaican music begin when artists like Shanks Vivi Dee, Ragga Dee and others were influenced by Jamaican superstars like Shabba Ranks. They imported the Ragga music culture into Uganda and although they faced stiff competition from other African music styles and musicians at the time, in particular Soukous from Congo and Kwaito from South Africa, they managed to form the foundation of the pop music industry. But it was not until the 21st century when musicians like Chameleone emerged that a pop music scene really began to emerge. By around 2007, there were already a number of musicians practicing varied styles of music and the role of western and congolese/South African music had greatly diminished. Today, musicians like Iryn Namubiru and Jamal are just a few of the many pop musicians in a thriving and vibrant pop music scene. The pop music duo of Radio & Weasel, the Goodlyfe Crew, is well known around Africa, being nominated in the continental MTV Base awards as recently as 2010.