Kagame, Kenyatta, Kaguta Wale Wale!

In his signature cracked voice, Ugandan singer Chameleon roars; Kama, Kaguta, Kikwete, Kenyatta, Kabila, Kagame, Wale Wale! The song has single-handedly battled Nigerian music to top continental charts in the process making East Africa proud. After decades in the industry, Chameleon has finally produced a high quality music video that has, for the first time in a very long time given East Africa a ‘smash-hit’ on the popular Trace Urban, a French music video television network. Many music videos from EA have featured on the channel but few of them have topped charts let alone become smash hits as Wale Wale is currently doing. It appears that the French businessmen Olivier Laouchez and Claude Grunitzky, the owners of Trace Urban, have a secret plan to penetrate the Nigerian showbiz industry following the overplay of Nigerian songs even those that are plainly below par. Actually, the channel has since deviated from its traditional ‘we love hip-hop and RnB slogan to a new jingle, ‘we love African music’ but to many a viewer, a more accurate slogan would be ‘we love Nigerian music.’ But the success of Chameleon’s video is evidence to the potential in good music not only as an export but also a marketing tool for some of the region’s tourism hot spots. In the past, EAC singers used to concentrate their efforts on producing the audio version of their songs targeting radio and concert audiences and that’s how Chameleon, who has a large following in Rwanda, acquired most of his wealth and fan base. To be honest, I am not a big fan of Chameleon and like his other songs, I had ignored this one as well only for it to become a daily fixture on most DSTV music channels; now that was shocking because it was the first time it was happening. Yesternight, I downloaded the song, sat down in my living room and with a pen in hand, replayed it several times as I wrote down its lyrics; I was shocked by the poetic brilliance in the lyrics. ‘Wale’ which means ‘those’ in Swahili may not sound sensible in the title until one juxtaposes it with the bridge in the song and the line in which he yells out the Presidents’ surnames. Here is the Bridge; (Sawa) Nipate maisha mazuri(Sawa) Watoto wasome vizuri(Sawa) Wapate chakula nzuri(Sawa) Nipate maisha mazuri(Sawa) Watoto wasome vizuri(Sawa) Wapate chakula nzuriKama, Kaguta, Kikwete, Kenyatta, Kabila, Kagame, wale wale!Ee, aah, ee, aah, ee wale wale In the bridge, chameleon, a father, highlights important issues regarding children welfare calling for their good health, education and food before introducing the presidents’ names and then punctuates it with Wale wale! Secondly, the physical setting of the video is also not to be ignored. He goes to of all places in Uganda, Karamoja, for many years a forgotten region and dances with the people there while showcasing the region’s beautiful scenery and tradition. And the stats are encouraging, since October when the video was uploaded on YouTube, it has been viewed over 320, 000 times. From these views, the region might get a couple of dozen tourists all wishing to visit the scenes featured in the video and with the single tourism visa, the use of Kagame and Kenyatta’s names in the song won’t be in vain. Can Rwandan artists emulate this? During his end of year concert in Kigali, Tanzanian artist Diamond Platinumz defaulted on his manners when he lambasted his hosts in statement that Rwandan artists don’t know what they’re doing reason why their music can’t sell beyond Rwanda. But as singer Teta lashed out in response, Rwandan music is on the right track given the country’s political history; they have built from nothing to something. From struggling to get paid at concerts, Rwandan musicians can now afford cars, residence in respectable neighborhoods and most of all; they’re attracting corporate endorsements which will boost their brand. The next step will be investing in cross border music that can attract attention beyond Rwanda and compete with Nigerian videos on Trace Urban. On Friday, Work Development Authority boss Jerome Gasana said it’s high time the Rwandan music industry became a more productive sector. Well, he’s right but he must help. As it is, the sector would do with some capacity building to improve skills among the producers and professionalism among artists’ managers, events managers and those music suppliers. This of course takes time because even the likes of Chameleon and Bebe Cool, arguably Uganda’s most successful performers, have been hustling since the early 90s from the harsh streets of Nairobi before finding fame in Kampala. I believe Rwanda has some good talent to produce the next Wale Wale.

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Kagame, Kenyatta, Kaguta Wale Wale!