Eddy Kenzo was right

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Eddy Kenzo was right about artists in the 1980s, 1990s and those in the 2000s. He was absolutely right, but without context.

I feel like for the first time Eddy Kenzo spoke like a true NRM cadre; see, the thing about NRM and their allies is that they have a total disregard of context. Museveni will for instance compare Uganda’s GDP in 1986 to that of 2026 in an effort to make a case for his amazing work.

In that moment, his reasoning will ignore a fact that Uganda in 1986 was coming out of a war he was actively engaged in, that economic activities were on a slump for years, that the population was low…. basically these people and context can’t mix.

The same way, that dismissing of context, the one that forces people to stupidly make comparisons that shouldn’t be made, wearing their goofy smirk like it’s a badge of honour, is one Eddy Kenzo possesses so well.

Mind you that man once argued that he was exporting Philly Lutaaya’s Born in Africa, since it was languishing on YouTube with just a million views, that one, many like him, in their yellow vests, I bet silly knows their name….

Anyway, this man said that he is completely sure that there’s absolutely no artist from the 1980s and the 1990s that did better than the artists in the 2000s. He went on that none of them owns a house on a hill that can be talked about……

Probably Kenzo is right but again, there is context.

Let’s talk about Uganda in the 1980s, regime changes and various wars, many artists were killed and others went into exile. Afrigo Band, which has managed to stay around technically was always regrouping and it seems they only stabilized in the late 1990s.

Then the 1990s, Uganda wasn’t fighting but there was bigger fish to fry, HIV which killed many people at the time. We should also note that by the time, there was one TV station, UTV and not a single FM station.

So, Kenzo is right, the artists in that era were not as successful as them, but he forgets one thing, time, at the time, then music was passion, today, it’s a product, the artist is a brand. There is a lot of money flying in and out of the industry than ever before.

And Eddy Kenzo may be right they are not as successful, but they survived wars, and an HIV scourge without becoming beggars. But some people we know! Small lockdown like this…… One Bryan White like this!

Written by

Kaggwa Andrew

Ugandan Arts and Culture Journalist. Film and theatre enthusiast. Photojournalist.

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