By Ahmad Muto
When was the last time you heard or read about singer Irene Ntale? I bet it has been a while.
But like certain things are particularly reserved for weekends, like strong opinions on controversial issues, Ntale just showed up on social media on Sunday, February 19, 2023, more than a day after Eddy Kenzo allegedly made a mockery of himself by taunting late singer Philly Bongoley Lutaaya.
According to Grammy nominee Kenzo, he is a much better artiste compared to Lutaaya whose hit song Born in Africa he redid.
He stated that his number of eyeballs on YouTube are over the roof compared to the late singer’s. However, the video of Kenzo’s version was accorded a cold reception by the public. Why? The verdict was he spoilt the song.
Ntale wasn’t any different from the public.
She wrote: “Did Kenzo really compare himself to Philly Lutaaya?!!! Wow this industry keeps getting more interesting.”
She added: “One Grammy nomination and the man said he’s bigger than Philly!! Man pride is a such a bad thing!”
Ntale was accused of jealousy and also asked to spend sometime looking for her music career that seems lost.
And whoever jumped to Kenzo’s defence also received a lashing from the public. One of such was his protégé Pia Pounds.
She argued: “Eddy Kenzo is the greatest living male artiste Uganda has ever seen.”
Pounds was reminded that her music career had turned cold until a seemingly bored and intoxicated MC Africa recorded himself vibing to the song while bellowing “It is a Friday” that the song picked up, a year after it was released. So she has no authority to comment on the topic.
Comedian Patrick Salvado Idringi defended Kenzo, accusing Ntale and his other critics of dumping sense and choosing jealousy to reason: “A great song doesn’t necessarily have to be a big song… I think that’s where we are getting it all wrong with this Eddy Kenzo.. Philly comparison. Some great songs aren’t big and some big songs aren’t great … let’s get jealousy out of this argument and we use sense.”
Kenzo released the now controversial video to the song over a week ago following the release of its audio in the first half of 2021 off his 21-track album Made in Africa.
At the time of the unveiling of the video, the audio on YouTube had only managed a modest 28,000 views in over a-year-and-a-half.
