By Alex Balimwikungu
The month of July was here like a deadline. Before we could blink, it had gone. Juxtapose it with July 2021. Around the same time, the country had just imposed a 42-day lockdown.
Most of us stayed at home, with masks becoming part of our lives. This time, we are out and about trying to catch up with whatever entertainment is thrust our way.
We started the month with the widely anticipated three-day Roast & Rhyme, Nyam On The Nile, edition.
It was premised on the famous Nyege Nyege festival and happened from July 1- 3.
Truth be told, the festival should go back to factory settings and stay a one-day event at the Jahazi Pier.
The real action happened on day two. Friday and Sunday would have been skipped.
If there was any takeaway from the event, Kifeesi is everywhere. They turned the event into a den of thuggery as security looked on.
Just a few days later, Hajarah Namukwaya aka Spice Diana did what she does best – hogging the limelight for something other than music.
When she goes to bed, I believe Spice Diana identifies more like a socialite than musician.
Whereas her indefatigable manager wants us to believe she is the best voice on our planet, Spice trended for other issues; a man was found dead in her compound.
The Police are still investigating how Henry Hamza Nsamba breathed his last in her home. The singer has since embarked on different charity drives.
No one saw this coming. The news that veteran songbird Desire Luzinda and gospel star Levixone were on the path to formalise their marriage was one of Kampala’s best kept secrets.
Many gawked at the possibility, with Levixone pressing the mute button while Desire Luzinda went cryptic with Biblical verses. Was it a video shoot? Is it love? You can tell when someone who has been on a dry spell falls in love.
Shortly after, there was a ‘threesome’. Get your mind out of the gutter already. It was a war between exiled writers and friends Dr. Stella Nyanzi and Kakwenza Rukirabashaija and communication specialist Anne Whitehead.
Did Kakwenza balloon and dump Whitehead? If you understand innuendo, flowery language and poetry you have an idea.
When she was under Jeff Kiwa’s tutelage, Sheebah was guarded. Now out on her own, she has no qualms going bare-knuckle. Just for her antics, singers been banned from performing at schools.
She put up a near nude show complete with an erotic dance regimen at a popular school. There was a backfire. Now, even though Government has pronounced itself on the matter, Sheebah is still unapologetic.
She insists that parents should take care and mould their children and not expect her to act as a role model or rather the person they want because it’s not her.
Still in the past month, American star actor Terrence Howard and his wife Miranda Park met President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni at State House. It wasn’t his visit that provided talking points. Rather, it was his explanation on how he wants to develop a new hydrogen technology in Uganda.
He talked about his new drone system, the lynchpin, that can apparently use unlimited hydrogen bonding and super-symmetry in order to form swarming colonies that can defend countries and remove plastics from the ocean.
As he completed his explanations, many thought Terrence had gone bananas. They were not far from the truth.
Like someone rightfully noted on Twitter, Nigerian singers should gather themselves into a choir and perform at once in Uganda, then leave.
Uganda has been home to many Nigerian performing acts and the pattern is not about to end. From Tiwa Savage, Adekunle Gold, Ayra Starr, Goya Menor, Fave… the list is endless.
By the time we penned this article Oluwatobiloba Daniel Anidugbe, better known by his stage name Kiss Daniel, another Nigerian singer and songwriter, was due for a performance at Lugogo Cricket Oval with many more lined up.
