By Andrew Kwagala
Singer Eddy Kenzo has spoken out on the influx of Nigerian singers in the country.
In just a matter of months, Kizz Daniel, Adekunle Gold and Tiwa Savage, among others, have performed here.
“The issue is out of our hands since the people who bring them here are Nigerian promoters who are based in Uganda. Our promoters work as brokers for them, so they don’t have a say. There is no way you can stop the Nigerian promoters from booking their fellow Nigerians. If it was our own promoters doing this, I think we could talk to them and see how to go about it,” Kenzo said.
He was speaking during an interview with The Kampala Sun at the home of his Big Talent music label on Salaama Road, Makindye.
The team found the Weekend singer doing rehearsals for the Eddy Kenzo Festival, which is scheduled to take place at Kololo Airstrip in November.
Kenzo noted that in Africa, Uganda is the second highest consumer of Nigerian music.
He revealed that sometimes, the Nigerian artistes organise the concerts themselves through an agent.
Sounding a tad jealous, he claimed that some of the Nigerian artistes don’t have shows, with such large crowds in their country, so they organise them in Uganda, where their music is greatly consumed.
Since Kenzo is one of the most booked artistes outside Uganda, we assumed that he would differ from the other Ugandan musicians and support the influx of the Nigerian artistes.
“I don’t normally go to Nigeria,” he clarified.
Kenzo, however, said he supports the coming of the Nigerian artistes to Uganda, saying it’s not bad for them to perform here.
He only asked that they don’t frequent the country like they have been doing, arguing that too much of anything is dangerous.
On whether the DJs who promote their music here are the ones to be blamed, Kenzo said good music is good music and the fans like it too.
“So we just need to find a way of strengthening our ground. In Nigeria, they have a law of airing 70% Nigerian content and 30% foreign content, which helps them to regulate foreign content from circulating in their country. This, therefore, makes it difficult for a foreign artiste to perform in Nigeria apart from the South Africans who penetrated it with their Amapiano beats. But still, a few South Africans also perform in Nigeria because we don’t normally see them performing there,” Kenzo said.
He said this is unlike in Uganda where we lack such regulations in the entertainment industry.
Kenzo revealed that he visits different Ugandan clubs and bars mostly in Kololo where on some nights, they play little to no Ugandan content because there is no law governing them.
