AFRIE - ASKARI

Over the time we meet talent that’s unique and fresh.

Most of the times, such quality is usually ignored, but at Tsup Ug, being different and ultimately talented is what we look out for, and thus we present to you Ann Nassanga alias Afrie unplugged at the Undercover Brothers’ show last December.

#Askari

What lies beneath the hype...

It was the most anticipated series for a long time, the social media hype, trailers, YouTube hits and all that, Ugandans could indeed not wait for Beneath the lies to hit the TV screens.
At Acacia Mall last week, the red carpet was rolled, champagne was popped…indeed, this was a new era in the Ugandan film and TV industry.
But there was reason to believe the TV show producers, they had invested a lot in putting all this together, shipping a crew from Kenya plus bringing one East Africa’s directors David Tosh Gitonga, mostly known for being behind films like The First Grader (2009), Malooned (2007) and the award winning Nairobi Half Life – which is also East Africa’s first Oscar submission.
With such a CV upon us, we had to take everything they said about Beneath the Lies as bible truth.
It wasn’t surprising that their premiere attracted Capt. Francis Babu, Margeret Zziwa and the first son Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
There’s no doubt Nana Kagga’s written story will raise the bar as far as TV drama productions are concerned, the lighting, color correlation, shoot angles and editing, it is better than all the screen hits; Hostel, Deceptions, Kakibe Ki and Destiny combined.
Beneath The Lies tells a story of a city filled with extortion, exploitation and a grim side of how far many Ugandans would go in order to put food on the table.
The lies lie beneath one man’s law firm, Steven Amaru (Cedric Babu), one of the most powerful lawyers in Kampala. Many of the rich are at his mercy, he safeguards their secrets.
“Compared to the stories we are used to, this is way out of the box and yes, it has that western kind of touch many Ugandans want to associate with,” said a reveler at the premiere.
The series however fails at the opening scene, at least according to many pundits. We open with a sloppy robbery at Amaru’s home; a laptop with very personal information is stolen.
Amaru calls his aides; Abe Sakku (Gaetano Kaggwa) and Paul Mukasa (Daniel Omara) who help him reveal that the robber was indeed one Kamali Amaru (Flavia Tumusiime), his estranged wife.
Many feel the opening was all over the place and that it didn’t give the audience enough time to digest everything; “The intrigue has been killed, they literally poured a lot of stuff out yet it is just the first episode,” said one Grey Godwyns.
Others took to social media to air their disappointments, one wondered why the show hired many first timers yet Uganda is endowed with a lot of talent or why they had some facts wrong, for instance Cedric is a city lawyer who wears dreadlocks – since when did Ugandan male lawyers start wearing dreadlocks?
But after everything is said, the show still has eleven more episodes, the beginning raped us as viewers –it lacked a backing history.
“It seemed pretty much tailored to introduce the fancy characters than the story, and as you can imagine, in less than three minutes, Geatano, Hellen, Natasha, Rabadaba, Salvado, Flavia, and Nava among others had already appeared on the screen,” said Polly Kamukama of the Film Classification body.
It is a marketing gimmick to glue the audience by throwing in as many famous people as you can in the first minutes but it somehow affects the art.
Cedric is the executive producer and the lead actor; well he's the weakest link considering that his character is too demanding. Tosh tried to get something out of many of them thus we hope this is going to improve.
Coincidentally, however, Cedric's also the owner of kinetic management, the agency almost the entire cast is attached to.
Truth is, casting him as the lead and many other people on the show was a mistake, the producers had to call for an open casting.
If you are doing a project with many beginners, you are always required to cast a very good and strong lead character because even where the cast team fails, he can carry the show on his shoulders and that's why this show needed a such person like Michael Wawuyo snr, Peter Odeke, Joel Okuyo or Phillip Luswata, a person to carry the series on when the other cast can't.
Nevertheless, Geatano and Flavia stole the shine in the pilot episode.

Beneath The Lies is finally here

It is by far Uganda’s most anticipated TV show; an all-star cast with the likes of Geatano Kaggwa, Flavia Tumusiime, Cedric Babu, Rabadaba, Daniel Omara, Salvador Idringi and a star director in David Tosh Gatonga (Nairobi Half Life).
Beneath the Lies which will air on Urban TV is set to premiere today at 10pm, as you could imagine, the show has built a lot of hype on social media platforms that millions are expected to tune in to watch the 30 minute pilot episode.
The show whose plot is yet to be known started production earlier this year and went on to massively market the show, originally, they had announced that it was going to be an online drama but it drastically changed when they partnered with Urban TV.
According to the trailer posted about two months back, the series will look at some of the social dogmas Ugandans tend to live with, like prostitution, human trafficking and drug abuse among others.
The invite-only red-carpet event will take place at Century Cinemax, Acacia Mall in Kampala.

Theatre festival makes an impressive first cut

When the Kampala International Theatre festival opened on Wednesday, November 26, many people were skeptical; some thought it was one of those borrowed ideas, totally irrelevant to the sector at this time.
The five day event, courtesy of Bayimba Foundation in partnership with Sundance Institute East Africa (SIEA), was geared towards showcasing plays from emerging and established African playwrights, who are topical and focused on gaining a diverse audience and space.
Thus, the diverse choice of productions, which included a South African/French production, Ster City, by Jean-Paul Delore, DJ Lwanda by Kenya’s Eric Wainana and Radio Play by Rwanda’s Rubiza Wesley.
This came at a time when theatre has globally gone through tough days, not only in terms of a diminishing audience but even a roughly worse content delivery, production, and management.
However, SIEA had put all this little bits to connect the dots to a good production. They were not simply here to showcase theatre but teach how a production should be handled, managing space and working under a tight budget.
For instance, the audience was expected to be settled at least five minutes before the show. And when action started, whether the auditorium was empty or not, no one would be allowed in.
According to Bayimba’s Faisal Kiwewa, this was intended since they didn’t want the cast to be disrupted by people coming in and out all the time.
Festival curator Deborah Asiimwe noted that one way of being professional and respecting what you do is through time keeping.
“The audience and cast can easily lose concentration if people keep walking in and out during a production,” she said.
The productions were minimalistic, lasting between 30 to 90 minutes as opposed to the Ugandan three hour productions. They also kept the cast small; Ster City, for example, had two actors and a musician, while DJ Lwanda had one actor and two musicians: Eric Wainana and our own Suzan Kerunen, which makes economic sense in terms of cost cutting.
In Uganda, when you talk theatre, the faces that come into mind are those of Alex Mukulu or Ntare Mbaho Mwine, who usually stage shows for elites, then Bakayimbira Dramactors, Diamonds Essemble and The Ebonies for the common man. These shows usually happen in theatre settings. This according to Asiimwe has confined the art to the stage.
Thus, the festival wanted to give theatre goers an alternative. Desperate To Fight told an African story of a woman (Gladys Onyenbot – a bankable actress) that has had misfortunes as far as marriage is concerned. She looks up to the neighbors whose relationship seems perfect. Unknown to her, the marriage she admires is also rather abusive.
This production was staged behind the theatre’s main auditorium, known as the Big Hut.
The purpose for this, according to Asiimwe, was to show people that theatre was not only about the stage and auditorium but rather for any venue.
In fact, after Desparate To Fight, more shows such as DJ Lwanda and Wimbowa Nyongo were done in the Green room and the CICP room respectively.
The festival ended on Sunday with the screening of Strings, a Ugandan production and Maria Kizito, an American play about a Rwandan nun that aided the massacre of 7,000 people, who had taken refuge at the church during the 1994 genocide.
Asiimwe assured Ugandans that her team has learnt a lot from this pioneer and pilot festival, promising to do an even better job next year.
This year’s productions were affiliated to SIEA. In the next festival though, they will be welcoming entries from playwrights in Uganda, East, Middle East and North Africa, with or without connection to SIEA.
Asiimwe is optimistic that the festival will become an international platform for budding and talented playwrights, directors, and actors, among others; plus, give a chance to open theatre thinkers to execute their ideas the way they ought to, without being locked in a box.

Tribute to Wycliffe Kiyingi: His last interview

There’s something queer about old architecture –innocent designs, well laid boundaries and that never fading feel of happiness. The moment you get to Wycliffe Kiyingi’s home in Mutundwe, you will be hit by the above, his well-kept house that’s probably more than forty years old, the neat compound and the trees that easily provide the shade, especially on a very hot day like this one.
His house is organized the old fashion way, different portraits of family members on the wall – most of them depict landmarks such as graduations and weddings.
As kiyingi sits in his living room, it’s clear that he gives it the presence that profoundly proves the statement that a house is not a home, unless there‘re people living in it. Even when he’s stuck in that wheel chair, he still got the charisma to talk, interact and receive visitors, but on more than one occasion, it’s visible that the difficulty in hearing and talking are failing him but his presence can’t be underestimated.
But before the health problems, kiyingi was buoyant optimistic playwright who was willing to utilize his talent even when he turned 80.
He’s the undisputed doyen of Ugandan theatre, worked in turbulent times, yet his plays are all non-partisan.
Kiyingi has written over ten books that have been widely translated and many directed into plays and many adopted into the Makerere University syllabus; it’s no surprise he was labeled “the encyclopedia of drama.”
While talking to The East African in 2010, Kiyingi wasn’t happy with Ugandan playwrights over what he termed as their thirst for quick money with hastily mounted productions that usually do not carry strong stories and messages.
“They don’t want to research let alone put thought into the plays. All they want is their audiences to laugh, in the process killing theatre,” he’s quoted to have said.
During his active days, Kiyingi penned plays such as Muka Sempala, W'okulira, Gw'osusa emwanyi, Olugendo lw'e Gologoosa and Muduuma kwe kwaffe, among others.  He also did many plays for both radio and TV, which makes him one of the few multimedia playwrights the country has had.
Muduuma kwe Kwafe, is based on a real life village in Mityana where Kiyingi was born on 30th December 1929 and stragely, one of the main characters in the original cast was from Muduuma.
The two-hour-and–half play directed by Kaya Kagimu Mukasa, showed at the National Theatre from February 14th and 15th.
With the help of stars like Phillip Luswata, Sophie Matovu, Edwin Mukalazi, Charles Bwanika and NTV’s Tony Muwangala among others, Kaya evoked Kiyingi’s nostalgia.
It rotates around the residents of Muduuma that are basically farmers but since they lack the means and facilitation, they only sell to Murji Patel () an exploitative Indian trader in the area. When the World War II veterans like Mudiima (Mukalazi) return, they influence residents to push for their independence so as to manage their finances like in the western countries they fought in.
This leads to a boycott of Indian businesses and dealings, residents declare it an abomination for any Ugandan to deal with any foreigner.
However, during the boycott, some residents start illegal dealings that see them sell Indians’ products disguised as their own even more residents started taking up jobs as cooks, housemaids and butlers in Indian homes. Corrupt officials started taking bribes and thus declaring a good number of Indians citizens.
As more events unfold, it was clear Kiyingi, even before Uganda got independence had prophesied that we would get it, mismanage our country and end up giving it back to those we fought so hard to get it from.
While independent, the rich residents of Muduuma made life difficult for the poor ones, even when the Indians were expelled, their shops and property was only given to the relatives and friends of those in power thus leaving out the likes of Mudiima who had engineered the struggle.
According to Kaya, Kiyingi writes with such brilliance that even while most of his plays were written before our 1962 independence, they reflect the current situation in Uganda.
“He’s a timeless writer whose products can be understood by all generations,” says Kaya, whose father Kagimu Mukasa was indeed friends with Kiyingi and part of the original cast.
Indeed, Sylvia Namukasa, one of the people in the audience on Friday can confirm this; “this play depicts the current situation, where most of us are working for foreign companies and the local ones are grassing.”
When the play was first staged in the 1950s, Kiyingi became one of the first Africans to have a play showcased at the National Theatre, then managed by the British. Its no surprise he’s seen as a moving spirit behind modern ugandan theatre, he founded the African Artiste Association, the first all Ugandan theatre company to promote local drama.
"Personally, I would class Wycliffe as Uganda's Shakespeare. It's interesting that a play he wrote about 50 years ago has stood the test of time,” says Mukalazi one of the actors.
During the celebrations to mark 50 years of the existence of the Uganda National Cultural Centre (UNCC), Kiyingi was recognized with “A Golden Artist(1954-2009)” award and his play Mudduma Kwe Kwaffe, was then republished by Angelina Books. He also received the Golden Drama Award in 2007 for “The Most Prolific Multimedia Playwright,” from the Golden Drama Foundation.
His other book Gwosusa emwanyi is among the books for the O level examination syllabus.
Nevertheless, even when Kiyingi’s work is one befitting of an arch recognition, besides using his books in syllabuses both in schools and the university, the old man has not gained a lot from the works of his hands.
He has no idea that he’s work is being republished and thus making money for other people, and according Mrs. Kiyingi, they’ve never received a thing even from UNEB or the various drama groups that have staged the husband’s plays.
“it shouldn’t be a one way traffic, people invest time and money, the ministry should look into compersating people for their works and respect copyright,” says Francis Peter Ojede, the Executive Director Uganda National Cultural Centre.
Kiyingi leads a simple life now and on many occasions, it seems like he even forgets the magnitude of contribution he has for the Arts industry, he reveals that Muduuma’s genesis was in a simple text book that he kept for many years.
He’s memory is sharp and always looks like he wants to say more but he probably lacks the strength to, he refers to himself as “a simple man and Muduuma is a simple village.”
Andrew Benon Kibuuka of the Bakayimbira says that book wasn’t only a master piece but it also influenced people’s figure of speech, it’s because of the play that many Nkuba kyeyos started referring to Uganda as Muduuma.

Kiyingi picked interest in theatre when he was still young. His playwriting skills took off even before the MDD department was introduced at Makerere University. During the pre-independent Uganda, Andrew Cohen, the first governor granted him a scholarship to study drama at a professional level at Bristol University from where he further polished his skills at Oxford University in London.
As the curtains fall for one last time, for the play he wrote more than sixty years ago, one of the characters swears that he’s not leaving; he will not run, or be intimidated, he wants to be buried there since; Ku Muduuma kwe Kwaffe.

Ster City; South Africa's joyful pain

A scene from the production

The most amazing thing in the life of an arts journo is when a pretty famous international star looks at you and gushes; “oh you, I know you from somewhere.”
It was the same thing that happened at the opening ceremony of the very first Kampala International Festival. Only that Lindiwe Matshikiza wasn’t referring to me, but a friend that was seated in the front row.
Well some of you may not know who Matshikiza is but this is the girl that portrayed Zindzi, Nelson Mandela’s daughter in 2013 film, Long Walk to Freedom and State of Violence as Bobedi (Fana Mokoena)’s wife Joy.
She allegedly reminded the daunting actress of her granny from St. Helena, this was when a small camera tied at the end of a pole was being swayed around during the multi lingual production Ster City.
The production done in French, English, Afrikaan, Sotho, Zulu, Dutch, Xhosa and more tells the entire story of South Africa with the use of their bodies, art and a blackboard as a collage.
Ster City is definitely not your usual Ugandan theatre production; for starters, it has a slim cast of two actors – Matshikiza and Nicholas Welch, joined by Dominique Lentin and his music.
From the stripped set up, lighting and mostly provisional costumes, it is clear that our theatre makers straight from the producers to the writers have a lot of bones to pick from Jean-Paul Delore’s play. His transactions were swift and the way they moved from a topic to another was effortless.
But that wasn’t all, the actors’ versatility and use of technology was fascinating. The demonstration of a man using the navel of a character or that re-enactment of the 2010 world cup; Matshikiza even took a jibe at the French team.
I pretty much enjoyed the depiction of Mandela and De-Clerk then the use of random drawings to talk about the country’s turbulent political past.
But as you may know, South Africa’s history is not all smooth, much as Matshikiza and welch were playful most of the times, the anger and pain was too slotted in the plot though carefully and gently placed.
Jean-Paul’s production challenges our theatre in matters of doing stories relevant not only to a couple but a nation as far as thinking about the way forward is concerned.

Taga interprets the totems of Uganda

The tradition of totems is practiced in many parts of the world but each region has its peculiar norms and customs tagged to this tradition.
In Uganda, totems are practiced in many of the cultures and this is where artist Francis Taga Nuwagaba’s Me and My Totem painting project four years back comes in.
He was unveiling to over 1500 revelers an unbeatable totem trail of the 52 Clans of Buganda. This was at the time he was working on his longest project; Totems of Uganda: Buganda Edition.
After almost fifteen years of research, interpretations and consultation, the art book was launched at the Uganda Museum on Friday.
The project according to Taga was inspired as he travelling in taxi from Kampala to Masaka. Along the way, a squirrel ran into the road and the driver unable to break crushed it within his tyres.
However, the driver whose name is Sengendo, was crest fallen at the end of the journey when he was informed that the squirrel like animal he had hit was effumbe – the actual totem of his clan.
Being so devastated, Sengendo couldn’t drive on that his conductor had to take his place. That’s when Taga realized the tragedy had been a result of Sengendo not knowing what effumbe looked like.
This is when he set out on a mission to research about the totems and how people relate to them. shockingly he realized that much as many Baganda like Sengendo indeed cherished their clans and totems, very few knew what they looked like.
Totems of Uganda, is Taga’s answer to such woes and further more preserve culture through interpreting it to widely spoken languages. In his experience of doing the book, he reveals that he visited the wild in search of information and images.
He also realized that English names to many of these animals were alien to many people that even belonged to some totems.
Nathan Kiwere, who is credited for contributing especially on the totem history, writing much of the book introduction and partly editing it, noted that the process of putting it together was a great lesson for him; “there’s a great importance to conserve nature,” he says.
But that’s not all, he also appreciated the fact that his writing skill has been improved and as a result, the process will give birth to a book; Art of Uganda, his debut project set for release early next year.
The book editor Margaret Bell alias Nakimera said that Ugandans should get themselves a copy since its rich with not only information but knowledge, in her view, people can’t protect what they don’t know.
Formerly a CEO at Aga Khan, Bell has been in Uganda since 1988 and over the years she has not only admired the culture but embraced it. She believes every citizen of the world should adopt a totem if they don’t have one, hers is the grasshopper, thus her Nakimera name.
Totems of Uganda; Buganda Edition is just the first of the project as Tanga promises to work even with other artistes to profile totems in other cultures too.

Theater mourns Wycliffe Kiyingi

In March 2013, when Dr. Mercy Mirembe Ntangare put together a Theater festival, Wycliffe Kiyingi’s Muduuma Kwe Kwafe was set to showcase on day two.
However, early in the morning, news went around that the 84 year old then had passed on, that rumor was later declared false as they went on to stage the play.
I never got a chance to meet Kiyingi even though I tried as much at the time..
It was until early this year when I was requested by Francis Peter Ojede, Executive Director, Uganda National Cultural Centre (UNCC) that we made it to his home in Mutundwe.
Unfortunately, nine months after he did an interview with The Observer, on Saturday morning, Kiyingi, 85 was declared deceased by a family member.
He was glad to see us though because of age, he was confined to a wheel chair and had forgotten a lot of events besides the year 1954.
It’s the year he formed the African Artist Association. He believed that even in such hard political situations the continent was going through, especially the fact that many of the countries were not independent, artists needed to work together to prosper.
But he never got to realize this dream, as the years that followed, Africans fought for their independence, some got it but then resorted to fighting the men in power.
It saw many sensitive authors and play wrights go to exile like Ngugi wa Thiogo, Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe among others.
At the time of his death, Kiyingi had been in and out of hospital battling different complications, he had a strong difficulty in listening and talking though was still optimistic that may be one day, he would pen more books.
During his active days, Kiyingi penned plays such as Muka Sempala, W'okulira, Gw'osusa emwanyi, Olugendo lw'e Gologoosa and Muduuma kwe kwaffe, among others.  He also did many plays for both radio and TV, which makes him one of the few multimedia playwrights the country has had.
During a memorial at the National Theater on Monday, president of the Association of Performing Artists, Andrew Benon Kibuuka, noted that Kiyingi has left a lot of challenges for the industry since he achieved much and yet lived an exemplary life.
“He has left a lot of artistic which we have to emulate,” Kibuuka said.
Kaya Kagimu Mukasa noted that the late has left the industry with integrity; “he was an accomplished writer that made descent money without getting involved in scandals.”
However, Eng. Serukenya bashed at the public for not appreciating artistic wworks which has led to many talented people dying poor.
It should also be noted, that much as Kiyingi’s books are examinable at both O and A level in Luganda by UNEB, the playwright died without reaping from that effort.

Theater festival comes to Kampala

Visual Art, dance, music and food festivals have all been held in Kampala, yet for some reason, Theater has been marginalized.
Finally, a festival dedicated to theater is set to run at the Uganda National Cultural Center (UNCC) between 26-30 this month.
Dubbed the Kampala International Theater Festival, the five day do is a partnership between Bayimba Cultural Foundation and the Sundance Institute East Africa (SIEA).
The festival will bring together playwrights, actors, directors, costume and stage designers at the National Theater to present an artistically diverse programme of showcases.
The festival’s objective is to showcase plays from emerging and established African playwrights that are topical and focus on gaining a diverse audience.
Curated by SIEA’s Deborah Asiimwe and Bayimba’s Faisal Kiwewa, the programme includes the latest scripts from the East African theatre.
They are playwrights and directors that have been part of SIEA’s lab residencies from Rwanda, Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda.
“We are going to be having the festival every year and we hope it becomes a platform for different theater creative to collaborate along regions,” said Kiwewa during a press conference.
The festival comes after as a result of accumulated work from playwrights and directors that SIEA felt it needed to be shared with audiences; “We don’t produce or present work. Therefore, in order to share this new work with audiences, it was important for us to identify a local organization whose mandate is to present and produce performances,” says Asiimwe, and that is the partnership with Bayimba.
The festival will feature eight East African productions that will be screened across the five days it will run. Being an international do, they will feature only one play from Uganda and all the eight from other participating countries.
The Ugandan play, Strings, was written by Angella Emurwon and is directed by Dorcy Rugamba from Rwanda/Belgium. It’s a play about a woman dealing with the return of her distant husband that has been away on kyeyo.
There’s also only one Ugandan director Dr. Aida Mbowa involved and she is working on Desparate to fight, a production by Ethiopian playwright Meaza Worku.
It is a continental story about gender struggles, falling and out of love. After divorcing thrice, Marta is weighing on whether to or not give marriage a fourth try. Tormented by the sounds of a newly and seemingly happily wedded couple next door, she wrestles with her past and memories of former husbands.
The festival comes at a time when theater is almost just emerging from its dark days however; Asiimwe notes that it’s not only in Uganda that the art form has suffered but rather a global trend.
“This theatre festival will offer a platform for theatre-makers not only in Uganda but also from elsewhere.”
The diverse festival will also feature a musical, Dj Lwanda which will be performed by Kenyan ace once TPF academy teacher Eric Wainana with the amazing Suzan Kerunen.
The organisers have put together a great acting company to feature in many of the productions, it’s as diverse as the show with a mix of veterans like Phillip Luswata and Kaya Kagimu Mukasa and younger breeds like Diana Kahunde and William Otako.
Other members of the acting company include Gladys Oyenbot, Alice Lwanga, Brian Emurwon, Herve Kimenyi, Patriq Nkakalukanyi and Nicholas Welch.
Most of the directors will be doing productions that are not from their countries, this had created fear that they may fail to do justice to the emotions and monologues interpretations because of the differences in culture.
Asiimwe however reveals that many of the directors were trained to work together regardless of background and besides; “Seeing work from one’s community and communities from elsewhere will inspire all these stakeholders to take theatre industry to another level.”
Asiimwe calls upon directors and theater makers that are not directly involved with SIEA to come forward and attend since this is a great opportunity to network with their counterparts who have been involved with SIEA during this festival.

Kwivuga back to poetry basics

When Kwivuga was launched at Gato Mato in 2012, it was indeed the best thing to ever happen to poetry.
A night where over twenty talented lyricists would grace the stage without gimmicks but words, before we knew it, Kwivuga had become an in thing flocked by all socialite wannabes around town.
This though came at a cost; the art of poetry was sacrificed.
To appease the always growing numbers and keep the sponsors at the same time, the show resorted to programming comedians and musicians. They were meant to bridge the gap between the poetry diehards and those that would simply come for the fun.
It was the only known face of poetry but the poems were diminishing, not that there were no sessions of the sort before, they did exist. The Lantern Meet of poets and Open Mics did exist but none had indeed come out to make this type of entertainment mainstream like Kwivuga had.
What had made the show a hit was its ability to surprise revelers with something they were not going to find in other bars and clubs – poetry. However, with organizers literally turning it into a mini hip hop cypher with majorly Babu’s Kinetic artistes or another comedy night, the numbers deserted the show, sponsorship gone and finally on June 26, Kwivuga closed shop.
On a very low key event in October, the show bounced back with a new vision, venue, energy but the same mission – promoting poetry. This was at Legends Bar in Lugogo which was later announced as their new residence.
“Poetry is therapy, it’s about opening up, it is an art that has to be appreciated,” said Linda Butare, the show founder.
This time round, she had stripped the show off its glitz to bring it closer to the art it is meant to be; there were no unsolicited rappers and comedians to steal poems from a session, even the only one around Ruyonga, was invited to recite not perform.
That first night according to Butare is exactly what she had in mind when she conceived Kwivuga years back, a celebration of poetry for what it is than the glamour surrounding it.
The second one, too held last week on 3 November, kept to the book of values – poetry, Keko made an appearance, but it was a poetic one.
Butare is doing it like this because, she hopes Ugandans get to love the art for what it really is.
“I love the audience we have here because they are sincere, we like a family,” Butare told The Observer.
The poets too were happy with the show’s new developments, Herman Kabubi, one of the few poets with a religious following notes that Kwivuga had reached a point where it nolonger belonged to lyricists; “At times we could close minus many poets performances,” he says.
He however cautions poets to become more aggressive than before to get some shine onto their work.
Like any other artist, he says, Poets need to overstand the fact that great works will take them places; “If people feel that the works of various poets in Uganda are relevant to them, they will be interested. Content, African signature and one's Unique Selling Point (USP) are key.”
Currently performing at the Sondeka festival in Kenya, Kabubi notes that Ugandans have always appreciated the art of poetry though it’s also a role for the poets to ensure that their works are significant to their audiences.
“The role that we have as Poets is to ensure that we remove the mentality of certain people in Uganda who still think that the art form is for only the A+.”
It only remains to be seen whether Ugandans will embrace the authentic type of poetry without gimmicks of comedians, famous DJs, presenters and celebrity appearences.
Kwivuga happens every first Monday of the month at legends bar in Lugogo.

Escape from Uganda, fails to impress

Early on in October, it was announced that the 2013 Bollywood film Escape from Uganda would premiere at the plush Serena Hotel in Kampala.

Arguably the first Bollywood film to be entirely shot in Africa, it got many Ugandans anxious since it had some of their own staring in.

Finally, on Friday, the red carpet was rolled, lights and cameras and cocktails were set for the Serena Hotel film premiere.

The film was screened at about 9pm after a number of speeches and arrival announcements.

Directed by Rajesh Niar, Escape from Uganda was originally done in Malayalam language with an English Dolby interpretation. 

It rotates around Shikha Samuel (Rima Kallingal), who along with her husband Jayakrishnan (Vijay Babu), have chosen of all places in the world, Uganda, to find refuge, after her family in Kerala objects to their marriage.

The couple is leading a happy life with their daughter; Jayakrishnan is employed as a manager in a coffee shop and Shikha runs a designer boutique.

The tranquility of their life is shattered when Shikha is arrested on the charges of committing two murders, one of the victims; Oldra (Anita Kyalimpa) is the daughter of the local Mayor (Sam Bagenda), who has pledged to keep her in jail for the rest of her life.

The film boosts of very good shots and picture, it is also a good PR for Uganda in general as a possible location for future movie projects; they made you look at kampala, Entebbe, jinja and all those other places from a very different angle – which was appealing.

Unlike the Last King of Scotland where most of the Ugandan characters barely said a word, Rajesh indeed gifted them with commendable number of dialogues, Michael Wawuyo as the head of military intelligence was perfect, Sam Bagenda shone most as the mayor trying to deny Shikha justice, Wilberforce Mutete was again stereotype casted as a policeman, then probably the ever amazing but highly underated Sherrie Kiconco as the unruly prisoner.

The film though strongly fails on delivering an appealing story, for almost sixty minutes, we know Shikha was framed by someone but don’t know what’s really going on – all we have  are sub plots of diamonds we saw at the beginning, a murder and an escape plan - it was over the place.

The film also falls short of creativity especially with that strong resemblance of storylines with that of The Next Three days, a 2010 thriller film starring Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks. But that’s not all, the establishment shots in most of the scenes at the prison where done at CPS yet they suggested the girl was held in Luzira.

There was an annoying birds’ view shot at the beginning that showed Nambole, Bweyogerere and slums in Kireka, it was beautiful but useless to the story, it didn’t lead to anything or carry the plot to something new.

We can’t forget the debut of Jose Chameleon, he had a cameo role that was completely uncalled for, he was on the screen for over fifteen minutes saying staff that was irrelevant to the movie, and he wasn’t connected to any of the main characters in anyway yet wasted our precious fifteen.

Even the two singing and dance sequences identical of Bollywood movies were greatly misplaced this time round, having two Chameleone songs that don’t relate to the film in anyway was a mess – his and Iryn’s sound tracks were however spot on.

Either way, the film’s version for the Ugandan market is a strong technical pat on the shoulder and with Rajesh promising to make more of such movies; we hope Ugandan film makers can use the platform to learn more.

KLA ART: Riding art to the market

One of the biggest problem art has faced over the years was a fact that the consumers didn’t know how and where to find it.
The ones who could, have claimed art is majorly a tourist thing and rather too expensive and complicated for the locals.
This may have been the backbone of the month long Kampala Contemporary Art festival that ended on Friday last week.
Running on the theme Unmapped, the festival had invited the city not to only see but indulge in the different processes artistes go through while turning rubbish, piles of color and converse into art.
To get the message across even to the last social personality, curators and organizers used the Uganda Railway – one of the prominent modes of transport in the 1970s and the boda bodas.
It is at the Railway station’s historical building that the festival exhibition was happening. This brought together ten artists from six African countries that included Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, DRC, Ethiopia and of course Uganda.
 In their products, artists such as Paul Bukenya Katamiira, Vivian Mugume, Helen Nabukenya, Rwanda’s Tony Cyizanye and Tanzania’s Paul Ndunguru among others explored and proposed narratives around the festival’s theme.
They worked to unearth, challenge and represent the unmapped, unplanned and unheard artisan traders of their countries and major towns.
Katamiira’s efforts on unmapping the art of backcloth creation was simply impressive – with an experience spanning since 1968, the old man notes that he’s born in a family of backcloth makers whose history on the job lasts a whopping 300 years.
Probably one of the first people to document the process of creating a cloth out of the back of a fig tree, Katamiira is angered by a fact that some detractors think it doesn’t qualify as an art piece.
“Not everybody can make backcloth, it takes time, skill and science.”
Cyizanye was a voice for the voiceless with poor people that struggle to get their message to the politicians in vain with an ambitious painting aptly named My People – he used bright colors to present the free spirit, letting them talk.
The piece is mediation between the privileged and less privileged people though much of this is done in color than words.
Francis Nnagenda is a legend and having his work at the Kampala Contemporary art was a mega feat, he barely showcases in Kampala let alone Uganda, and as a result, the professor is more pronounced on the international market than in Uganda.
His Vendor on the Scaffold didn’t disappoint, he was talking and taking us on a journey of a woman that struggles to keep her baby safe as well as look for food to feed it.
And probably the most recognizable art piece of the entire festival – Helen Nabukenya’s Golden Heart, the threaded art piece hangs by the Railway Headquarters. It’s part of her heart breaking series Tuwaaye and it unites narratives of four women, she dwells on the social issues affecting them.
But that was just the exhibition held at the Railway offices within the festival. According to Robinah Nansubuga one of the festival curators, they used the Railway because it is and was the people’s means of transport.
The festival came at the time when plans to revive the almost defunct transport mode is in high gear; “it is a space that needs to be revived because it is a connecting point between neighboring relations and economies.”
Besides the exhibition, the festival’s highest point must have been influencing the locals to see, feel and care about art. This was through the interactive Boda boda project that saw twenty motorcycles create a mobile art exhibition touring the city.
Throughout the month, twenty of the country’s freshest contemporary artists and artist collectives converted Kampala’s iconic mean of transport into art pieces bearing different messages.
Each day, the exhibition would move to a different location and engaged the locals there. They were 28 locations like Makerere University, Wandegeya, Ntinda, Queens’s way and Owino Market among others.
During the KCCA festival at the beginning of the month, the Boda boda parade was the epitome of creativity with a range of motorcycles with imagery messages on road safety, working together and respecting one another.
Papa Shabani’s moving photo studio was breath taking, he invited locals to play card, enjoy games and other activities as they waited for him to take their pictures.
Then there was Joshua Kagimu and the Twezule which was made of rubbish and waste, it mostly included bottle tops, scratch cards, plastic and cloth fitted with a drum. Kagimu didn’t only modify the Boda but also turned it into a platform for street children to share their inner musical talents thus the name Twezule (self-discovery).
Kagimu notes that he was touched by many of the stories the children on the streets had to share as well as their impressive talents – most of them were aspiring rappers.
The Boda boda was used since it reaches out to all levels of Ugandans; “the survival means within the boda boda users is what we were interested in. it lies in between  creativity and responsibility which is why the only mediator was the artist to create his motorcycle as a voice to his audience,” says Nansubuga.
For the Artists’ studio, they opened their work spaces to the public giving them a chance to witness the creating process.
“I followed the Bodas to Kasubi, then Makerere and Wandegeya,” said one of the revelers who paid attention to the festival after learning it was free.
It may be too early to conclude that people have all of a sudden changed attitudes and thus appreciate creative minds, though with the power and message spread by art on the wheels, art may have as well rode its self through different local’s hearts.

Kirya serves a sound cup of orchestra

On Thursday, Maurice Kirya surprised many when he decided to program the Kampala Music School in the first ever Orchestra live concert at the Sound Cup café and the building.
Directed by Kiggundu Fredrick Musoke, the group whose set was only cut short by grand piano which I assume they could hardly ship to the location played their hearts out.
Classical music has never been a mainstream thing in many countries, despite being the oldest genre, it is been referred as a type only favored by the richer people of the society.
The marvelous music at the Sound Cup was mostly from films like classical Sound of Music, Star Wars and James Bond chronicles.
Given the beauty of such pieces and the performance delivered by the orchestra, it wasn’t surprising that the Garden City floor that harbours Kirya was filled to the brim, it even became worse that some had to go to the topmost floors to watch the magic.
They opened with various numbers from the movie Sound of Music, being a Christmas favorite over the years; it was a wise decision considering fears that many of those in attendance may not have been ready to accommodate very hard classical music.
The very beginning of the music could have easily fooled many into believing the group had started off in a wrong key, but the consistency and the constant interludes by the three guys on the trumpets proved it was all intentional, it was easy listening but not that involving.
In fact, it was 1959’s My favorite things that pulled heart strings even of the nonmusical guests, the song has been redone various times by Julie Andrews as Maria in the Sound of Music in 1965, The Supremes, Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson and the Glee cast among others.
Written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, the orchestra may have taken many on the memory lane as they pulled off this classic. Mostly infused in between various violins, trumpets and a piano; the double bass summed it up by creating a warm sound that easily settled and talked to us.
Overture has been a hit especially with the classic TV show Lone Ranger and BBC’s Adventures of William Tell. Italian composer Giachino Rossini wrote this music in 1829, for many first timers though, it channels the famous war sound of the Universal Studios theme by Jerry Goldsmith, thus, when they started playing it, the excitement was visible only to realize it was merely a similarity.
Later as they ended the show, an encore of Overture was requested for which they did. Other songs played included Nella Fantasia from The Mission, Waltz from The sleeping beauty…generally much of the music done was from movies.
Uganda having very many football fans, you could expect them to slot in some Zadok the Priest sample which forms the champions League theme song – that didn’t happen.
There was a general consensus that Kampala Music School had nailed it, Maurice Kirya had taken some strides to do what Club Silk’s Unplugged has failed to do as well as Kampala’s music lovers learning to embrace all forms of music.

Much Ado offers Shakespeare’s soft side

Last week, National Theatre was under some love spell as William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing was staged.
The collaborative production by Kampala Amateur Dramatics Society (KADS) and UK-based Les Foules theatre Company revolves around the relationship of two of Shakespeare’s finest characters – the charming and witty Benedick (Brian Emurwon) who has sworn never to get married, and his equal, Beatrice (Giselle Gant), who complains that no man will ever match up to the required standard to become her husband.
Then there is the marriage of the young Claudio (Douglas Sebamala) to the lovely Hero (Gladys Oyenbot).
Under the direction of Nathalie Adlam and Peter Weildmann, the cast delivers to the auditorium’s expectations.
The music, stage, costumes and storyline gave National Theatre a Broadway feel.
Wherever this play has been staged around the world, the chemistry between Benedick and Beatrice has taken the driving seat; this time round, Claudio and Hero were a force to reckon with.
They cast them beautifully; Sebamala being such a courageous actor and Oyenbot a great completion to the puzzle.
However, it seems the other couple was still created to be stronger. Giselle simply gave her best performance.

Gisselle's impressive Beatrice

Costumes must have been the strongest point of the production especially with the way they maintained an eighteenth century feel coupled with a modern inspiration.
The music too was on point with a mixture of classic music and famous African songs like Davido’s Aye.
This production could have been flawless if it wasn’t for the Shakespeare English that gets ‘too English’ at times.
There were many times we were lost in translation of what a character really meant, yet changing such rich lines could easily affect the emotions and meanings of a line, thus we had to hang in there.
The play was well oiled with a supporting cast that included Samuel Lutaaya, Diana Kahunde, Jackson Dre Otim, Yusuf Kaija and Flora Aduk among others.
Best of the bunch must have been Lutaaya, whose spirited performance as a sly match maker Don Pedro was very impressive.

Sound Cup: Orchestra in a coffee cup

Photo credit: The American Prize

Kampala Music School will tomorrow evening be playing at Maurice Kirya's Sound Cup.
we've probably heard a lot about the school but little about what happens there. Well, they teach music in all forms; from intruments to vocals, music is indeed their thing.
Tomorrow, they will be playing mostly classical with a full orchestra.
This is the first time in Uganda that Orchestra will be playing in a restaurant. Like all the shows that have been held there, this too is free.
Earlier this year, Maurice Kirya started what would be his version of unplugged at his cafe, he has since had artistes like Irene Ntale, Richy Kaweesa, Michael Kitanda as well as unveiling his Kirya Live DVDs.

Shakespeare's epic comedy to grace theater

Much Ado About Nothing is comedy play by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599 as he was approaching the mid of his career.
It’s considered as one of the author’s best comedies because it combines elements of vigorous glee with serious meditations on honor, shame, and court politics.
Tomorrow at the National Theater, Kampala Amateur Dramatics society (KADS) in partnership with UK-based Les Foules theatre Company will bring the classic to life in a show that will run till 5th.
The story has two main themes. First, the relationship of two of Shakespeare’s finest characters – the charming and witty Benedick who has sworn never to get married, and his equal, Beatrice, who complains that no man will ever match up to the required standard to become her husband. Second, the marriage of the young gentleman Claudio to the lovely Hero.
KADS looks back at more than 50 years history of producing a wide range of plays and musicals in Uganda.
They have previously staged musicals, poetry and Broadway shows.
Much Ado About nothing comes back with a great cast of Samuel Lutaaya, Douglas Sebamala, Brian Emurwon, Gladys Oyenbot, Yusuf Kaija, Diana Kahunde and Flora Aduk among others.
The play that features modern dress, music, dance and innovative staging techniques is directed by Peter Wiedmann and Nathalie Adlam of the Les Foules theatre Company.
It will be staged in five performances from starting tomorrow at 7:30pm. Other show times are October 3rd 7.30pm, 4th 2 shows, 3pm and 7.30pm, October 5th 4pm. 
Ticket prices-Adults- Shs20,000, Students Shs 15,000.

Maddox still has it

Three names come up when the reggae music genre in Uganda is mentioned, Maddox SSematimba, Bebe Cool and Henry Tigan.
Bebe Cool is the self-proclaimed King of reggae; Maddox is indeed the legendary King of reggae, while Henry Tigan was at one time the promised prince of the genre.
For reasons the article won’t look at, both Tigan and Maddox fell off the clif and we even forgot their sweet melodies.
Many stories have since then been written about the two but because the Bayimba International Festival recognizes authentic art regardless of the negative publicity, the two were lined up to close the prestigious celebration last month.
This was a chance the two had to reinvent themselves.
According to Faisal Kiwewa, Director Bayimba Foundation, he chose to programme Tigan after listening to one of his songs during the sixth festival in 2013. He later added Maddox after a string of bad stories were done about him.
“He said he’s been frustrated by guys that give him bad contracts, but if there’s one, he would be available,” Kiwewa said about Maddox.
Henry Tigan took to the stage first. For some reason, straight from his presence, something was amiss with Tigan.
May be his performance was choreographed and produced by a person that hated him! The way his band and backup singers made it to the stage exhibited that exceptional lack of talent.
Then they started performing, it was clear they didn’t reherse and were afraid of the crowd. His backup singers had already turned into his bodyguards looking at microphones with a certain sneer; “whose mic is this?”
Revelers too bored, left Tigan and his stage to enjoy things else where at the festival.
After an agonizing sixty minutes of Tigan, and fears that Maddox could be backstage getting higher and eventually fail to perform, he was finally announced.
Clad in a denim coat and a threaded hood, David Maddox Semanda Ssematimba (yes heclaimed they are all his names) took to the stage, armed with a guitar and backed by an all reggae Blood Brothers band, he started off by decorating the microphone with a Rastafarian scurf.
From the top Maddox’s vocals were spot on, he coordinated well with the band and didn’t waste time to do speeches like many local artistes do.
Besides a few flaws like one of his backup singers flatting on a chorus, Maddox was the Lord, Even people that had escaped to the silent Disco, Santuri DJ stage all left to come and watch the legend perform.

That’s actually when activity elsewhere halted – I guess till the next festival…
He went on a hit after hit rollercoster with Tukolagane, Nakatude, Omuyimbi and Irene among others. He’s not lost any bit of his showmanship thus, dude may be high on whatever, but he still sounds as fresh as Sunday.
You could think it was a cassette playing, just that this sound was in HD,3D and 5D combined, he kept the crowd on its feet as he made them wait for Namagembe (call it the Ugandan version of Johnny).
The moment the band started playing the song, National Theater packing lot went wild, they sang word by word of Namagembe oliwa….. at that moment, Maddox had not only registered a comeback but had made one of the most successful closures of Bayimba and as well assuming titles like Dr, President and Big Size of Ugandan Music.

Sifa Kelele takes baby steps at Bayimba Fest

Sifa Kelele’s debut was highly anticipated at this edition of the Bayimba International Festival of the arts, being an all-female band with socially conscious music.
However, this time round, a predominantly girl band exploited their male members especially on the bass guitar and the drums.
There had been a lot of anticipation that they would bring the full diva force on the entire band because it’s their biggest X factor, but they instead only had Bridget Kitimbo on the keys, none of the organic instruments was on set too.
But this didn’t deter the music, from the beginning, it was an onslaught with Band Anthem, Obulamu bwa kisera, Here we go, Beautiful and Boggie Woggie.
“Music is a very important part of my life and that’s the reason we write some of these songs,” said Driciru before setting the Theater packing lot on fire with Niwe Weka.
Originally done on a bow lyre, Niwe weka is a song about a girl’s love for Jesus, the slow ballad is infectious with an acoustic feel from the traditional instrument, it fuses beautifully with the xylophone whose sound weaves through the music to create a wonderful smell of the rhythm – on stage however, it was done on a solo guitar.
Then there was Nalinya, the lead single from their upcoming and debut album – Nankasa and bakisimba drumbeats marrying pop music.
Good performance though needed more energy.

Surprises at this year’s Bayimba arts festival

For a long time, many city event organizers have been attacked for deliberately promoting central based talent at the expense of those in regions outside Kampala.
For instance, it’s basically unheard of to see a national celebration in Kampala where an artiste from Jinja or Lira is programmed to be one of the key acts.
Yet, it’s what the Bayimba International Festival of the Arts did while they debuted their seventh season at the National Theater on Friday.
They chose not just a little known, but a relatively new reggae and soul artiste, Sandra Namulindwa from Jinja to open the highly billed three day extravaganza.
But it wasn’t just her, the festival goers were serenaded by many first timer bands like Unit 446 and Sifa Kelele.
The two bands had two things in common; both commanded by ladies and their amazing vocal ranges.
Unit 446 had freelance vocalist and tourist Jemimah Sanyu and Oh! Sifa Kelele had Eva Sebunya and Elaine Driciru.
“What on earth is Unit 446 and who the hell is Sifa Kelele?,” was the question by a reveler about the two bands.

And there was no better way to answer such naysays than with two thrilling performances.
When they got their time on that stage; they came, they sang and we were conquered.
Sifa Kelele a predominatly girl band this time exploited their male members especially on the bass guitar and the drums.
Their had been a lot of anticipation that they would bring the full diva force on the entire band because it’s their biggest X factor, but they instead only had Bridget Kitimbo on the keys, none of the organic instruments was on set too.
But this didn’t deter the music, from the beginning, it was an onslaught with Band Anthem, Obulamu bwa kisera, Here we go, Beautiful and Boggie Woggie.
“Music is a very important part of my life and that’s the reason we write some of these songs,” said Driciru before setting the Theater packing lot on fire with Niwe Weka.
Originally done on a bow lyre, Niwe weka is a song about a girl’s love for Jesus, the slow ballad is infectious with an acoustic feel from the traditional instrument, it fuses beautifully with the xylophone whose sound weaves through the music to create a wonderful smell of the rhythm – on stage however, it was done on a solo guitar.
Then there was Nalinya, the lead single from their upcoming and debut album – Nankasa and bakisimba drumbeats marrying pop music.
Jemimah was amazing but her co-lead singer Joshua over shadowed her prowess, armed with a guitar, he made girls fall over each other with stripped versions of Twetolola, Akaweta and Jangu ewange.

But Hajji Haruna Mubiru, not the best performer of the opening night but indeed a shocker; most festival goers tend to look down at such artistes, in a stareo type of thinking; they believe they can’t handle such a stage.
Haruna however didn’t disappointed, his vocals, band and timing were right as he did Yegwe, Ticket, Mbela Nkola and Binyuma.
“Haruna has surprised us,” said one of the revelers.
Bayimba is not just the music though, other spaces like the Kyoto celebrated culture with local brew and local drums, yet Bukedde’s famed Zubairi Family shared a stage with Matia Kakumirizi, a kadongo kamu veteran.
The festival closed yesterday with more performances and showcases by over 100 artistes from different African countries.

Bayimba back for an epic seventh

Bayimba International Arts festival is definitely the biggest arts gathering in Uganda, giving platforms to all different genres of arts and capturing imaginations of even more people for an entire weekend.
Since its inception in 2008, the festival has developed into a major multi-arts festival with varied and quality programming with innovative and creative ideas. The festival is eagerly anticipated by locals while artists and visitors from all over the world pour into Kampala to take advantage of this unique art experience.
This Fiday, Bayimba is back for the seventh edition and the organisers are promising a bigger and better show, with a mixed line up of artistes like Sifa Kelele, Sarabi Band, Foursum Comedians as well as more reknown acts like Angella Kalule, Haruna Mubiru and Madox Sematimba, among others, it’s going to be great.
Talking to Tsup Ug, Faisal Kiwewa, the director of the festival notes that each year the festival looks at giving a platform to different acts that have not performed at the stage before and it will be the case even this year.
“It’s about giving people a chance to be on that stage, to use that platform,” he said.
Over the years, Bayimba Arts Festival has been highly sought as a world music leaned festival, in fact, many mainstream acts have always thought they can’t be selected to perform there since they don’t play a harp or Kora, however, Kiwewa notes that they welcome all forms of arts from music, film, visual arts and dance among others,
Since 2010, Bayimba has been preceded by a number of one-day Regional Festivals up-country that reach out to people and artists in other parts of the country. These regional festivals give local talents a chance to shine alongside other Ugandan artistes on the same stage.
A lot of talents from these regional shows are given an opportunity to showcase what they are made of at the international three day festival, which makes Bayimba the only event where artistes from all regions of the country grace the stage.
The festival like the past years will not rhyme on any particular theme, according to Kiwewa, themes limit one’s creativity, since they lock them at a certain topic.
“We want people to come with their good art regardless of what it’s about,” he said.
In the past years, the Bayimba stage has been graced by amazing acts like Suzan Kerunen, Joel Sebunjo, Jamal, Bebe Cool and Anto’ Neosoul among others, Felix Bwanika, of the Foursum comedy outfit, whose group will perform in the auditorium on Sunday, can’t get over the excitement.
“We’ve been holding shows at the theater but this is a chance to show a bigger crowd what we are made of,” he said.
Festival kicks off on Friday at the National Theater and entrance is a paltry shs2000shs.

East African Film makers finally get a home at Maisha Magic

A few days ago, Multichoice Africa unveiled a new channel, Maisha Magic, a station dedicated and tailored for East African viewers and content.


The channel that takes pride in celebrating East African art, colors and fabric through its logo wants to tell the region’s story of imagination, creativity and expression.

But before all this, Multichoice had gone under attack for the alleged neglect of the East African market; this was because of the big amounts of West African entertainment on all the Africa Magic platforms.


In 2008, DSTV had added to their channel list one Africa Magic Plus whose role was to provide entertainment from East and Southern Africa. It’s here that many other African countries got a taste of the prestigious platform with shows from Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda being broadcast.


Though, even when the platform existed, many felt they didn’t benefit much from it since it was merely a shadow of the already famous ‘Nigeria’ magic.


It must have been on such a background that Maisha Magic took shape, a brand that Africa would relate the region to.


During the launch at Sheraton Hotel, Stella Ndirangu, Maisha Magic channel head, noted that they embarked on an East African station because they felt that East Africa needed entertainment they can freely relate to.


“We have beautiful cultures and it’s time we share them,” said Ndirangu during an exclusive with Tsup UG.


In a bid to consolidate the East African feel, on September 24, Africa Magic Swahili will officially rebrand to Maisha Magic Swahili. Simultaneously, the Africa Magic Original Films initiative which produced 56 movies in East Africa recently will transform into Maisha Magic Original Films initiative under whose banner a massive 60 more films will be produced before the end of this year and hopefully have a Movies channel.


Ndirangu also says that now that East Africans have a platform, it is up to the different film makers and producers to exploit it. In her view, Maisha magic is not here to promote any industry but the priority will be given to whoever presents a good story.


“We are an entertainment TV and thus have an audience to please, we are not going to show poor films because they are from Uganda or Kenya,” she said adding that with the kind of optimism among Ugandan producers, she doubts Maisha will get to the Africa Magic/Nigeria situation.


Much as the channel is destined to provide entertainment from the region, it should be noted that one of their flagship shows at the moment is a Mexican soap, A Love to Remember, to this Ndrangu says that East Africans love Telenovelas and that can’t be taken away from them.


“Look at all the East African TVs, from Citizen to Bukedde, there’s a telenovela on each of these stations.”


Speaking at the launch, General Manager Multichoice Uganda, Charles Hamya strongly affirmed that the future of African television lies in localizing the content to that relevant to the masses; “we have to identify and develop local talent in front and behind the camera.”


The Chief Guest, Executive director Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), Godfrey Mutabazi, in the same vein congratulated DSTV for the commitment towards expanding local content on their platforms.


“As we draw closer b towards digital migration, the importance and relevance of investing in the creative and production industries can’t be overstated,” he said.


Maisha magic is currently a platform for all the six East African countries though much of the content at the moment is from Kenya and a few ones like Deceptions, Tendo Sisters and Ann Kansiime’s Comedy Club Uganda.


Film makers like Jyant Maru (The Route), Mariam Ndagire (Tendo Sisters) and Joseph Ssebaggala (Reform) among others are optimistic with this platform their work will reach a wider audience.


“At least now am assured my work will be viewed in five different countries,” said Mariam Ndagire adding that the biggest problem Ugandan film makers have is not valuing quality.

A chance to become better film makers beacons

During her keynote speech at the Uganda Film Festival, Nigerian actress Patience Ozwokor challanged stake holderts to create a film village and also sponsor as many Ugandans to study film from better film schools outside Africa.
At the point, that looked like a long shot for many Ugandans though, Tsup Ug can confirm that Ugandan film makers stand a chance to win a fully paid for film course in the USA.

Ms Chioma Ude, CEO AFRIFF

As part of its developmental agenda for the film sector, the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) is planning to take 10 students to the United States for practical training in various aspects of filmmaking.
Founder/CEO of the festival, Ms Chioma Ude, revealed that the top 10 students who show the most aptitude during the AFRIFF organized training workshops which will hold during this year’s festival will be eligible for the sponsorship.
This disclosure was made at her Victoria Island office recently, where she said that the training in America is planned as a reward scheme for these meritorious film students.
According to her, the scholarship will be to attend a short film course at a prestigious American university, and is a collaborative effort with a key AFRIFF partner.
The aspects of filmmaking to be taught at the workshops this year will be Acting; Scriptwriting; Directing and Cinematography.
This year’s edition of the festival will hold from November 9 to November 16, 2014 at the Tinapa Business and Leisure Resort, Calabar, Cross River State.
Organisers say interested candidates for this year’s workshops should register at the new AFRIFF website, www.afriff.com, as only registered candidates will be eligible for shortlisting for the workshops. Registration for participation in all aspects at the festival begins from Monday, September 14, 2014.
According to Ude, this skill acquisition and youth development initiative was conceived using filmmaking as a veritable vehicle for youth empowerment. Tagged AFRIFF Talent Development Workshops, the initiative provides beginners and intermediate courses for young people. AFRIFF also organizes master classes for more established filmmakers and professionals in the industry.
Ude noted that the planned US training is in line with the vision of providing growth opportunities for graduates of the festival’s training program.
she said: “AFRIFF has since its first edition in 2010, provided free training and talent development opportunities for young people and aspiring filmmakers. We have provided ground-breaking education in Sound for Film, Cinematography and Screen Writing for over 500 students. This we have done in partnership with Sound & Motion Technical College and City Varsity, Cape Town, South Africa. We have also worked directly with students of the National Film Institute, Jos; the Creative Arts Department of University of Port-Harcourt; PEFTI Film Institute, Lagos, as well as other aspiring young film makers.
“We believe we can use this model for a social revolution that will change the economic horizon of the African film industry, by providing technical knowledge and skill sets to the abundant talents in our film community.
“AFRIFF 2014 team is currently resourcing for this year’s talent development training workshops in association with top industry partners who will also be announced later.”
The beneficiaries will be expected to shoot a short film after their course abroad, in fulfillment of their training billed to be entered into the festival’s students’ short category for the subsequent AFRIFF in 2015.
With great student short films like Vince Musisi's Nyugunya or Gilbert Kafuuma's ,7-11, this is a great opportunity since one of these, if they apply, may become one of the best film makers.