Review: House Arrest

House Arrest, Uganda’s most awarded film of 2015 and one of the two nominated Ugandan films for the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCAs) was eventually given a proper premiere this December.
This was at the National Theatre only a week to Christmas.
Considering the angle you may want to look at things, House Arrest was one film that took itself serious, the well thought after poster which featured probably the only cast, William Ndawula, Faridah Kuteesa (probably Uganda’s best ‘silent’ actress, but we shall talk about that later) and Jakira Suudi.
Kuteesa’s face covered three quarters of the poster and was in the middle, which is a screamer that she is the lead but then Ndawula and Suudi were besides her; both lean, handsome and for some reason pissed off.
In my stupid mind, I imagine a thrill of a love story where a good bad boy, is pissed off by a real bad boy interested in his sweetheart, how they end up in the same house! that I didn’t imagine. But then the lines- transparent ones were thrown into the mix.
It became confusing, it probably meant one of the lead acts had split personality issues or all – but a threesome of split personalities? Not even Jeff Davis would make such a cocktail, but again, another hatch told me it was just a poster only intended to present the title and cast.
You could blame us for looking for answers in places they don’t exist but the poster was some work of brilliance, lots of underlying messages, graphical layers used as collage to tell us something…or I thought.
House Arrest the film and the poster are two different things, where one is thrilling, aggressive, attacking and ready to put you on the edge the later is just salt and water – utter drama…the kind of bitchy Deception kind of drama that has nothing to do with slither in the air.
While the first ten minutes of the films are totally forgettable, House Arrest is actually a film about a young woman Alice Kigozi (Kuteesa) who can’t leave her matrimonial house because of her deceased abusive husband’s ghost! (Weird right?)
Of course the director, who doubled as the writer and screen writer deserves kudos for bringing to life one of the commonest thrills we’ve listened to on our way to adulthood; the fire place stories of a man that sacrificed his son for wealth and now can’t get any sleep because the son’s ghost is always waking him up to go work!
House Arrest was the kind, totally relatable and yet less believable – the kind you would easily note that you’ve heard of such stories but can’t really name a person it happened to.
We see Kuteesa bring the enigmatic corporate secretive Kigozi to life with her charismatic exploits. but problem is that we don’t really see Kigozi, what we see is collective metaphors and images of what stereotypes suggest a corporate Ugandan woman should be; we can’t point a specific character on this woman, is she an accountant, auditor, banker or lawyer?
The film fails to grow on you or delve the viewer into her scary world – when it comes to films, it is usually the ability to grab the viewer, encompass him into the fictional world and carry him to the end.
With House Arrest though, just like many others, we have the film, characters and audience all moving on their own, and probably God for us all – for instance, much as the lighting and camera work are near perfect; the crafting of fabulous frames especially with emotional close-ups, they barely aid the thrilling of this story to thrill.
To be fair, for a story where a ghost takes as much time as the lead actress on the screen, the lighting or sound needed an extra touch to make us feel what Kigozi was going through, to share her pain and thus helping us understand her character better.
Because a film is written for the audience not the actors – a comedy must make the audience laugh not just the actors in it and in the same way, with a ghost throwing books and stuff, the audience was meant to be scared not laughing!
Not that House Arrest had to be perfect, come on, I’ve seen mistakes of continuation in Harry Porter, Slum dog Millionaire and the rest but this film had to take care of a few things, making the story believable and applying a gonzo feel that doesn’t leave the audience in the auditorium but carries them to the said house.
House Arrest is an ok film, maybe thrilling wasn’t on their agenda or maybe they just wanted to tell a story regardless of how they told it, as long as the audience liked it.
The film alongside Call 112 also by Kenneth Sebagala is nominated for two awards at the AMVCAs.
Click here to vote.
*Review is based on the Uganda Film Festival submitted version, just in case a few things were redone before the premiere

Music in 2015 and why Maurice Kirya’s Busabala is the most important song of the year

Music has been a mixed package in 2015, even when a new sound or an outstanding artist has not been discovered; this is one entertainment genre that has gotten Ugandans talking.
From artists getting international recognition, the obsessions that came with nominations in awards we were hearing about for the first time and their immerse involvement in politics, this year was indeed special.
Year kicked off with a couple of albums in the pipeline – from Maurice Kirya, Bebe Cool, Navio, St. Nellysade, Joel Sebunjo and Lillian Mbabazi among others.
Bebe got the news since he has social media in his hands; his Go Mama was literally the most talked about thematic album the year has seen.

A very ambitious reggae compilation that has songs about love, motherhood, friendship and trust, since its release, he has collected an MTV MAMA nomination for Love you every day, a single off the album, Kora Award nomination in the Album of the Year category, Best Reggae Award at the AFRIMMA and many other nominations elsewhere.
Joel Sebunjo’s album I Speak Luganda too got him nominated at the Afrima Music awards and was also listed one of the Best World Music albums of 2015 by Songlines Magazine with a three star rating.
But even with little international or local hype, St.NellySade’s Omulondo N’engero was quite an enigma and so was the amazing Naava Grey with a self-titled album.
Maurice had a very personal Mwooyo, too released in the first quarter of the year, the albums that delves into his relationship failures, love life and family was the home of probably the most important song of 2015, Busabala.

In a year where video production seemed to surpass the audio bit of it, no one worked as calculatingly or even strategically on a music video like Maurice Kirya and Sasha Vybes on Busabala.
Given a village setting, the video featured Maurice interested in a top rural diva, played by Jackie Akello who is over protected by a mean dad portrayed by Jaffer Amin.
It was one from the many local videos that appeared to have been scripted, story boarded and cast directed – it’s that Ugandan video that had almost each and every aspect in the right place but still managed to bring the satire and dramedy without forgetting its message.
It’s a video that has his wannabe groupie fans in mind with the appearance of Tabu Flo (which I guess they relate to) and the Kiganda dance feel which makes both your mum and mine comfortable while watching.
But besides the video, it was still that song that was played on both Sanyu FM and CBS in equal measures or that song whose lyrics tickled a mechanic in Kiseka Market the same way they did to an accountant at some office in Workers’ House.
It’s one of those songs of 2015, if not the only one that confidently remained true to class and quality yet they were consumed by the masses.
Busabala was that song whose vision maybe the second and last phase of having one quality music industry, that industry where Sebunjo, Kinobe, Kerunen or Kenneth Mugabi won’t be alien to a person whose definition of a concert is one at Nakivubo.
2015 was still the year Uganda’s self-proclaimed music doctor, Jose Chameleone was literally man handled out of the industry, generally having a bad year that he ended up surviving on his 2014 hit Wale Wale and so did Bebe Cool with Love you every day, yes he dropped a hot album but he failed to produce a monster hit off it.
Besides that clique, the biggest revelation this year could have been the Qwela Junction shows, not the Kavulu status, these shows made Ugandans this year not only appreciate the music but the different aspects of it – the Sax aces, Guitar maestros and Divas were all shows that were clearly out of the box and deeply thought about and choreographed.
Guys like Pallaso, Sheebah, Irene Ntale, Natty Nethan, A-Pass and King Saha among others ruled chats. We had songs like Bakuwe Kyonywa, Twatoba, Gundeze and Wuuyo among others becoming club anthems.
It was still a year we are going to look back and say that we listened to awards than music, artists preferred to talk about the conquests from their previous music than their future works.
Because of this when Eddy Kenzo was nominated for the BET Awards, it was understandable for the entire country to rally behind him. Of course, he eventually won and that was the beginning of revaluing and devaluing artists according to international awards won…oh 2015.

Fun Factory ends year with 5 Star Madness

Fun Factory on Thursday wound up their performance year with one hell of a 5Star Madness show at Serena Hotel’s Victoria Conference Hall.
It was the second time the group was holding what has become an annual production which according to Hannington Bugingo is a highlight of the year performances and also a preview of what the fans can expect the following year.
Much as comedy continues to deteriorate in terms of material it’s also good to appreciate that this year, they’ve done the best to garner huge numbers, both in bars and auditoriums, for instance, for the first time ever, Ugandan comedy lovers witnessed a VIP one man show with Salvado’s Man from Ombokolo, Fun Factory has managed to go on strong filling the auditorium for almost all the weeks of the year and so have the mushrooming comedy outfits like Comedy Files.

Fun Factory is mostly known for sketch comedy where common life scenarios are given a comedy twist forcing the public to laugh at themselves or with the performers, 5 Star Madness was not any different.
The group compiled some of the best sketch work over the year and a few new ones and presented them, it was fun reliving some of the masterpieces especially for the National Theatre Thursday Comedy Night loyals and still an exciting moment for the majority, the visitors that were seeing the craft for the first time.
According to Bugingo, each member of the group is a writer and thus the material showcased at the Serena was a collective effort that brought all their different synergies together allowing them to shine as a team, which was a good thing.

It was the kind of show where Anne Kansiime was a regular comedian rather than a continental hit, the one where we got time to appreciate the brilliance of Veronica Tindi both as a comedian and actress, generally, the amount of team work they showcased was over the top.
Unfortunately though, they could have probably failed to guide themselves while putting the whole thing together, for instance, they were terrible at minimizing the number of skits they were going to showcase and thus prolonging the show past midnight.
This was supposed to be a very funny show, punchy and precise and thus some of the skits especially the less funny or obvious ones could have been thrown in the basket, it was heartbreaking, seeing people leave before the show ended because it was getting late.
But never the less, 5 Star Madness was worth the hype, there was lots of maturity symptoms visible in the entire production, the presidential debate, Salvado’s cameo as Idd Amin and all the humor surrounding politics and the media were spot on.

The group doesn’t qualify to be called ‘very funny’, the guys are just funny and sometimes not, but what makes them standout is their ability to know what their loyal fans want and they give them exactly that.
Bugingo notes that next year, the group has bigger plans that include providing content for TV in form of sitcoms and comedy dramas.
“These guys never disappoint and that’s the reason I always come for the Thursday shows,” said one Karen Kagisha who was seated in the VIP section.

Fun Factory to wrap year with Mega show tomorrow

Comedy has indeed become the in thing around with many of the pubs dedicating a night to the funny men. In fact today, people like Hannington Bugingo, Ann Kansiime, Kenneth ‘Pablo’ Kimuli and Patrick ‘Salvado’ Idringi command huge followings both in Uganda and the world at large.

But all this started a few years back, at the National Theatre, then; Thursdays became the face of comedy with the weekly dose by Theatre Factory doing sketch performances. As you may know, a big part of the cast left to form Fun Factory.

Tomorrow, Fun Factory will be wrapping up their 2015 stage performances with one mega show titled 5 Star Madness at Serena Hotel’s Victoria Conference Hall.

According to Bugingo, the show is the highlight of 2015 and thus will have content that interested the fans more as well as new material specifically tailored for this show.

He notes that this particular show is meant for loyal fans as well as people that have either not been able to attend many of the shows because of busy schedules or are in Uganda for holidays.

The show that he says will be a mixture of standup and sketch comedy will feature the entire cast including the likes of Teacher Mpamire (Herbert Sseguja) and the always on the road girl Kansiime.

transFORM showcase on

Most of the times, Ugandans have said that art has refused to appeal to them because of the way it’s packaged and marketed.
And this could be where Afriart comes in with their latest art do that will be staged at the warehouse behind Nakumatt Bukoto.
Titled transFORM #1, the contemporary art experience is aimed at providing an open platform for selected artists to showcase their work.
The event is set to be a regular on the Ugandan art calendar annually. transFORM #1 aims to exhibit works which reflect the diversity of the broad arts community living in Uganda; develop new audiences and markets for artists, and access new audiences and develop their appreciation of a broad spectrum of artistic forms.
The showcasing acts will include Sanaa Gateja, Ronex, Xenson Senkaaba, Helen Nabukenya and Eco artist Sandra Suubi among others.
Activities start at 11am and will go on till late.
Entrance is shs10,000/=.

Rita Sabiti climaxes Qwela Junction Diva show

Truth is for many art enthusiasts, Rita Sabiti is a legend, yet for millennials, she was that name without a face.
She had been called legendary, a maestro, classic and of course diva, but that didn’t really mean a thing considering the fact that few of us had indeed seen her perform and as usual, it was even right to believe that all these compliments were meant at making us feel bad about our music, which this past generation has described as bubblegum.
On Sunday though, during the final edition of this year’s Qwela Junction, code named The Divas, Sabiti proved she was worth the praise and hype that had been attributed to her.
In a crazy cast of female artists that included Sandra Suubi, Naava Grey, Mo Roots, Solome, Jamimah Sanyu and Rachel Magoola, Sabiti managed to not only stand out with her guitar.
She was sassy, gothic and electric, yet still managed to be a lady on that stage – amidst the crazy stage gladiator Sanyu, Magoola’s legend, Naava’s immaculate, Mo Roots’ surprises, Solome’s devine sounds and Suubi’s enchanting vocals that actually gave you goose bumbs every time she hit the higher notes – Sabiti’s guitar was always the climax.
And unlike the men we usually watch, this lady plays the instrument to perfection with literally very little effort.
But other girls too were good Suubi soured with Togwamu Suubi, her debut single with Banazeri, but this was a diva show so the song had been reworked to accommodate all girls on stage.
Mo Roots had her moments with Lwali Luyimba, again, done with the help of the entire cast – the way they easily merged on songs was amazing, you could mistake them for a girl group that has performed together for a long time especially with the fact that many of them are smooth but managed to synchronize with Sanyu who is a renown crazy act on stage.
The problems could have come with Naava’s songs which were mostly done on an acoustic guitar by Sabiti.
Sokalami and Ninga Omuloge being such rich songs, being played mostly on an instrument didn’t do justice to them, you felt that even with Sabiti’s immerse talent, a lot had been robbed from the songs, but the audience still danced.
The show ended with Magoola joining the girls to do a new song that the audience wasn’t so familiar with but still danced to and of course Obangaina where both Sanyu and Naava shared verses with the legend, again behind Sabiti’s powerful solo.

Art piece criticizes the church on gay rights

The question about gay rights has always raised a lot of debate around the African continent, with many arguing it’s abnormal and un-African.
But amidst the debate, only one school of people around the world has found a common ground and agreed not to tolerate gay people – the church.
It’s what made one of the art pieces by Paul Ndema on display at Makerere University Margaret Trowel Gallery stand out; it was a color heavy painting, backdrop of church medieval stained glass and a hipster tattooed girl in front of it.
The captivating thing about picture is the writing on her shirt; I Love Girls that Love Jesus, with something that looked like a joint in her left hand.
Ndema notes that the picture is lashing out at Christians that tend to judge gay people as unholy: “The bible says that we were created in God’s image and that’s regardless of who we choose to have sex with,” he says.
According to him, the church has depicted gay people as evil beings that deserve nothing but death; “but some of these people actually pray to God.”
He says that his painting is simply calling upon Christians to treat each other equally even when they may not have the same beliefs as far as sexual orientation is concerned.
The painting, in his view presents contradictions and hypocrisy of the day to day life while questioning the authenticity of different moral orders especially religion.
The picture was one of the ten pictures that are on showcase in the Obvious Things exhibition that Ndema is sharing with Johnmary Mukiza.
Mukiza’s work dwells on our brain washed minds that have bought each and everything CNN and the movies have sold us – in a way he shows us how the west has managed to present their lifestyle as ideal and our indigenous livelihood as backward.
For instance that seems to question the famous notion that girls run the world or a fact that Africa needs aid from the west to survive.
But most of his work is open to different interpretations since he presents it in a way that whoever is looking at them barely knows whether they are complete or not.

Afrigo Band, a soundtrack of Uganda’s history

The Afrigo Band @ 40 concerts that was held at Hotel Africana was a moment of reflection; looking at where the country has been and where it is going.
Not that they delved into telling stories of how the going has been hard, no, the band instead programmed songs that told a millennial like me how music sounded at a certain stage of Uganda’s development and why.
For instance, they had kicked off with ballads done in the 1980s, probably when the band was new; the songs are mostly heavy on instrumentation and in all ways provocative, they don’t talk about issues, guess it’s because at the time any issue based song could easily be deemed political, they are just sweet and talking about love, breakup and others mainly about looking for love.
Moses Matovu is the only member from the original cast of the band that is still with them and thus did most of the first set, but of course with help from the likes of Frank Mbalire, Rude Boy Devouh and of course the queen herself Joanita Kawalya.
These were songs like Afrigo Batuuse 1, Semuwemba and Endongo Ewoma among others; of course these songs draw a lot of influence from the Congolese music which was ruling the airwaves at the time but that’s not all.
They can make you dance yet they are not as crazy as Rachel Magoola’s 1999 hit Obangaina or Agaliba Enjole.
According to Andrew Patrick Luwandaga, the day’s host, the music sounded that way because at that time, music concerts were mostly done during the day at about five, people were heading back home since it was risky being outdoors beyond six.
But it wasn’t just the political vibe that was felt within the music, when the band played Omutanda from their 1994 album with the same title, a reveler noted that the song reminded him of the time when Kabaka Mutebi had just been crowned king in 1993, this was many years after Kingdoms had been declared illegal by a past regime.
“The song came at the right time, we were still celebrating the return of kingdoms (Obwakabaka) and thus we related with each and every word in there,” he said.
But more to the album, it was the very first Ugandan band compilation to be released on a CD.
Godfrey Kirumira, a city business man says that what drives him to Afrigo band almost on a weekly basis is a fact that they have stayed true to their sound even with the influence of all things ranging from American, Nigerian, South Africa and of course Jamaica.

“They have maintained a standard that many acts in Uganda have failed to,” he said.
But it’s Hon. Maria Kiwanuka’s story that proved that a Ugandan girl is not only getting crazy in the new millennium, they’ve apparently been mad, always; “I used to escape from school to attend Afrigo band shows,” you should have seen the memorable look on her face.
She didn’t however elaborate whether she used to jump over the fence or sneaked through the gates.
Kiwanuka, before becoming Minister for Finance was mostly known as a proprietor of Radio One, an establishment mostly known for giving music of yesterday room to thrive. She’s represents the new generation women that have thrived even in things men can do, and thus when Kawalya was doing Jim, for many, it was more than just a song but woman emancipation.
“It is a song that shares a story of a woman talking to her man about the future of their marriage,” notes Florence Kisakye one of the revelers at Africana.
According to Kisakye, the song for her shows that a Ugandan man and woman had come to a common understanding that they were both human and thus equal; “they had reached that time where a man, who’s Jim in this case could sit and listen to the wife, something that was a myth in the past.”
Show ended with performances by newer faces, Rude Boy Devouh and Eddie Yawe, more of a reassurance that Afrigo band will stay, even after the legendary faces are off stage.
*Photos by Alfred Ochwo