Of recent, several Ugandan musicians are boarding planes to go abroad to record songs and mostly shoot music videos in exotic locations like South Africa.
Navio, Radio and Weasel and Bebe Cool are some of the artistes that pioneered the trend. Last year, Bebe Cool recorded several videos with Godfather Production of South Africa and Love You Everyday that was shot by Nigeria’s Clarence Peters, landed him an MTV Base nomination for Best Video. He has gone on with the trend, releasing South African made videos like African Girl.
Fellow artistes like Jose Chameleone also picked interest in the phenomenon, which prompted the music doctor to also board a plane down South. Chameleone recorded video remixes for his old songs Valu Valu and Gimme Gimme.
Even music newbies like Ziza Bafana are recording videos in South Africa, but one of the pioneers of Uganda’s urban music industry, Bobi Wine is not moved and he thinks east or west, home is best.
“I believe in making quality music using locally available materials, working with local producers and other talents rather than spending so much to pay people in South Africa or Nigeria or London,” Bobi Wine told Matooke Republic while speaking about his latest release Aidah in an interview.
“One reason I do this is to help grow our local talents, as well as inspire young people here that we can use whatever we have to deliver world-class products,” he added.
The full version of the interview will run in Matooke Republic’s print edition, Uganda’s only free newspaper that comes out every Thursday.