The connection between music and politics has been there for years as musicians use songs to politically express themselves. The fact is that music influences political movements but recently In Uganda musicians have gone further to drop microphones and take up the mantle of active politics.
As we are of now, musicians have become a weighing scale of strength of a political camp in Uganda and many assume the more artistes you attract to your camp, the more relevant you become to society. We neither confirm nor refute the ideology.
In the 2016 generation elections, music massively tested politics as several artistes that included; Bebe Cool, Jose Chameleone, Radio and Weasel, Juliana Kanyomozi, Rema, Irene Namubiru, Pastor Wilson Bugembe, Haruna Mubiru, King Saha, Judith Babirye and Mun G worked on the controversial Tubonga nawe project in support of incumbent President Museveni.
After the election, the opposition incited the public to boycott activities of artistes that took part in the project. Standoff started but as always with time things normalized until the emergency of Bobi Wine on the political scene during the Kyadondo East by-election. The presidential hopeful did not only split the political arena but even the entertainment industry. Since then politics and music have highly become inseparable.
As of now we have two main camps, those that subscribe to the ruling party NRM and those that think fellow artiste Bobi Wine will lead them to the ‘promised land.’
Despite the collision of music and politic, we still have those top artistes who are totally mute about their political affiliation. We don’t know whether it is their personal choice or a directive from their respective musical managements.
Here are the top seven artistes;
Sheebah Karungi
Despite the huge following Sheebah Karungi has been musically commanding for the recent years, the Team No Sleep singer acts very uninterested with issues of politics. We would have said it may be a decision by her record label but fellow member Roden Y Kabako is very vocal when it comes to People Power camp issues. He even released a song showering all sorts of praises to Bobi Wine.
Should we conclude that Sheebah just has no knowledge about politics? Or is she that kind of person with the “I don’t care character”?
Vinka
Does Vinka even know she is a Ugandan citizen with a right to actively involve herself in politics? Her mind seems to be only focused on when her Swangz bosses are informing her about a gig or recording and shooting a new music video.
Winnie Nwagi
We assume some of you imagine how it would be if Winnie Nwagi at one point transfered her publicised aggressive character into politics. But hell no! Just like Vinka, Nwagi’s head is only tuned to making you dance every year.
Cindy Sanyu
Once in a while the self-proclaimed King Herself dares to discuss politics. But she remains mindful of not revealing her affiliation. However, she confirms ready to secretly vote for her favourite candidate.
Lillian Mbabazi
You can say Lillian Mbabazi has no political personality; but neither Rema nor Juliana has that character but at least they have ever showed face in the political arena. Anyway who are we to force her join the well-known ‘dirty game?’
Fik Fameica
Does Fik Fameica have the moral authority to talk about politics? That is a common question many of you can pose. But does politics of nowadays require anything like that? Or Fik’s silence is because his main fan base is below the voting age? Too many questions.
John Blaq
Firstly, is John Blaq of legal voting age? Yes. Did he study and finish school? No. Does it matter? Of course not, because even people like Lil Paazo of Genda Ogule Emotoka is very vibrant about politics despite his not known education background.
John Blaq’s political interest in summary is bwahh bwahh bwoiy.