By Chris Mabonga
You can’t begin talking about the modern day Ugandan music industry without mentioning the three ‘traditional music camps’ (Leon Island, Firebase and Gagamel) which laid a firm foundation for today’s ‘main stream’ Ugandan artists.
The three formidable music camps played a major role in driving out the then popular Congolese music which had become part and parcel of the country’s social fabric. From bars to wedding, Congolese music had eaten up space for any aspiring Ugandan musician. The music ground was fertile and leveled but highly infested with deadly weeds and pests making it hard for rising stars to break through in their own country.
The Ugandan community was too used to foreign music making it almost impossible to give an ear to any local rising star doing authentic genres from the pearl of Africa unless of course someone was super talented like Legendary Philly Bongole Lutaaya ,Elly Wamala or Stanley Kamparo.
TURNING POINT
The turning point came when Joseph Mayanja a.k.a Jose Chameleon finally decided to return to his motherland Uganda in early 2000’s having spent close to 3 Years in Nairobi Kenya hustling for a musical breakthrough.
The return of the ‘Mateka’ singer saw the Ugandan music industry swept off the ground with a blockbuster top chart hit ‘Mama Mia’ digging a six feet, four cornered hall for ‘Lingala’ a popular genre which had sunk so deep in the nerves of Ugandans.
Chameleon’s breakthrough set the pace as his newly formed Leon Island music camp attracted top talent across the region with musicians like Mr-X, Chagga, Weasel, Wizard (now Pallaso), Radio, Tictah and many others like King Saha and Papa cidy joining later.
As a way of generating competition and countering Chameleon’s move, Bobi Wine and Bebecool teamed up to form the notorious fire base crew camp with battle hardened members like Butcher man, the late weather man, Nubian Lee, banjo Man,Mickie Wine,Toolman,Master Parrot and Nana.
The formation of the firebase crew camp was paramount to the young growing industry because it raised competition among musicians and also created anxiety among fans who were eager to know what their artists were up to and who said what concerning the other.
Because of this competition, the quality of music gradually improved as each artist fought for supremacy and recognition.
Infact it was out of ‘beef’ between Leon Island and firebase that we had songs like Funtula, Nekolera Malia,Fitina,Mambo Mingi and Mambo Bado.
Having realized how Chameleon was riding on public sympathy simply because a one Bebecool and Bobi Wine had ganged up against him, the proud husband of Zuena made a smart move and peacefully broke away from the Firebase crew leaving it in the hands of now Honorable Member of parliament Kyagulanyi Ssentamu a.k.a Bobi Wine.
When BebeCool made the bold move and broke away from the notorious fire base crew, he quickly settled down and formed his much hyped Gagamel crew camp with musicians like Tictah, Dizzy Nutts joining ,and of recent Hajjat Madina and Rema Namakula.
The break up was a blessing in disguise because it created a third faction in the industry which accelerated the already established competition prompting musicians to regularly churn out hits in a bid to stay afloat.
Bebe went on to release block buster hits like Fitina, Mambo Mingi and Sambangala all directed at hitting his longtime nemesis Chameleon.
The seemingly unfortunate back and forth bickering between the three music camps has gone a long way in shaping a strong foundation for the Ugandan music industry.
Infact the modern day music camps like Good Life, TNS, Big Talent Entertainment all trace their roots from the mighty three camps.
Because of competition and anxiety created by these three musical camps,for the very first time in many years,the PAM Awards were established in recognition of outstanding talent.
This article is written in respect of the three Generals in struggle
