Mbale artist seeks Kampala success

What would it take for an obscure nightclub disc jockey working in a discotheque somewhere in Mbale town to waft his way to recognition in the tough capital of this nation? Hard work? Maybe.

What would it take for an obscure nightclub disc jockey working in a discotheque somewhere in Mbale town to waft his way to recognition in the tough capital of this nation? Hard work? Maybe. But a hit single would do it faster. This is how Napoleon (real name Innocent Asimwe), made it. Most people might not know what he looks like. But they sure have heard his voice and name. The 23-year-old artist is the voice you hear behind the radio song More Money. The track is basically South African kwaito.

Kwaito is a highly expressive genre of music introduced by the young generation of black youth in South Africa. It is up-tempo and a balance between hip hop and dance/techno music. This particular track though has a rather slower rhythm than usual but the beats are unmistakably kwaito. The song has been given quite a lot of coverage on radio.More Money was produced by acclaimed urban music producer Steve Jean in Joe Tabula’s B.K Studios in Najjanakumbi. He rants about the effect of money on relationships. The same stuff every urban youth trying to break out musically does. But More Money’s likability has got little to do with the message, whose appeal is admittedly restricted to a particular age bracket of the audience. However, the quality of the production and the ease with which Napoleon drops his flow is quite tickling to the ear. His coherent rhyme pattern too is commendable. With any luck and additional exposure, Napoleon could prove good competition for Red Banton or even beat him at the game.Napoleon might be on the brink of fame and God willing, a lucrative and prosperous career, but switching from shadowy nightclub DJ in Club Oasis, where he freestyled, to audiences in Kampala has not been as smooth a transition as it might sound. Napoleon has been at this for quite sometime now. Being a big time artist, even though it never quite made sense then, has been his dream since his earlier school days: “I started out performing in Sunday school.

I joined the school choir in my ‘O’ level. The same year I met a friend, Houser Kasumba and we started co-writing songs and performing in school,” Napoleon says. Nothing became of their efforts, however. When he left school, Napoleon joined Club Oasis where he has been working for the last four years. His big break came last year when he decided to try out his hand in the big time by performing at Miss Uganda 2001, Eastern Region in Mbale last year, where he was spotted and encouraged by Romeo Akiiki of Kads band:“He liked my stuff and encouraged me to go on with my music. He told me to make it. I had to move to Kampala, where he later introduced me to producer Steve Jean,” he says.But he was later to discover that going around was as hard as coming in.Today, Napoleon is yet to hold any meaningful performance anywhere in the city: “I hope to start at DV8 (Bar & Bistro) where I will give patrons a lot more of my unrecorded music. I have a lot of unrecorded music, but studios are expensive,” he said.Napoleon hopes to embark on a full album project as soon as he gets funding. So far, after the release of his single, he has received offers from one Sarah of Eacoba and Mashif, the proprietor of Club Oasis as well as Nuraali Café in Mbale. Ends