Ugandan music star Moses Ssali aka Bebe Cool says that East African artists have what it takes to take over the world musically, but insists it will need a mind change from both the audience and the artistes.
Bebe Cool, real name-Moses Ssali, who is on an East African media tour, promoting his latest album- Break The Chains, has continuously called out East African music lovers and musicians alike, to disregard boarders, and work together and support their own.
While appearing on NTV Kenya’s popular show- The Trend, hosted by Amina Abdul, the Motivation- singer pointed out that East African countries including- Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, Ethiopia, and South Sudan, together have a population that can make huge artistes, if they deliberately support their own.
He says that if these countries worked together and collaborated more musically, that’s about 150 million people across the region.“East African states, combined, have a total population that is close to 500m; that’s half a billion people.
Of we just have 10% of that population deliberately streaming East African music, we will end up with very big artistes that every major concert organizer will be seeking to work with.
If Diamond or Bebe Cool have about 20 million monthly listens on Spotify, we will not have to look for Coachella, they will look for us, because of our numbers,” he says. During his first stop in Nairobi, he reminded the media, that in the early 1980s to the early 2000s, East Africa was a centre of African culture with film, music, and literature taking centre stage in Nairobi.
The singer started the Tanzanian leg of the tour on Monday July 7th, with a press conference hosted by Wasafi’s Lil Ommy, at Serena Hotel in Dar es Salaam.The singer, who landed to a warm welcomed by both local and international press, expressed delight in taking his music to Tanzania, a place he said plays a big role in elevating East African culture.Bebe reminded the media of the time East Africa was the top cultural influencer on the continent; , had the only regional music channel (East Africa TV), when the Kampala and Nairobi party scenes were blossoming, when Tanzania’s Hip Hop scene was already through the roof.
At the time, big budget Hollywood films often looked to East Africa to do productions there, because of apartheid in South Africa, and a civil war in Nigeria.
From big Jamaican acts, pentecostal televangelists to American pop and hip hop stars, Nairobi, Kampala or Dar es Salaam were top destinations.Bebe Cool says that the first time he saw Buju Banton perform in Kampala, he had been brought alongside a Kenyan dancehall artist.
“When I saw the Kenyan artist, he was almost as good and energetic as Buju Banton, I told myself that if they brought this guy from Nairobi to perform with Buju, then I have to go to Nairobi and start on a journey to be like him,” he said.Bebe’s Nairobi struggles and achievements have been well documented, but one thing that both he and Chameleone agree on any day is the fact that leaving Uganda for Kenya was the best decision they both made.
Most of Uganda’s biggest songs at the time started coming from Nairobi; Richard Kaweesa’s Hakuna Matata, Peter Miles and Menshan’s One Time, to Bebe Cool and Chameleone’s debut albums.In 2005, when MTV Base was launching in Africa, two of their official launch parties were held in Kenya and Uganda, headlined by Jose Chameleone and 2Face.
The first MTV Africa Music Awards in 2008 took place in Abuja, but there was a heavy presence of Kenyans and Tanzanians, both in the nominees and winners.However, in the recent years, neither Kenya, Uganda, nor Tanzania, have been prominent on the African cultural playground.
In the recent years, entertainment milestones have been mostly celebrated in Nigeria and South Africa, while East Africa has mostly been invited as witnesses.“When we performed as the East African Bashment Crew, Bebe took us to perform in Uganda for the first time,” said Nazizi, during the presser in Nairobi.She says that initially, they thought they were only doing one song with Bebe Cool- Africa Unite, but the success of the song spawned into a complete union, that birthed The East African Bashment Crew (EABC).
Together they did a full album, with songs such as Fire Anthem, which dominated the East African airwaves, and later Kube, which won them two Channel O awards.“Bebe Cool took us to Uganda and introduced us to his audience there, and in return, we introduced Bebe to the Necessary Noize audience here in Kenya,” said Wyre.
The synergy created at the time culminated into a regional industry, with Nameless and Redsan becoming fixture performers at shows in Kampala, while EABC on the other hand were being booked as a group for shows across the world, promoting the East African cultures as a team.
The artistes also supported each other across borders on their major concerts.Other artists were also did their part, with Bobi Wine collaborating with Wahu, Chameleone collaborating with Professor Jay, Bushoke, Mr. Nice, AY, and many more.
But what went wrong? Bebe Cool says East African artists became comfortable, and everyone went back home to enjoy what they had achieved in their countries.
“We need to reawaken the collaboration. We need Tanzanian artists in Kampala doing press tours, Kenyans in Tanzania and Rwanda, Ugandans in DRC, Burundi, South Sudan, collaborating with producers, the media and everyone that can further their goals.
“Together we are stronger. We just need to push 40 serious East Africa artistes, and we shall have about 10, or even more top global charts,” he said.Wyre thinks that East Africa may have backtracked because people stopped collaborating and decided to confine themselves around their audiences.
“At the moment, it is all up to the artists, because collaborations are much easier today than they were 20 years ago,” he said.When asked by a Tanzanian journalist, whether he thinks there are any international artists in East Africa, Bebe, in a rather very assuring tone, told the journalist that they need to celebrate and appreciate their artists’ milestones all through.
“Diamond, Zuchu and Harmonize, Alikiba; all these are international artists. They have made amazing strides in their careers, and they are international.
Bebe is international, so is Joshua Baraka, so is Bien and so are many more..” Bebe Cool is promoting his 16 track album, Break the Chains, that consists of a cocktail of genres, embracing what Africa is dancing to at the moment- Afrobeats, while saluting emerging sounds such as Afrotech, Afropop and Afro-house.
The Ugandan legend has a couple of collaborations off the album, including one with Nigerian star Yemi Alade- African Love, rising Ugandan sensation on the global scene- Joshua Baraka- Cheque, and one with UK-based Kenyan DJ and producer DJ Edu- Games.
