Charles Sekyanzi Passes. Tribute To Afrigo Band.

[Mulongo]

The news that Charles Sekyanzi passed are said to have been aired on CBS back home. It’s really sad. These guys have and are still really serving our motherland. Apart from them, I can’t think of any other musicians on the intertainment scene right now. Not talking about these technology songmakers, anyone with studio money right now can make a CD. But Buganda still need these guys to lead the new real musicians.
R.I.P Charles Sekyanzi.

To Uganda and back in two hours
By Elijah Wald
Los Angeles Times, October 08, 2007 in print edition E-3

By the time Afrigo Band took the stage at Temple Bar in Santa Monica on Friday night, the room already felt a long way from Southern California. A good African club show is not just a concert but also a visit to another continent, and to many of the people crowding around the stage, it was clearly a chance to spend a few hours back home.

The mood was set by three opening acts: The Mugandu Pearls had four male drummers in long white robes accompanying three female dancers with feathered bustles to accentuate their spectacularly shimmying hips. After a brief pause, Afrigo’s instrumentalists came up to back two singers, first Aisha, who led the room in a call-and-response, then the dynamic Zani, a.k.a. Lady Chocolate. Clad in leather, sequins and chains, she got the crowd up and dancing, then introduced the evening’s stars.

Afrigo Band has been Uganda’s foremost pop group for more than 30 years. Its music, which American listeners heard on the “The Last King of Scotland” soundtrack, brings together all the influences of the classic Central African style: Local melodies are spiked with touches of Cuban son, American soul and the sinuous electric guitar lines of Congolese rumba.

Afrigo’s most distinctive touches are Moses Matovu’s liquid saxophone lines and the variety of vocal textures. The nine-piece touring group consisted of a four-man band – guitar, bass, drums and keyboards – and five singers. Both sonically and visually, the vocalists were an impressively mixed bunch, and the constantly shifting lineup moved easily from high-energy African pop to soul and reggae.

The most heartfelt singing came from the perfectly matched duo of Matovu and Charles Sekyanzi, who formed Afrigo in 1974 after they had worked together in a previous band. By now, they are linked in effortless synchrony, and their harmonies, which opened and closed the evening, had the relaxed, achingly nostalgic warmth of an Ugandan Everly Brothers.

After two or three opening numbers – it was hard to tell, because they segued seamlessly from one to the next – Joanita Kawalya added a female voice and presence. Like most of the band, she looked as if she had grown up listening to earlier incarnations of Afrigo, and she brought a youthful energy to contrast with the mellow sweetness of the veterans. Then Devoh Bazanye, in sunglasses and a leather coat, added a touch of urban modernity, getting the crowd up with choruses of “Gonna dance, dance,” between gruffly shouted verses in Luganda.

Afrigo’s set lasted more than two hours, and the crowd was with the musicians all the way, dancing, singing and complimenting the soloists by showering dollars at their feet and tucking bills in their pockets. They wound up well after 1 a.m., and the encores were a foregone conclusion.

[N.Kibuuka]

Kitalo nyo bambi. Omugenzi Sekyanzi awumule milembe.

[Namukaabya]

Tulabye nnyo okuvibwaako abantu baffe abomugaso bwebati
Mukama amuwe ekiwummulo ekyemirembe

[Kulabako]

Charles Ssekyanzi owa Afrigo.
OMU ku batandisi ba bbandi emu ezisinga obuganzi mu ggwanga eya Afrigo Band, Charles Ssekyanzi yafudde. Wabula okufa kwe, kulese Moses Matovu bwe babadde bakyasigaddewo ku baatandika bbandi eno mu kiwuubaalo eky’amaanyi.

Bano be babadde bakyasigaddewo ku bantu omunaana abaatandikawo Afrigo Band.

Ssekyanzi yafiiridde mu ddwaaliro e Mulago gye yatwaliddwa ku Ssande ng’alwadde ensigo. Abadde ne talanta eziwerako, abadde muyimbi alina eddoboozi eritasangika ate nga mufuuyi wa mulere.

ku batandisi ba Afrigo, Paulo Sserumaga ye yasooka okufa ne kuddako Fred Kigozi, Rashid Musoke, Godfrey Mwambala, Tonny Sengo ne Mansur Akiiki Bulegeya emyaka ebiri egiyise.

Afrigo Band yatandika nga November 1, 1975 okulabibwako ku siteegi. Entegeka ez’okugitandikawo zaava mu 1974 ng’omugenzi Ssekyanzi ne Moses Matovu be basaale.

Moses Matovu, omugenzi Ssekyanzi amunyumyako bwati: Ssekyanzi yasookera mu Stingers Band eyakubiranga ku Kololo Club (kati eyitibwa Ange noir) nga bakyazina amazina ga “Tanagers Dance”.

Eno gye yava ayingire Cranes Band eyakulirwanga Sam Kawuma. Twali twasooka kulabaganira mu ssiniya mu ssomero eryayitibwanga “Pillai’s SS eryali emabega wa Hotel Equatoria.

Yandekayo mu ssomero ne tuddamu okusisinkana mu Cranes Band mu 1966.

Abadde muyimbi era ezimu ku nnyimba ze ezikutte abantu omubabiro mulimu: Rose Guma olwogera ku mukwano, Nnemeddwa olwogera ku maka n’omukwano, Tubyerabire, Enneeyisa, olwa Musa (ng’abuulirira mutabani we omukulu Musa Muwanga) olwamutunda ennyo.“Obwenkanya” n’olwa “Onnemye”.

Okufuuwa omulere: Okufuuwa omulere nze nnakutandiikiriza nga mu nnyimba ze tukuba abulamu. Awo nze (Matovu) ne bannange okwali omugenzi Saulo Kaliba ne Anthony Kyeyune ne bammemba abalala okwali Ssekyanzi ne tutandiikiriza okufuuwa emirere (Trumpet) mu bivuga byaffe myuziki n’ayongera okubeera omuwoomu.

Ssekyanzi abadde musajja mukkakkamu ng’era eddoboozi lye n’eryange (Matovu) eyo, ye Afrigo enkadde. Abadde anyumirwa nnyo omulimu gwe ng’ate aguwa ekitiibw.”

Dayirekita wa Afrigo, James Wasula agamba nti Ssekyanzi abadde wa mpisa, ng’eddoboozi lye zzibu lya kukoppa, abadde muwandiisi wa nnyimba era ayambye nnyo okuddukanya bandi ya Afrigo olw’okubeera n’omutima ogw’ekizadde.

“Abadde tasirikira kimuluma. Ennyimba ze zibadde za makulu. Okugeza Musa lwalimu amakulu mangi era omuzadde omulala yanditutte amagezi ago. Yali ayigiriza mutabani we okwekolera.

Mu luyimba Bwenkanya, obubaka bulungi nnyo, abuulirira abemikwano nti babeere benkanya mu buli kye bakola. Ate nga kino kye kisinze okusuula amakampuni n’emikwano mu Uganda.

Abadde alwawo okuyiiya naye nga buli ky’ayiiya kiba n’amakulu. Abayimbi abato bamuyigireko okukuuma empisa. Yayitimuka akyali muto naye nga talwanira mu mabaala, kyokka ennaku zino abayimbi bwe bafunayo ku ssente entonotono nga beeraga, nga balwana,” Mw. Wasula bw’agamba.

Alabula: Temuyimba nnyimba ziringa biberenge ebitulise, ezicaaka omwaka gumu ne zivaawo. Ennyimba za Ssekyanzi zijja kulwawo okwerabirwa kuba zirimu amakulu mangi.

Wasula agamba nti ekisinze okuleeta obuzibu mu bayimbi ab’ennaku zino ekiyinza okubalema okutuuka ba Ssekyanzi lwakuba baagala nnyo okuvuganya, oli bw’afulumya olutambi ng’omulala naye ayagala afulumye olunaavuganya mu kifo ky’okusooka okulufumba obulungi.

Abawa amagezi nti basige ensigo ey’obukadde bwabwe nga Ssekyanzi ne banne bwe baasigira abayimbi b’ennaku zino. “Twemwetundako bwannannyini ku nnyimba zammwe bwonna, kuba gye bujja kwe kuyinza okuggya ez’obukadde.”

Mu 2005 yali alinnya ku siteegi mu Industrial Area n’agwa ne yeekaaka omukono, awo obulwadde we bwava. Mu 2007 nga Afrigo egenze ebweru yasigalayo ajjanjabibwe, yakomawo tawonye bulungi. Omwaka gwe gumu n’afuna puleesa ezze emuyisa obubi. Ssekyanzi yazaalibwa mu April wa 1949. Alese nnamwandu Justine Ssekyanzi, abaana n’abazzukulu.

Yaziikiddwa Lusaze-Mapeera. Abaabaddeyo obwedda bagamba nti Ssekyanzi agenze n’eddoboozi lye ery’eggono, ne talanta y’okufuuwa omulere etesangika.

Written by Henry Ssennyondo
Wednesday, 04 March 2009 20:51

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