My Present-day playlist

Loving it

•  Kyokoba – Maro ft GNL
• Equation – Desire
• Anjagala - Iryn
• Woman - Juliana
• Pomini - Ziza Bafana 
• Guluma nasomye - Ziza Bafana
• Kigwa Leero - HE Bobi ft Nubian 
• Love you everyday - Bebe Cool
• Friendly match - Zanie ft Ziza 
• Gundeeze - King Saha
• Tetubatya - Apass
•  Nva Kampala - Apass
• Bakuwe kyonywa - Nutty Neithan

......the list is endless.

I’ve always been partial to western music; particularly Old-school; hence my typical playlist comprised the likes of Dr.Dre, Mclyte, Naughty by Nature, Luniz, Outkast, Tupac, Arrested Development, et al.

It was habitual for me to listen to these jams recurrently regardless of my frame of mind, activity or place i.e. whether euphoric, downcast; at home, office; jogging, driving or going on about my chores, my stereo was always blazing with hits such as you could be my boo, 5 o’clock, 5 on it, Keep on keeping on, Jamboree, Everyday people, et al. 

Never had I taken notice of any other genre of music in spite of the countless times a supposedly fine contemporary record has been commended. I’ve been such a stick in the mud owing to the fact that old-school always sorted my music needs. 

However, I recently honed in on and was bowled over by my native music; songs until a week ago, I only heard by fortuity; at night spots, functions and chiefly from our Sentinel’s phone selection. He has this kind of music playing throughout the night while on guard. Consequently, being an insomniac, it is commonplace that I get to listen in.

It’s no wonder that while at K Palm Resort Island over the weekend, I grooved to Nkoleki by Dr. Jose Chameleon and Melody; a move that left my friends awed because for one, they had never seen me dance; ever. I am overly timid and usually a head bob is all I can afford regardless of how much I “feel the beats". What's more, they are well aware of my “old-schoolmania”. Hence boogieing to a local sound was a bolt from the blue. 

*Oh, to go off on a tangent a little, I had imbibed a bottle and half of Smirnoff Red ice; comprehensible, right? Considering I’ve been a teetotaler for the most part of my youth*

Reverting to the crux of this piece, I got to download over 50 HiPipo tracks; Ugandan songs that have made it big; leastways as claimed by the aforementioned awards and I must confess, we have some really great talent in the Pearl of Africa. 

The ladies; Iryn, Juliana, Irene Ntale, Rema, Desire, Naira Ali, Naava Grey and guys; Maro, Maurice Kirya, et al make for an impressive listen. It goes without saying that these are great vocalists and their melodies enkindle warm fuzzies. 

Our hip hop and rap referred to as Uga flow is amazing too. I can’t get enough of MUN-G, GNL, Apass, Lyrical G and Navio. These guys are awesome lyricists. 

The dance hall artists, viz., King Saha, Ziza Bafana, Sheeba and Cindy among others have had me try out rib-tickling dance moves; so funny that I only dare to bid in my sanctuary; my abode, in front of my mirror. Such a sight to behold! 

This has doubled as some kind of workout for whenever I’m not up to jogging and skipping as recommended by my Doctor. I merely have to put this playlist on replay and weird-dance my sorrows and aches away. 

A colleague tried to throw cold water on my recent inclination saying “Ugandan music has no novelty; our hip hop has gone to the dogs and artists are in it for the money”.

Well, I am no critic; merely an “if it’s groovy, it rocks” kind of girl and hence loving my roots’ playlist thus far; so much so that my vintage collection is currently tucked away.

Nonetheless, old-school will always be my first and authentic love. When it’s all said and done, the first cut is the deepest, they say.

Life; Oh Life!

Pondering my next move

It is habitual for me to inspect my facebook news feed the second I log on to my laptop at office; for it is my source for updates on current affairs about my country and the world over; seeing as I don’t watch TV much lately. Matter of fact, I haven’t subscribed for the basic bouquet of my decoder in over 8 months now.

This sunup however got me all emotional and probing my sanity a great deal; the first story I saw is entirely culpable. It was a post by one of the guys (Username Kojo) I zealously follow on this particular social networking website; for his posts kick-start my days owing to the fact that they are humorous and mostly insightful. Only this time, his status was heartrending. 

There on his wall was a photo of a lad with a caption “Gone too soon”. I’ve seen several posts akin to this on social media before, certainly; and yes; death is an invariable life reality. However, something about this picture fascinated me that I had to check out who the young fallen guy was.

“Respond to friend request” are the words that hit me on giving his wall a once-over. Shrekeezy Mhh had sent me a friend request I never got to confirm. And now he’s gone! 

What I learned in a simple mouse click left me broken, so much so that I had to steal a moment in the office privy to sob all the overwhelming emotions out.

Why so moved? That would be the sixty-four dollar question. When it’s all said and done, he was merely but a stranger on facebook; you may say and or think.  

Well, bereavement for one always gets me in a dire place; disoriented and overly downcast, naturally; particularly when it claims someone in his salad days; a youthful man such as Shrekeezy in the prime of his life. What’s more, we could have been friends. Nevertheless, I’ll never know, given that I tuned him out. Perchance if I hadn’t disregarded his friend request, I would have gotten to know him a tad ahead of the cruel claws of death. For a jiffy I contemplated confirming it; if only to peruse through his Timeline and get a peek at his life through the "eyes of Zuckerberg". I subconsciously surmised that it would somehow vindicate me and abate the remorse I harbor, and perhaps consequently venerate him. 

By the same token, I've been on a roller coaster of emotions for a while now; the whole ball of wax seems so damn bleak. I cry just about anything lately. I'm almost certain that you would ridicule me in the event that I shared half of the stuff I've shed a tear or two for in the recent past. A good case in point would be this little tale below;

See, there used to be an elderly man in my locality who was always by the beautiful gate of his residence whenever I passed by enroute to my place after work. He always smiled and waved to me with so much affection in his eyes that I got accustomed. It deeply warmed my heart; so much so that I always anticipated dusk for my daily smile and wave from my sweet old stranger by the road. 

The other day however, my friend was not at his usual spot when I drove by. I reckoned it was by virtue of the fact that I left work a tad earlier. Thus I pinned my hopes on seeing him the next day; I was yet to learn though that that was an ice cube's chance in hell. Five days without seeing that gentle grizzled smiley soul waving at me got me in a frenzy of despair. I wept in dread of the worst. Questions like could he have taken seriously ill? or had he passed on? racked my brain. Recently, unable to bear the uncertainty, I conjured up courage, walked up to the beautiful gate, slightly knocked and asked after my beloved elderly acquaintance. Apparently, he took a trip to his son’s home overseas; indefinitely. 

What seemed like uplifting news had me anguished and sobbing in the safety of my bedroom later that night. I was wounded that I never got to speak to him and tell him how much I appreciated that wave and smile. 

I have been crying a lot!

My bosom buddy Mauryn said to me today; “One thing I know about these emotional states is one always comes out stronger”. 

I hope upon a star that I emerge stronger when this episode finally passes; I’ve been in the pits (for failure to find the mot juste for my current mind frame).  I’ve got to be okay; by fair means or foul. 

To you Shrekeezy; I am sorry. Till we meet again; Rest in Peace!

And to you my beloved “smiley-wavey” senescent pal; I miss you!