King’s College
Budo has been in the news for its role in the much-touted all-school stars
(that's what they called themselves) collaboration, a song that features
3,234,417 other schools. For a school whose products are known, or perhaps
stereotyped for bandying a pseudo-imperial persona, Budo's 30-second cameo is
everything "un-Budonian".
If it hadn’t been
for the purpose for which it was composed, one would imagine the school had
exchanged identities with St. Stephens SSS, Kikubamutwe for that ephemeral
moment in the entertainment limelight.
It’s the first of
two songs co-written by the veteran composer, Paul Saaka, in the run-up to
Kabaka Ronald Mutebi’s coronation silver jubilee, an event that attracted
attention from places as far-flung as West Africa. The Asantehene, a mercurial
monarch from the legendary Ghanaian Kingdom of Ashanti, is said to be in town
for the event.
Perhaps the
biggest criticism of the song could be that it’s not cross-generational enough
to tickle one’s fancy. For a moment, one would think Paul Saaka’s creativity
was on the wane until the release of the second “all-star” song, this time
featuring real "stars".
The similarly
titled Jubireewo, is a mid-tempo composition that features a dozen of artistes,
from Afrigo’s Moses Matovu to Anette Nandujja, Rema Namakula, Meshach
Ssemakula, Navio,Ronald Mayinja, Wilson Bugembe, Hilderman, Ceaserous, Joanitah
Kawalya, Walukagga, Dan Mugula, Mariam Ndagire and David Lutalo (among others)
produced from Henry Kiwuuwa’s Grayce Records.
Dan Mugula takes
us back in time to his 1971 classic, Baalaba Taliiwo, in relation to the
Kingdom’s denigration following the events surrounding that 1966 raid on the
palace. Walukagga is the usual Kadongo kamu Walukagga and Navio does slot in
effortlessly in a delivery style reminiscent of his other songs, Njogereza and
Tumunonye.
Rema Namakula’s
falsetto is as apparent as Dr. Hilderman’s attachment to Mawokota in their
youthful exuberance, while Joanitah Kawalya regales about her being Eclas
Kawalya’s daughter (among other things). There’s a mini-comeback of sorts in
Mariam Ndagire, with the bubbly singer-cum-screenwriter dropping her verse
towards the tail-end of the song.
Whereas one gets
the feeling that David Lutalo, Wilson Bugembe and Mesach Ssemakula were not as
prominent as they could have been, that Budo moment in the first song still
takes the biscuit.
Had it not been
for that momentary flaunting of Edward Muteesa II’s photo as their most
prominent alumnus, one could have been tempted to pause for a moment and
re-read the inscriptions on the building that features in the background at the
start of their 30 seconds of fame.
