{UAH} Chance Nalubega on topping local charts, employing Full Figure & working with Mowzey Radio

Chance Nalubega

You can't talk about Uganda's music industry without mentioning Chance Nalubega. With 5 music albums to her name and several hits like; Guma Omwoyo, Omusheshe, Abalungi Balumya, Mwami Kulikayo, Balinsekerela, Byansobera, Dear Wange, Omukwano Guluma and Abatesi, Nalubega ruled local airwaves in the late 90s and early 2000s when she took a break. We managed to catch up with her at Organic Health Club, Mawanda.

Kyakala: Who's Chance Nalubega?

Chance Nalubega: I was born Hailat Nalubega to Abbas Lubega and Annet Mulokole. I was born in Masaka in a family of seven.

So when did you come to Kampala?
That was in 1991. I came with my mother.

When did you start music?
I have done music all my life! I started from a school choir. I later joined church choir before joining Pride Band then owned by Charles James Ssenkubuge, Andrew Benon Kibuuka and Aloysious Matovu. It was a band for Bakayimbira Dramactors.

Who connected you to Pride Band?
My younger sister was studying at Old Kampala SS and always passed by Pride Theater which was at the time the home of Pride Band and Bakayimbira. So one day she found an advert calling for interested musicians and instrumentalists to audition. She brought me this news and I auditioned. I emerged among those who succeeded.

What was your role at Pride Band?
I was performing original song compositions. The other artistes I met at Pride Band was the late Fred Maiso (of Ekimuli Kya Roza fame) and Carol Nakimera.

How much were you earning at Pride Band?
We were paid Shs10,000 a week and this money was always paid on Monday.

Is it from here that you recorded your first albums?
Not really. I left Bakayimbira after 3 years and that must have been in 1997.

What was the source of funding for your first album?
Recording of the album was funded by my ex boyfriend whom I'm not comfortable at mentioning.

When did you make your breakthrough?
That was in I998 with my album 'Guma Omwoyo'. Almost all songs on it like; Guma Omwoyo, Abatesi, Tompalampa, Abakyakala Mukyakale and Nesunga ended up into hits. Ironically, I never earned from it!

How is that possible?
At the time, artistes would produce full albums and then sell them to promoters who would sell tapes to the public. So when I recorded Guma Omwoyo and took it to one of the known promoters at the time, his reaction was, "why didn't record in a style similar to Kafeero or Ssebatta? This won't work". He rejected it. I went to another promoter. He too rejected it.

I kept on pleading with him to at least put it out even without paying me a single coin. After a year of persistence, my pleas finally worked. He put it out in 1998. The album was a success. He made lots of money of it and as a motivation, he gave me Shs1.5m. That was the first time to hold such an amount. I had never held Shs100,000 before.

What was your second album?
It was Balinsekerera. Following the success of Guma Omwoyo, promoter Lusiini who had rejected it came pleading I sell him my second album. I sold it to him and I remember him printing 400 cartons of tapes. Each carton had 250 tapes. Much as the album was to be released at 11am, local distributors across the country had crowded his shop by 10am. By mid-day, he had no tape left. It was a sellout in an hour. He went back to print more. I somehow felt I had been cheated and wanted to ask for more but an agreement had already been signed. I turned to touring with my newly formed band, Gomiba Band to top up on what I was paid.

Tell us about Gomiba.
When I became a household name, I badly wanted to tour but had no band. During the same period, I was approached by some of my former bandmates at Pride Band who suggested we should start up a band. We started mobilising instruments.

At the time, I was renting in Kansanga. There was an unfinished house in the neighbourhood. We used it for rehearsing, playing basically jerrycans and old saucepans for we had no instruments. We mainly practiced Lingala strokes which were the trending strokes at the time. When we felt ready, we hired instruments and one of the band members brought bedsheets which we would use as curtains and embarked on a tour.

Where was your first show?
Matugga…for that I remember very well. It was a mega flop! We got about 50 people. We nearly gave up after that show. However, it served as a learning lesson. We hadn't promoted the show so we did promote our following shows.

What was your second stop?
Kawuku. We got about 300 people. This was a great improvement and encouraging. Our third show was in Kyaggwe. Kyaggwe was a sell out. By then even the band was a complete group. We went to Masaka. It was a sellout whereby 6pm, the venue was already full. Masaka show was my turning point. I earned unbelievable money from that show. By the time I left Masaka, I had already bought my own instruments; 4 Base Speakers and 4 tops. I was initially renting the car, a corona in which I travelling but out of that show, I bought my first car and another car, a canter to be transporting instruments. I paid all of my band members who included Junior Jemba (of Obukazi obutuno fame), Brenda Namatovu and Rasta Eddie. Jenifer Fullfigure would later join us. They all returned nga bazungu! I even remained with the balance of Shs18m.

What was your next stop after Masaka?
I put touring on a break and returned to studio to record my third album, Yiga Okwagala. It had songs likes Enugu.

How much did you sell Yiga Okwagala?
Shs25million. By then I was a household name with reasonable bargaining power. I then embarked on a countrywide tour and would later record more albums that included Kanfube Nkole, Okomawo Nebase and Tonkyawa which I released around 2006. That is when everything turned upside down, and music was no longer beneficial.

What went wrong?
Initially, promoters never bought 'ragga' (kidandali) music because it was hard to market. I remember the only ragga albums they bought were from Chameleone, Shanks Vivie D and Ragga Dee. All the other music came from Kadongo Kamu artists.

But the game changer was Juliana and Bobi Wine's hit; Taata Wa Baana. It became a big success without any help of a promoter. Following this success, artistes learnt they could make it without using promoters. They even moved away from recording albums like it was before to recording singles.

They also moved away from using promoters to promoting their music directly. Once this happened people even started duplicating the music, making it unprofitable for promoters who had bought these albums. They also stopped buying the albums. Once they pulled out, the only way our music could reach the public was through CD burning/duplication.

This further worsened the situation. We completely stopped earning from our music. This left us at thef mercy of event organisers. But by the time this happened, Kafeero and Chameleone were selling their albums at Shs40million. I'm sure by now there would be albums selling at over Shs100million if the system was still working.

How can this be corrected?
If the copyright law is enforced, we'll all benefit from our sweat. But the problem is, we have too many laws, less action. Forexample, today a law banning Kavera is passed but kavera manufacturing industries still operate freely. What is stopping the law from working when it is working elsewhere like Kenya and Rwanda? Who owns these Kavera industries? The same to copyright law. It has become another song….copyright law..copyright law…why has it failed to work? Is it because of government's weakness or?

Could this be the reason behind your red beret?
Bobi Wine is my my man. I believe in what he stands for. By the way that very beret was stolen. I'm now looking for a replacement.

Looking at quality, compare today's music to music from the 90s.
The industry has changed a lot. Even the quality of music has declined. Today's artistes are in a rush to put music out to the public. Because of the rush, most of what we have on market are unfinished products.

TV and Radio stations have also added to this mess. For your song to play, it has to be 3mins and below. Three minutes are not enough for a listener to appreciate the lyrics and instruments in the song. The fight to squeeze everything in 3mins affects its quality. If TVs or Radio stations all they need is 3mins, I wouldn't mind it playing the song then cut it half way once it clocks 3mins. However, I can never compromise quality in the name of getting airplay. That's why I have stuck to the old way of recording music.

Is it why your music is no longer on airwaves?
Like I said, a lot has changed. Before, it was promoters who took music to radio stations, after buying it. Today, we have none buying it yet, to have it play on radio or TV, you have to pay a presenter when you are not even sure whether it will play or not because majority have little power at their work stations. This is in addition to the money you pay for studio recording and video recording yet at the end of the day no person is going to pay for this music. For now I use social media to distribute my music to fans. I have a Youtube channel; Nalubega Chance and it is where put my music. I also print it to CDs and sell it directly to my fans wherever I go to perform.

Since artistes no longer earn from album sales, many have turned to album launch concerts. Have you ever considered taking this route?
For album launches, it is mostly promoters who benefit. Not us musicians….we are very poor by the way. Many make names but so poor. A promoter pockets money from sponsors. He pockets money from gate collections….he pockets almost everything and just throws you a few coins. And the bad thing is once you have a name, you get scared of living life within your means like using public means of transport, eating from takeaways etc.

Some promoters have further spoilt our market by including us on posters without our knowledge and when fans don't see us, they get disappointed. Next time when a genuine promoter pins us, fans don't turn up. Government should help us on filtering out kawukumi, may be by issuing licenses to promoters.

We used to make a lot of money. People would travel for kilometers to come and watch us but not anymore because of Kawukumi.

Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
I will die a musician….I've always been a musician since childhood and will always remain one like the late Elly Wamala.

The remixes for your classics like Abatesi with Goodlyfe, how did it happen?
The idea was conceived by Goodlyfe. They reached me through Chagga. Chagga at the time was their friend and part of my band, Gomiba. When he told me about it, I was in Kasanda where I was slated to perform. I was delighted.

At the time, the two were the biggest artistes in Uganda. I returned to Kampala, recorded the song then drove back to Kasanda. That remix might have worked for them because it appears they had alot of Abatesi at the time but it worked for me most. It sold me to the younger generation.

Talking young generation, how old are your kids?
I'm not comfortable with mentioning their ages.
How many are they?
3.
Thanks a lot for your time.

https://kyakala.com/chance-nalubega-topping-local-charts-employing-full-figure-working-mowzey-radio/
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"When a man is stung by a bee, he doesn't set off to destroy all beehives"

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