Izabel Ug: Unmasking Uganda’s singing lawyer

The idea

Izabel suggests that to succeed as a musician, one needs to keep their skills sharp and adapt to new techniques and technologies continuously and all that has to be complimented by constant marketing.

“Music is a business that requires an ongoing commitment to practice and learn, which can be challenging and time-consuming, which affects your income as an individual,” she explains.

She notes that many artistes struggle to get noticed and gain recognition in the crowded music industry. Without significant promotion efforts or networking, it can be tough to build a fanbase or secure gigs. Izabel says this is why she had to consider pushing a professional career in Law alongside music.

The youngster adds that the business of making music is often an emotional and personal experience and musicians may struggle with self-doubt, writer’s block and other creative challenges that can hinder their work.

Finding a balance between parent’s interests and a career

A daughter to a baptist pastor and a ministering mother who is a staunch Christian, Izabel says her parents were always opposed to her idea of pursuing music as a career.

She adds that much as they were fine with seeing her sing, they were bothered with how their daughter would evolve in Uganda’s music setting.

“Our mainstream music industry paints a picture that artistes are supposed to exhibit roguish lifestyle, which worries parents and indeed my parents had to be worried,” she explains.

She adds that her parents, who sing and play a wide range of instruments in church, assumed that their daughter would have a professional career but still minister in the church.

“Parents have a music background that is inclined to the church and that is how they would wish me to be, but I saw music differently and I kept convincing them to support me,” she adds.

An active lawyer, she notes that at a certain point in her life, she became curious about singing about life, adding that she was partly affected by lack of encouragement and at one point she felt like letting it go.

“I used to ask for transport to go for rehearsals or studio but my parents would toss me around I just became resilient to the fact that I would walk with my guitar to the lecture room,” she adds.

Good performance became Izabel’s agenda as a way of convincing her parents that she could do both and they indeed started to believe in her.

With her parents’ push for studies and morals while emphasising that she had to have a career where she could reliably earn in life, she nearly dropped her music dream.

After getting a law degree, she went to the US to study music as part of an apprentice programme where she learnt production for nine months and later returned to LDC.

The making of Izabel Ug

As a student at Gayaza High School, Izabel recalls that she started to train as a pianist, an opportunity given to those in the school chapel at that time.

By 2009 when she was in S.2, she embarked on songwriting and learning other music instruments in a school music group dubbed, The Complete, that sang a couple of Gospel music.

In her third year at university in 2016, she recorded her first Extended Play called Chaotic Heart, which was produced by Inyanga John, alias Langum the rapper.

The five-track Chaotic Heart EP had tracks that included Unsafe featuring Lagum Owor and released on Bandcamp and Soundcloud streaming platforms. In 2020, she released her debut album, the 10-track LP titled Little Grown Up Child produced by the SeputembaKid and Sam Lamara with the final track, Mungatto, feauring Ugandan dancehall artiste Nutty Neithan.

2021 was the game changer for Izabel, following the release of the love ballad Wuuyo that featured Kenneth Mugabi who also wrote her other two singles released as well in that year titled Ntwaala and Lubereera.

Sophomore album Love and Light, a 13-track LP produced by the SeputembaKid and Sam Lamara (Samurae) is her latest piece of work, which features artistes Tucker HD and songwriter Afrie. She also was featured on Joshua Baraka’s Watershed EP with the song Run and also wrote the song Diamond off Lilian Mbabazi’s The One EP.

Blending the soul, RnB, Pop and other genres, she says that her aim is to vulnerably tell the story of the intricacies of the everyday human experience in the context of a post-colonial Ugandan generation with her own life.

She is captivated by a consistent pursuit for an established niche; particular to a deep respect for emotional vulnerability and inward honesty.

Izabel’s artistic vision is to articulate content, performance and a sound that comprehensively represents the evolving Ugandan musical aesthetic in its urban-hybrid dimensions.

Izabel the lawyer

An LLB degree holder from Ugandan Christian University, Izabel has experience working as an intellectual property lawyer with intellectual property and technology niche firms.

She notes that her desire is to reduce the struggles creatives face by not being able to earn a living with their passion and craft as other creatives are able to do in other countries.

“While Uganda’s legal regime provides for the economic rights of creatives, they are not well enforced, partly because many Ugandan creatives are ignorant of their own right to monetise their skills. To this end, I embarked on a lot of work for creatives through contract negotiation, drafting and intellectual property advisory services,” she adds.

She has also contributed to papers adopted by the government of Uganda on behalf of the entertainment and business sector in advising on how the intellectual property of artistes can be used to achieve Uganda’s National Development Plan III goals through the realisation of economic rights of creatives, especially.

This is as intellectual property; digital trade and the fourth industrial revolution can be used to facilitate an inclusive and robust digital economy.

You can also do both

Izabel says parents should support their children while giving them freedom to think for themselves. She notes that it is possible to pursue both a talent such as music and another professional job.

“Many musicians have other jobs to stabilise their income while they pursue their creative passion. Some may have part-time jobs or freelance work that gives them flexibility in their schedules to continue practicing and performing,” she adds.

However, she warns that it can be challenging to balance both a professional job and talent since it may require a significant amount of time management and discipline to make time to practice and improve skills while being committed to a full-time job.

“It is also crucial to ensure that the professional job does not interfere with the talent’s growth and development,” she adds.

Ultimately, she adds that musicians can successfully balance both a job and talent. However, it is important to remember that pursuing a talent requires a significant amount of dedication, determination, and perseverance, and it may take a bit more effort and willingness to make some sacrifices to achieve success in both areas.

The future

Izabel reveals that she will embark on consultancy work for musicians and other artistes in line with copyright and intellectual property.

She adds that she will continue recording more music and looking forward to making more collaborations both local and international.

She says she is always available for performances and willing to adjust her schedule to take up all paying musical gigs.

Brief bio

Isabel Twongyeirwe Abenaitwe is a creative, singer and songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, mental health advocate and lawyer from Kampala Uganda, with musical projects out and available for streaming and purchase.

She believes art is a great influence in inspiring positive thoughts and feelings in the world, to the end that actual change and action is directed at making this world a better and realer place.

She holds an LLB from Ugandan Christian University, for whom she participated in national, regional and international moot court competitions; by coming in 1st place at the EA Regional CIPIT Intellectual Property Moot Court Competitions in 2016, at the National CEHURD Moot Court Competition in 2016 and representing Uganda at the International Jessup Moot Court Competition organised by international Law firm White and Case in 2017.

She also holds a diploma in Post Graduate Legal Studies from the Law Development Centre.