Cohen Mwesigwa alias Kohen Jaycee released his debut album, Rwembera, on all platforms yesterday, he says the album is a tribute to those have inspired him. Photo | Courtesy.
If you have paid attention to local music for the past five years, you clearly know there’s more than one known local music industry. There is the mainstream industry, which dominates the airwaves; these play songs tied to a certain winning formula.
The songs are in Luganda, and the chorus usually has a word or two that people can easily sing along to, plus they never go out of the box; they are usually between dancehall and zouk, usually referred to as Kidandali.
This is probably the biggest local music industry, commanding a large audience, media, and corporate support.
The other local music industry is in the ghettos, thriving on already-produced ragga instrumentals and the power of freestyles. This kind of industry thrives on social media platforms such as TikTok and Snapchat. Over the months, this kind of industry has given Uganda pop-up songs such as Wantama, Muzabibu, and Ozambe, among others.
Then there’s the streaming audience; some call it the new wave industry, while others call them planned kids’ artistes. Their music is not heavy on rotation; they are not popular on your number one station, and you will never catch any of them backstage at a Jose Chameleone concert seeking an opportunity to perform.
Their playground is rarely the mainstream radio or TV, and neither are they in need of Chameleone’s audience; the game is online. These artistes have learnt the numbers game better than their peers; Spotify, Apple Music, Audio Mack, and Boomplay are their playground.
These are artistes such as Ceee, Akiene, Likkle Bangi, Elijah Kitaka, Joshua Baraka, and Kohen Jaycee, among others. These artistes sound different; their music is a fusion of R&B and Afrobeat, and they have exclusive performances such as Shorts Na Lesu, Jamerson and Friends, and Piano People, among others. The artistes have managed to create an audience that loves fine music that is different and refined, so even with little advertising, you will find an adoring audience at their shows singing their songs word for word.
On Friday, one of such artistes, Mwesigwa Cohen Kohen Jaycee, released his debut album, Rwebembera: Rising Echoes. The 16-track album, he says, is titled after his father, Rwebembera; however, he too happens to share the name, alongside his newly born son.
He says the album is a very personal story inspired by everything about him and his son.
“I organised this album in a way that they are not just songs; it is a story. From the conception, it is about how I see myself, my fears, the failures; this album is about me, my growth as an artiste and as a person because now I’m a father,” he says.
The album is Kohen Jaycee’s debut, though before that, he has made waves with two EPs, Wena and Wena Chapter Two, in 2019 and 2021, respectively.
Wena spawned the single Not Letting Go; the song would go on to become Number One on Uganda’s Apple Music Top 50. Then he released Wena Chapter Two during the lockdown; this too performed well on Apple Music and introduced him to other people who did not know his music.
Wena Chapetr Two introduced people to songs such as Ndozere, Siganye, Eva, and Look My Way, even before the explosive third EP, Heartstrings, with songs such as Byokola, Nkulinze, and Don’t Leave Me, among others.
Even when all these songs were brilliant, Kohen says he thought he wasn’t ready to drop an album. He has been working on the album long enough; some of the songs were written when he was in Senior Five at St. Mary’s Kitende. He, however, kept many of the songs for the album because he believes now is the right time for people to see him opening up in that kind of light, because now he has scratched the surface of life and thus has the moral authority to communicate that way.
“I wrote Nva Wala in 2014, and I remember, I told my friend, even Denesi, he was with me in Kitende; I told them, this particular song, I’m going to do it with Maurice Kirya, and fastforward to 2020; I brought him here. I called my friend Peter Baraka, the one I used to play guitar with in Kitende. He drove from Mukono and came here; we voiced the song, and it was one of the most fulfilling moments of my career,” he says.
From Joshua Baraka, Kenneth Mugabi, to Mike Mumbi, it is hard to find one Ugandan artiste either R&B or AfroSoul, who doesn’t idolise Maurice Kirya; Kohen Jaycee is not different.
“Maurice Kirya is an inspiration to us; he showed us that you don’t have to conform to be accepted; it is ok to be different. He pushed a narrative in a way that very many people have not. Any new school artist in a way could be unfair if they say that they were not in one way or another inspired by Maurice Kirya. He showed you that he was a Ugandan artiste making international music, and you too can do it and thrive. Being able to work with him was very rewarding for the seven-year-old me who watched him on East African TV on that song with AY,” he says.
The album, according to Kohen Jaycee, is also a tribute to his music heroes, Keko, Navio, Nutty Neithan, A-Pass, and Levixone, who all appear on the album, but he still features new school artistes such as Denesi, Axon, Azawi, Elijah Kitaka, Akeine, Maya Amolo from Kenya, Lagum, and CXNRVD. There’s also an interlude that features Theodre, his son.
By the time the album was released, Dance, Ability, and After 10:30, had been released as singles.
Rwebembera: Rising Echoes is the first part of a project the artiste promises to release a sequel, Rwebembera: Voices of the Future.
Rwebembera is Lunyoro for ‘Those who Lead'; he says the album is both a reflection and a tribute to legends and culture.
