Prime
May the God of Chameleone go before him
Raymond Mujuni
What you need to know:
- When Chameleone released the song in the early 2000s, Uganda was undergoing its ‘free market’ injection of ideas. Many people do so little to link the society to its politics but Chameleone’s art at the time spoke to the fringes and edges of the economy that able-bodied young Ugandan men were left to. To succeed, Chameleone had to go to neighbouring Kenya – a labour externalization of some form.
My favourite Jose Chameleone song is ‘Katupakase’. It’s a ballad of struggle. The lyrics are a graphic and passionate representation of hard work, struggle and industry.
When Chameleone released the song in the early 2000s, Uganda was undergoing its ‘free market’ injection of ideas. Many people do so little to link the society to its politics but Chameleone’s art at the time spoke to the fringes and edges of the economy that able-bodied young Ugandan men were left to. To succeed, Chameleone had to go to neighbouring Kenya – a labour externalization of some form.
He speaks to how young people were hard workers, fighting with the world and earning just enough to eat and look after their children. He also speaks to deploying the only thing they could to survive – their talent. He also says that it was their hard work that would create the future of the country. A sense of purpose and mission. A stone added to a cathedral kind of struggle.
Artistes like Chameleone are timeless. Society owes them more than they owe it.
It’s the stuff of steel to do something so well for three decades – and do it at the very top. It’s for this very small reason that I have a tonne of empathy for Jose Chameleone.
If the rain gods can do anything, it’s to allow him have a successful show today.
Chameleone isn’t only an artist. He is a complex character. He is a representation of our zeitgeist. His downturn in fortune speaks to the non-pensioned Ugandans who had no chance at decent employment.
His anger and use of violence, away from the lip turn it causes, is the representation of the frustration of many people of his age. After years of working – him at the highest level – there’s little to show for it.
With the kind of audience share Chameleone has in the region, he shouldn’t have to beg for a concert in Kampala. He in fact need not throw a mass concert with discounted tickets. But it’s the system man!
After inspiring nearly two generations of Ugandans to show up and work, to have a healthy work-life balance, singing about the role of the family in life and representing the struggle of his generation through his music, Chameleone deserves a successful show – his problems notwithstanding.
Very luckily, he already penned his eulogy with ‘Basiima Ogenze’ because it will only be when he is no longer with us that we will deduce him to have been a legend living in our time.
