Why Mowzey Radio’s Star Will Never Stop To Shine - Uganda Music Hall of Fame

Moses Ssekibogo aka Mowzey Radio

Even in death, Mowzey Radio continues to shine like a diamond in the sky. Last weekend, 2018 Hipipo Music Awards honored the fallen singer as the Best Song Writer of 2017/2018, among other awards which, of course, he shared with his partner, Weasel.

Throughout his lifetime, Radio won an array of such accolades. His talent was indisputable. He did not just sing away. Radio serenaded this country for 10 whole years and his hallmark smile was always like the icing on the cake.

But so much as he was acclaimed, Radio stimulated the vilest of emotions amongst people – he was solemnly hated, even unto death.

He’d had to endure significant amounts of pain – like a quarry in a sea full of sharks. His whole public life was whirlwind of strife.

He was just a man though – like any of us – a father, a brother, a friend... all a human should be – he tried, he won some battles… Sometimes he failed. But when he did, he always got back up. He did not wince in his fight. He epitomized strength and character. He deserved a lot more than he ever was credited for – awards notwithstanding.

But that’s the way the cookie crumbles. He had to maneuver and somehow he did; his is a story of how a simple introvert manages to go so far, in an industry so replete with rivalry, self-centeredness and intrigue …It is downright remarkable he became one of the most revered music artists Africa has ever known.

He was not born with a silver spoon in the mouth. He was brought up by a single mother. All he had, in fact, was a dream; a dream not promised to come easy. Nevertheless he clutched himself tight on his hunch, went out, to face the world, all by himself … it was before the world ever knew he existed; before he was ever hired by Jose Chameleon [as a casual laborer]… and before his life-long friend, Weasel ever came along – and others who later joined the cart for a pay packet.

Radio’s multifarious persona was like the fountain of all the things he would soon do – things that many people would not understand at a glance.

Although not exactly aloof, he was subtle and elusive. At the same time he had a lot to say – he had figured quite early in life that there was no other way he’d deal with the enormous amount of questions that don’t have answers except to let the mysteries settle in his own music.

Possibly it’s only Weasel who ever came close to fathoming the real spirit behind Radio’s art. It is apparent that for Mowzey, music was more than just a job, it helped him deal with all the complexities of adult life – it became, for the two young men, an escape, away from all the pangs of reality – it was a safe haven – it was the Goodlyfe.

Until 2007, Uganda’s music industry had gone fusty and bland; it was stuck in the loop, with the outmoded 1990s revolutionaries; Bebe Cool, Jose Chameleon and Bobi Wine controlling the grip. When Radio and Weasel finally showed up, it was not only auspicious; it was on time. The duo was like a gulp of fresh air.

It all started with the famous single, Nakudata, a collaboration between Omulangira Ssuna [who also produced the record]. It was like the harbinger of the good things that would soon happen in Uganda’s music industry – and indeed they happened.

The pair soon created, a music label, the Goodlyfe Magic and reiterated they would indeed revolutionize the music in Uganda… in fact, no one knew at that time what the breadth of such a promise would be. . .

But it was not long before the traditionally known heavyweights began getting eclipsed, so to speak. For the first time, in about ten (10) years, new sounds were coming through notwithstanding Silver Kyagulanyi’s fleeting resuscitation of the industry or the long-lasting efforts of Afrigo Band and Eagles Production.

In such unprecedented twists, people were no more talking whether Jose Chameleon had premiered a new single or Bobi Wine was expanding his Fire Base Entertainment Crewand Bebe Cool celebrating a nod in the Channel O Awards.

Every new musician began to parrot the style of the Radio & Weasel; music groups [fashioned in the likeness of the Goodlyfe] were formed, including Born Ugandans,Eighton & Rain etc. At this point, Uganda’s music industry was clearly rediscovering itself – it was revitalized and it was because of these [two] new kids on the block.

The Goodlyfe constantly challenged the status quo until, inadvertently, they became every musician’s yardstick. Older musicians began to likewise evolve and re-invent themselves to hit the bar. A redefining of music began about this time – a new phenomenon of music writers began – it became a revolution in itself. An appreciation of vocalists began as opposed to dancehall rappers. Music became a movement; music management groups gained more relevance. In this renaissance, an array of music companies were sprouting, including Goodlyfe, Big Talent, Good Music, Locomotive, etc.

It is amazing how it became possible but since 2007, there has been very few – if any weekly radio countdowns that did not have a Goodlyfe song on it. And it did not matter whether the media company or blogger liked the people behind the music or not. They [Goodlyfe] made themselves so indispensible.

They did not produce a song that never had potential for becoming Number One on the Charts. If a song of the Goodlyfe didn’t move up the charts, it’s because Goodlyfe willingly declined to labor for its promotion. Otherwise no song of theirs was not a hit.

Every musician wanted to win a collaboration with the Goodlyfe and when it finally happened – it was sure to be a major banger, both locally and internationally.

Without taking anything away from Weasel’s extraordinary talent, however, the Goodlyfe became/did all it did because they had the X Factor – Mowzey Radio.

His aptitude went beyond the fact that he could brilliantly blend well with his colleague’s hoarse and dancehall tone, Radio, despite his lean and slim frame was an immensely gifted human being. He was very imaginative, resourceful and meticulous.  As a vocalist, he was unparalleled.

The Real Power Behind Radio’s Vocal Superiority

His voice was light and lively with an agile, rhythmic skillfulness that allowed for very complex vocal runs… with such a knack he would even dare to mimic auto-tune, as in Lwaki Onumya.

He so adeptly managed to employ his signature adlibs to totally upgrade the sounding of any song – as in Diamond Oscar’s Take It Easy featuring Vampino – his exclamations were controlled and achieved via extraordinary technique.

The voice also had the strength and stamina to hold notes for lengths of time, without wavering in pitch, and the ability to emote the meaning of the lyrics exceptionally. In songs like Nkwagala, Radio explored his low range and it was beautifully grounded; he, evidently, was as comfortable with the lower notes as when he sang in the modal range, in which he usually sang.

As the voice passed into the midrange, it began to lighten and brighten significantly; it had an elasticity and flexibility that allowed for it to stretch, without much impact on the tone. Ddembessa on which he worked with Ganda Boys [formerly Da Twins] superbly cements this case. He could, with ease, either sound bright, light and smooth, coarse or slightly heavy.

The falsetto was solid, warm and more resonate than many other male singers.

But all this has been short-lived; it hangs in abyss if the surviving member of the Goodlyfe,Douglas Mayanja [Weasel] will be able to sustain, let alone effectively farther the milestones of the Goodlyfe – as we knew it. The blank that Moses Ssekibogo [aka Mowzey Radio] left is really a big blank – unlikely anyone can make up for it.

His death felt like cold chill rush down the spine of whoever heard the news for the first time … it fell hard on the country. Ugandans were overcome with anguish as it became more apparent that the legend in Mowzey Radio was no more…

While the music fraternity was caught in a tizzy, traditional media was engulfed in angst, social media was in total disquiet… and the entire punditry was at it with questions… why, how, when – questions the Police is still grappling with – to untangle the mystery that still surrounds the death of a man who is believed one of the best musicians Uganda ever had.

The President, Yoweri K. Museveni tweeted in disbelief; “Have been told about the untimely death of musician Moses Ssekibogo aka Mowzey Radio. I had only recently made a financial contribution towards his treatment and hoped he would get better. He was a talented young person with a great future ahead of him…” thus posted, the President.

Mowzey Radio was one of the musicians who composed the Tubonga Nawe song in support of President Museveni during the campaigns for the 2016 elections. The song featured Uganda’s best in Jose Chameleon, Bebe Cool, Radio & Weasel, Juliana, Rema Namakua, Mun*G, Wilson Bugembe, Judith Babirye and Haruna Mubiru among others.

Mowzey Radio was perhaps the best songwriter that was ever raised in this land although he never sought any personal aggrandizement from the same.

Little wonder, he was East Africa’s first ever nominated act in America’s prestigious BET Awards. He was a force to reckon with and it will never rest easily in the hearts of Ugandans that he was gone so suddenly and mysteriously…

He went to Kibuye Primary School, Lake View Wanyange and Kiira College Butiki before joining Makerere University to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Community Psychology. He graduated in 2008, the year of the Goodlyfe.

According to New Vision, although music made him popular, at school he lived a quiet life. He could only stop at revealing that he lived at Bukaya in Jinja at his uncle’s home.

An old school friend of Radio’s recalls how the singer, Radio was inspired into music by his nursery school teacher.

“I remember he told me that a nursery teacher changed his life. The teacher used to tell him that he would be a good musician,” Stephen Wakaza, now a high school teacher, a resident of Mukono remembered pensively.

 “My OB, classmate and friend has gone at an early age. At school on parents’ day, he could sing and move the audience,” Wakaza chronicled.

According to Wakaza, Radio, was at Holy Cross Lake View Senior Secondary School Jinja from S.1 to S.4. It is at this school that they shared a desk. He then joined Kiira College Butiki for Advanced Level studies.

“He was always among best five students in class. He was very good in Literature, English and music. He is the only one who used to understand music lessons, to us sol-fa notes were hard.  As a seatmate, he taught me how to be creative when writing stories. That was hard for me. I also helped him in mathematics,” Wakaza recalled.

“He was always voted the best in music competition at the district level in all competitions the school participated in. He associated more with female schoolmates. You could never spot him at a football pitch, but it could not be a surprise to find him at a net ball court,” Wakaza added.

According to Wakaza, Radio used to lead music in the Catholic Chapel. He described Radio as the best vocalist and an actor in inter-house competitions of their times.

“He loved art and was one of the best fine art students,” he adds. He at one time owned an art gallery shop in Kampala.

Radio was born on January 25, 1983. But the country would come to know him as the talented boy of Joseph Mayanja’s [Jose Chameleon’s] Leone Island who had released the lyrically and vocally flawless Jennifer song in 2005, a year after joining the group. 

It had an oldies feel to it that did stirred up pulses of nostalgia in many listeners. 

About the same time, he released another song, Sweet Lady, that received fair airplay yet he still did keep up as a backing vocalist in Jose Chameleone’s crew.

While Chameleone was away on a trip, Mowzey Radio and Weasel took a bold venture into the unknown and released their RnB single Nakudata in 2008. It was Uganda’s first mainstream experiment with auto tune, the country was hooked on.

At the 2008 Pearl of Africa Music (PAM) Awards, there was no question the boys were here to stay. And to prove that, they announced their exit from Leone Island. 

Their hit Zuena had scooped the Best Afro Beat Single Award, Goodlyfe were voted Best New Artistes while Nakudata was crowned Song of the Year.

The Goodlyfe however, had needed a Giant to take on, and as such, they had released Zuena, a song that poked hard into Bebe Cool’s ego. They opened a Pandora’s Box – it was a fully fledged beef between them and Gagamel boss, arguably East Africa’s leading Raga/Reggae singer. The battle lines were drawn. 

It was at a time when beef still built the names, and the rumors of an earlier fling of Mowzey Radio and Bebe Cool’s attractive wife, Zuena heightened. 

It’s in Nakutamani, however, that people began to develop this feeling that Mowzey Radio perhaps was way more than just a singer; he deeply synchronized himself in his music – he was extremely embedded in his craft. Indeed it was simply a vehicle for him to address obscurities.

The joke was, if one was on a chase of a loved one and was lost for words, the only way out was to listen to a Radio song.

In 2009, Nyambura was the sweeping song. It was hit after hit, the industry would soon lose count. 

Everything that the Mowzey touched, turned to gold. When he touched former Blu*3 singer, Lillian Mbabazi figuratively and literally, her heart melted and the result was theWhere You Are collaboration and two beautiful children that will now live without a father.

He had shown his Potential, the world had testified to the Ability and all that was left was for the haters to Talk and Talk.

In the later years, Radio would come to be defined by an even calmer touch; he was getting a little more prayerful, more inspirational. 

He would go on to release songs such as Mukama, where he returned to God and asked for his care and forgiveness. He went ahead to warn against the tides of times with Obudde. Perhaps, it was a foreboding – that time would never be at his side.

In less than a decade, he had managed to break into the ranks of the big three; Bebe Cool, Bobi Wine and Chameleon, turning it into the Big four, with Goodlyfe holding stakes.

In 2013 they showcased to Africa, performing at a Big Brother 8 first eviction party. In May, BET nominated them in the Best International Artiste (Africa) category. They collaborated with Kenya’s Amani to give East Africa a Kiboko Changu hit that got a nod in the MTV Africa Music Awards, MAMAs.

At the time of his death, Radio had collaborated with South Africa’s P J Powers on Home to Africa and had given Ugandans songs such as Gutamiiza, a collaboration with B2C, Leesuand Ntwalako Out among hundreds of others.

But if there was anything that haunted Mowzey Radio’s life, it was the controversy; he was either in a fight, being beaten, retorting or mounting a vocal assault where necessary, pretty much as it is everywhere in the music industry – eat or get eaten. But he was never a man of constant grudging. He would fight, only to make up.

Although they had beefed against Bebe Cool for years, faced off in a music Battle of Champions, the two sides would go on to publicly end their differences. The story was more or less similar with Jose Chameleon.

It was controversy again and again, peace again and again, fall outs again and again, but without doubt great music; Neera Neera Neera [again and again and again].

Simply put; Mowzey Radio was a mixed bag of many things – like roses and thorns – you can complain because roses have thorns or you can rejoice because thorns have roses.

Monitor Publications rendered it this way, “To imagine 2018 without Mowzey Radio is to imagine a lifeless year.

His was a voice that serenaded, his lyrics ran deep, and he was an artiste that transcended the ordinary perception of music.”

Some of Radio’s famous hits;

1. Don’t cry– Radio & Weasle ft Wizkid

2. Nyambula – Radio & Weasle

3. Gutamiza – Radio & Weasle

4. Hellena – Radio & Weasle ft Lutalo

5. Tukikole Neera – Radio & Weasle

6. Ability – Radio & Weasle ft Rabadaba

7. Magnetic – Radio & Weasle

8. Bread & Butter – Radio & Weasle

9. Nakudata – Radio & Weasle

10. Obudde – Radio & Weasle

11. Ntunga – Radio & Weasle

12. Talk & Talk – Radio & Weasle

13. Kuku – Radio & Weasle

14. Bwondekawo – Radio & Weasle

15. Zino enaku – Radio & Weasle

16. Juicy juicy - Radio & Weasle

17. Ekyaama - Radio & Weasle

18. Nakutamani - Radio & Weasle

19. Vuvuzela - Radio & Weasle

20. Amaaso - Radio & Weasle

21. Can't let you go - Radio & Weasle

22. Omwana wa Bandi  - Radio & Weasle

23. Byagana -  Radio & Weasle

24. Namba emu - Radio & Weasle

25. Get Love -  Radio & Weasle ft WizKid

26. Tompona  - Radio & Weasle ft Leyila

27. Nkwetaga  - Radio & Weasle

28. Breath Away  - Radio & Weasle

29. Zuena  - Radio & Weasle

30. Ole  - Radio & Weasle

31. Potential - Radio & Weasle

32. Sitani - Radio & Weasle

33. Nyumbani - Radio & Weasle

34. Sweat Lady - Mozey Radio

35. Lwaki Onumya -Radio & Weasle

Mowzey Radio was a mixed bag of many things – like roses and thorns – you can complain because roses have thorns or you can rejoice because thorns have roses.

By far, Mowzey was a phenomenon human being.

Sources: Monitor Publications, New Vision Publications, Facebook, Wikipedia, Kivumbi Press, Twitter