Coke Studio Africa is a platform that brings talented artistes together, creating effortless fusion and generating a global buzz for musician across many African countries. This Kenyan-based musical forefront started its season earlier this year.
A number of Ugandan artistes took part in the Studio. Musicians like; Bebe cool, Sheeba Karungi, Eddy Kenzo, Ykee Benda and Lydia Jazmine were there, Social media platforms like face book and Twitter were full of praises and thanking the artistes for representing the country well.
Coke Studio Africa and Coke Studio South Africa merged in 2017. What was once an idea of maximizing on the potential of African music on the continent has turned into a behemoth. The merger increased the number of participating countries to 16, up from 11 from the previous edition, and it engages both artistes and audio producers from various African countries.
This season, it is broadcasting in more than 30 African countries; and artistes who feature, come from countries as diverse as: South Africa, Rwanda, Angola, Zimbabwe, Togo, Madagascar, Mauritius, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, Mozambique, DRC, Ethiopia and Cameroon.
So far, Bebe Cool and Ykee Benda’s sessions have been aired. Many Ugandans claimed that they had seen a different Bebe Cool on the stage as he was performing alongside Zambian-based Bahati in his song called, “Am Bad ”. Bebe Cool’s performance of the song was to the extent that even the owner of the song couldn’t believe it.Tthis made many Ugandans wonder why Bebe does not do that style of music.
In addition to Bebe’s performance, last Saturday was a week for big break segment at Coke Studio. Ugandan Ykee Benda paired Jah Prayzah of Zimbabwe and Mozambique’s Mr. Bow. Their music was produced by Tanzanian producer, Nahreel.
Given Benda’s style of music, the producer gave them a style which Benda knows how to do best and for that, he pulled out such a recognizable performance that clearly showed that East Africa has relented artistes in Uganda.
Depending on the two sessions that have been aired, many Ugandans hope that the three remaining performance of Sheeba, Kenzo and Jasmine will also make Uganda’s music industry proud.
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