A few words about your artistic journey

Sang my way through life . From Ugandan school halls to Swedish concert halls. From jazz , rhythm and blues to reggae.

How long have you been an artist ?

All my life.

Why did you apply for this grant ? How will the grant support you ?

I applied for the grant because It spoke exactly to what I have been doing during this time of isolation which is creating at home, in the garden, with my yoga practice & song writing. The grant will support the exploration of my creative expression, broaden my body of work and speak to a new audience.

What are your concrete artistic objectives after this residency ?

• Further my career in the field of music
• Broaden my body of work
• Continue to make a living doing what I love.

What did you achieve during this creative residency ? What is the result (created work) ? Who was involved in the creation process ?

I turned my living space into a recording studio and started recording the sounds around and inside my home. I recorded everything from the ticking of clocks, rain, keys in the lock to my dogs barking, birds in the trees. With no idea what it would all sound like together, I started to write songs about how I felt and what I was experiencing in these times of Covid19.

I wrote, recorded and produced five songs. For four of them, I used the elements of Fire, Water, Air and Earth in my home space. The last song is a song from my heart space to all the people impacted by Covid19, especially a friend I lost to it. This entire project is entitled ‘Songs Of Home’ because it plays to the idea of me staying home due to the pandemic and beginning to identify what ‘Home’ means to me.

I had Samuel Lamara mix and master them. With his help behind the camera and a set designer, Sheila Nakitende, shot a music video for ‘BIMULI’ and released it on Wednesday , 2nd September on Youtube and the songs are available on Soundcloud.

How do you think these activities contribute to a reflection on today’s world, in relation to the COVID-19 crisis, and/or on the shaping of the future ?

My creative activities and creations are reflections of today’s world here and now, during the COVID19 crisis, because they were centered on the idea of self-isolation and staying at home as an artist like everyone else around the world. It’s questioning how to create and work by myself using my home space and surroundings as music to accompany my songs without the access to fellow musicians due to quarantine and lockdown, and what does home mean to me, to us, now that we are focused on working and living in this same space.

It posits the idea that home is not merely the four walls we ‘live’ in. That home is all the earth and all its elements. That perhaps staying at home and bringing stillness to our everyday lives, we can learn to live and work in harmony with the uncontrollable and unpredictable events of life and nature.

How did you feel during the residency ? And at the end of it ?

I was very excited about writing and producing by myself as it was the first time. By the middle of the residency, I had a schedule and a flow, I was curious and really enjoying the experimentation of collecting sounds, listening and seeing what sounds were working or not.

By the end of the residency, I feel accomplished because I was able to create completely on my own. I think this is most authentic and intimate artistic representation of me yet. Every aspect of this project (E.P artwork, the songs, the music video) all are parts of me.

Verse One

Nzijukira
Bwetwali
Flowers , flowers, flowers
Nzijukira
Bwetwali
Bwetwali
Bwetwali

Chorus

Ntuula nenkulowooza ko
Ngeri gye wanvaako
Mukwano wooli
Nkusabira jooli
Nze siridaamu
Njakubeera obwoomu
Ntuula ne kulowooza ko
Ngeri gye wanvaako
Mukwano wooli
Nkusabira jooli
Nze siridaamu
Njakubeera obwoomu
Njakubeera obwoomu
Njakubeera obwoomu
Njakubeera obwoomu

Chorus
Ntuula ne nkulowooza ko
Ngeri gye wanvaako
Mukwano wooli
Nkusabira jooli
Nze siridaamu
Njakubeera obwoomu
Ntuula ne kulowooza ko
Ngeri gye wanvaako
Mukwano wooli
Nkusabira jooli
Nze siridaamu
Njakubeera obwoomu
Njakubeera obwoomu
Njakubeera obwoomu
Njakubeera obwoomu

Verse One
TV pictures
On the news
All the stories
The new rules
Are something we never knew
Changed everything out the blue
Our lives are rearranged
No more hugs or handshakes
At home like we ought to do
Its safety for me and you
And we all stopped spinning around
And in most towns silence is sound

Chorus
Nothing’s the same
Everything has changed
Nothing’s the same
Everything has changed
Nothing’s the same
Everything has changed
Nothing’s the same
Everything has changed

Intro
I feel so lost and broken
lost and hopeless… home again
I feel so lost and
Hope that I hope again

Verse Four
I can see I was lost and I wonder
Why I didn’t see the truth through the glamour
Why I felt so lost and broken
Hope Am home again
Hope Am home again
Hope Am home again
Hope Am home again
Hope Am home again
Hope Am home again
Hope Am home again
Hope Am home again
Hope Am home again
Hope Am home again
Hope Am home again
Hope Am home again
Hope Am home again

Am looking at life ,at reality
Am keeping my life force
My Energy
My Chi

Taking it back to control me
Centred and grounded in all things
Thoughts are aligned for my own dreams
My soul and my mind are my own team
Yes
Looking at life at reality
Am keeping my life force
And Energy
My Chi
My Chi
My Chi
My Chi
My Chi
My Chi