In 2022, in line with their vision to export local music to global audiences and serve its Ugandan customers better, music streaming platform Spotify rolled out three distinct playlists: Mutima, Kidandali Parte and Made In Uganda.
These playlists have focused on amplifying music in the genres R&B, Afro Soul as well as Ragga/Dancehall Party, but one key area was not being given the much attention; the oldies that shaped the sound and artists we listen to in Uganda today.
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To fill this gap, on Tuesday this week Spotify peeled off the layer to their latest Ugandan playlist; “Ugandan Band Music”. The playlist seeks to bring to the spotlight songs by legendary Ugandan bands, like Afrigo Band, Golden Band, Eagles Production, among others.
This also comes at a time when oldies have picked up in the mainstream, dominating Tiktok charts with many users posting videos using sound extracts from some of these songs. One instance is “Londa Enumber Yo” by Betty Mpologoma, which gets the crowds on their feed the moment it is played somewhere. The other is Mesach Semakula’s iconic and humorous “Sigwe Ansimila”, “Best Man” by Abdu Mulasi, “Londa Nze” by Ronald Mayinja, and Princess Sheila Nvanungi’s “Doctor”, to mention but a few. At the same time, events like Old School Soiree, Strictly Soul and The Reminisce have since become popular among outgoing music consuming demographics between ages 23 and 40 because of the nostalgia surrounding olden music/ classics. Still on events is the now annual “Tugende Mu Kikadde” which translates to “Let us go Old Skool”. The event brings together Ugandan music legends for a night like no other of experiencing Uganda’s classics. This therefore shows how much demand there is and is surrounding older music.
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As a lover of good old Ugandan music, this is such a full circle moment as the majority of my childhood favs are now all in one place; the “Ugandan Band Music” playlist.
The creation of this offering already adds to existing efforts in putting Uganda’s array of talented musicians to the globe. This is complemented by other efforts like hosting a Spotify for Artist Masterclass last year in September in Kampala as a way of equipping artists with knowledge and tools on how to make the most of the platform.
This is therefore your chance to lock in, plug in your headsets or connect to your aux and get your spirits relinquished as you sing along to some of the finest oldies as handpicked for you by Spotify.
The “Ugandan Band Music” playlist sits in the hub of the many playlists available in Africa and the rest of the world to all Spotify users, whether you are on Freemium, Premium or on your 30 day Free trial.
Founded in 2008, Spotify has been in the business of transforming how we consume music. The platform as of 2022, boasts of hosting over 82 million tracks and more than 3.6 million podcast titles. As the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service, Spotify has over 422m active users, including 182m subscribers, across 183 markets.
Take a listen to the “Ugandan Band Music” playlist below:
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