Thanks for the music, Tony Senkebejje

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WHAT’S UP!

In March of 1975, our eldest sister, Rose, got married. I don’t remember the church ceremony, but I do remember the reception at Silver Springs Hotel in Bugolobi. Young kids those days could attend wedding receptions, not like today’s adults-only affairs. We got there early, just as the band, The Cranes, was warming up. Those days, The Cranes was the top band in the country, and my sister loved them.

I hadn’t paid much attention, till the sound of a guitar cut through the background noise. Somebody was playing a very mesmerising tune and it made me pay attention. I didn’t know much about music, then, but I knew what a guitar sounded like, and this was something exceptional. I later got to know that what I heard was a riff from Steve Wonder’s song Superstition, and the gentleman playing was called Tony Senkebejje.

Music from The Cranes ruled our home those days, and it fascinated me no end to see the band members live, playing the music I’d only heard over the radio or from records. Thus started a lifetime love affair with some of Uganda’s greatest musicians — Moses Matovu, Charles Sekyanzi, Ssenkebeje, Eddie Ganja and Saidi Kasule. I remember being in awe of Saidi, who was the tallest man I’d ever seen (but I think we are about the same height now).

Sadly, the band’s bass player, Jessy Kasirivu Gitta, was killed soon after by Idi Amin, who later took Jesse’s girlfriend, Sarah Kyolaba, for his fifth wife. The band broke up after that, and Senkebejje fled into exile in Kenya.

Senkebejje would spend the next decade or so in Kenya, and played with various bands. Mainly based in Mombasa, he played with bands like Sombrero Night Club (Nairobi), Le Noir and the Spartans. But he spent the most time with the Vikings, also Mombasa-based.

Meanwhile, before leaving Uganda, he met Rachel, in 1974. She would spend the next 51 years by his side. An article in The East African narrates how Rachel had gone to watch The Cranes band and saw Senkebejje instead. They would form what the paper called East Africa’s ‘First Couple’ of music.

Initially, Rachel was a housewife, looking after the couple’s children, but she later joined the Spartans as a vocalist. The band would re-form as Simba Six and Senkebejje later joined them.

The couple returned to Uganda in 1992 and joined the Afrigo Band, which was formed by remnants of The Crane Band. But Senkebejje’s quiet personality and purist nature were at odds with the ‘loud and hectic’ (not my words) Afrigo, so the couple left to form Simba Ngoma along the lines of Simba Six.

But again, personalities clashed, especially with the more ebullient Samuel Murungi and his wife Florence.

So the Senkebejjes left and formed Simba Sounds.

“Promoters in Uganda are interested in a certain type of music, which I don’t play,” Senkebejje was quoted as saying.

“I don’t copy others, I do music from my heart.”

Simba Sounds had a long gig at the Kampala Serena Hotel, something Senkebejje was comfortable with, rather than playing concerts and shows.

Meanwhile, Rachel had picked up the guitar and was one of Uganda’s first female guitarists. She would play rhythm guitar while Senkebejje played the lead, and they would share vocal duties, though she would do the bigger part.

Senkebejje also featured for a while at the Legends shows at Guvnor, where he would once again join former Cranes bandmates Matovu and Ganja. They would also be joined by their contemporary Frank Mbalire, who in the 1970s played with a ‘rival’ band, The Tames, and later Rwenzoori.

Senkebejje was also a prolific songwriter, and maybe his most popular song was Eyali Akwagala, which most people probably think is an Afrigo song. It features a guitar riff at the end, which was very typical of Tony, but also very George Benson-like.

Another band favourite is Onzise Nyo, in which Rachel shows off her impressive vocal range. Outside Uganda, Senkebejje is probably best known for his 1974 song, What’s Love, which was later remixed in 2019. His other songs include Ebigambo, Gwe Wange, My Lover, Nja Kubeera Naawe and Tuteesa. He also released four albums, Byonna Mbimanyi (1996), Topapa (2002), Wulira ate Yiga (2009) and Going Strong (2009).

The band would also regularly play cover tracks, and their fans quickly built a set of favourites. Apart from that 1975 encounter, I remember Tony mostly for his outstanding performance of Louis Armstrong’s What A Wonderful World, which up to now is a karaoke favourite of mine.

Of that bunch of musicians who would make such an impression on me in 1975, and brought so much joy and happiness to millions, only three are left: Moses Matovu, Eddie Ganja and Saidi Kasule.

Tony Senkebejje died last Friday, February 14, and was buried on Sunday at their home in Maya, Mpigi district. Rest in peace Mr Senkebejje, and thank you for the music.