HENRY MUTEBE: On Eddy Kenzo and the Philly Lutaya Conversation: My Ten Cents 

Sometimes I prefer to keep silent about certain things but these journalists keep inboxing me to get my comment on certain social happenings. On occasion, I cave in. One of those occasions is today.

One journalist has asked me to comment on Eddy Kenzos statements- that he and his music is bigger than Philly Bongole Lutaya.

My response to him:
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My father and mother did not get the education I got.
My father and mother did not get the jobs I have got.
I have got better education, better opportunities than them- combined.
Am I greater than them? The choice is yours.

I think, the fact that Eddy Kenzo made a rendition of Philly’s song, is in itself a stamp and signature of acknowledgment of the greatness of a man who did so much for Ugandas music and society. He could have chosen another song but he chose Phillys- because he was a great artist.

Beyond his music, Philly Lutaya, took a stand that saved this nation from a looming catastrophe that HIV/AIDS had become. No body, in our collective memory as a society, gave so much light to the AIDS scourge than that man. He used his music for a purpose. Forget the Christmas songs that play every year and will live on for generations. His seminal contribution to the fight against HIV/AIDS that was going to wipe out our parents, makes him a man we don’t want to compare anyone to.

I think that the music industry should look to him as a father- a parent. We don’t compare ourselves to parents. They stand on sacred ground in which we are forever indebted. They are the foundation on which we stand. It is even more emotionally insensitive to try and compare ourselves with those who are dead, they don’t have a chance to reply. So I find the comments made by Eddy Kenzo out of taste and uncultured.

That said, I think that Kenzo’s head should not be put on the chopping board for exercising his freedom to say what he wanted to say. I see that people are taking it to the extremes. And that extension is not innocent. We should not crowd out the space for people to freely express themselves. That space should remain open, even when it can sometimes injure the conscience of a society.

I would like to liken freedom to a plate. It is on this plate that we eat our food. But sometimes that plate can get dirty and hurt our collective conscience as a society. It gets dirty sometimes. We should not throw away the plate. We should always wash it- in this case, by offering counter arguments that crowd out any dirty that we consider inappropriate to be on the plate.

So Kenzo should not be skinned for saying what he said. Let’s discuss it and those close to him can always advise him on how to be socially sensitive but also without censoring himself.

Outside this conversation, I also have something I want to say about Eddy Kenzo. For me, I see Eddy Kenzo as a person we have failed to accept- especially the middle class that feels more educated, learned and more deserving. We have hung into our sense of entitlement and won’t allow anyone outside our realm of education to sit with or near us or to wear the badge of social recognition. Eddy Kenzo is sometimes despised- if I may be allowed to say so. No matter what strides he makes, someone will look at himself and still feel, but he is not this or that- which I am.

So, in as much as I find what what Eddy Kenzo said out of taste, for reasons I have already given, I want to think that our reaction also comes from a place of… patronage masked under the face of ‘morality’. We have have failed to accept and accommodate Eddy Kenzo as a successful artist and, if I may add, one of us if not above us. We have our definition of what is good and we have stuck to that as the standard for what passes as good.

The same goes for some guy I hear about called Ssuuna Ben (something like that). On one hand you have large sections of people that find him a great guy… and on another side- our side, is a section of people who think his music is for villagers (Called Abe masaka).

There is a sense in which we have appropriated ourselves the right to determine, for everyone else, what is good (what we find good). Looking at crowds dancing to that kinyanyanya music, with such vigor, you want to think there is a thirst in this town. There is a hunger for certain genres of music. There is a sense in which a few gate keepers drive the agenda and crowd out those they do not share values and tastes with. We are being cooked into liking certain things while being told all else we don’t know or are not being served is ‘local’, unpolished and out of class.

People can’t believe Eddy Kenzo with his despised music can fill a venue and cause a gridlock in town. People don’t understand why Suuna Ben causes traffic jam at any road he stages. We are living in denial. For years, we have silenced those music genres. We have despised certain artists. But it is shocking that these guys have crowds. Eddy Kenzo belongs to that class or artists who are despised but who has refused to go down to the patronage of us the middle class.

I think that there is a hangover for certain sensibilities of music. There is a longing for certain sounds, certain themes and discourses which Eddy Kenzo is filling. There is a sense in which being born and studied in elite schools or having a degree has lied to us about reality. We are living in a bubble in which we are blind to other social realities and to keep our bubble intact, we have to stubbornly close our eyes and assume other bubbles don’t exist. We need to allow that these artists are part our social setting and we are not the markers of what is successful or not. Society creates its own heroes- and sometimes we are not their heroes. Our heroes will sometimes not be the heroes of the society we live in. That has to be appreciated- in good faith.

Eddy Kenzo is a great artist. Philly Bongole Lutaya may be the foundation on which Eddy Kenzo now stands. The fact that he chooses his song for a cover, is big stamp. But more importantly, the late Lutaya averted a situation, that could have wiped out a generation- our parents.

Eddy you are great. Philly Lutaaya may be the foundation on which you stand. The definition of greatness: The foundation on which a person stands, or the person that stands on a great foundation. You choose.

You are still greatly loved, Eddy Kenzo. I know salty conversations like these drive social Media likes and popularity… so perhaps it makes sense to open a can of worms sometimes, but one has to sometimes just a little, just a little be sensitive. Some things can be a bit off-putting for people like us who genuinely love and celebrate you bro.