Kawesa is a celebrated Ugandan musician accompanied by his 7 piece Spirit of Africa world music African band from Kampala, Uganda. Their sound is reminiscent of Hugh Masekela, Youssou N’Dour, Salif Keita and Baaba Maal but with a healthy dose of funky original unique Ugandan live instrumentation from the African tube fiddle (Ndigindi) to the Ugandan Long drum (Ngalabi) rhythms.
Kawesa Richard was born on May 5th, 1977 in Entebbe, 25 miles southwest of the capital city Kampala in Uganda. At the age of 10 Kawesa (meaning The Songsmith) joined the award nominated African Children Choir in 1987. He toured 48 states in the USA and 6 out of 9 provinces in Canada until July 1989. While in the United States he was trained to sing by internationally renowned professional voice trainers like Gary Oliver and producers like Tom Keen.
On returning to Uganda, Kawesa joined high school in Toro Kingdom where he formed a band called Revival Flames. He received invitations to sing for the late king of Toro Omukama Kaboyo and different institutes of higher learning in and around Fort Portal a town 3-hours-drive away west of Uganda’s capital city Kampala.
In 1993 Kawesa joined another school in the capital Kampala where he brought together teenagers that were once members of the prestigious African Childrens Choir and they formed a band of 12 musicians under the name Young Africans. Under this band Kawesa was able to enhance his skills in song writing by writing most of the bands repertoire singing leads and producing the same.
By 1991 the Young Africans had drawn attention from Uganda’s First Lady Mrs. Janet Museveni and different 5 Star hotels like the Sheraton and Nile Hotels in the country.,We then got invitations to perform at The Presidential Prayer Breakfast” and at the Annual Youth conferences where over 1 youths attended at the Uganda Conference Center” says Kawesa.
It was during the same time that the group was invited to sing at a youth annual Easter camp in Nairobi Kenya between 1994 and 1996.
In 1996 Kawesa was signed onto Sync Sounds Studio and Kelele Records (A German label). The Kelele Record label is owned by P & G media services in German and is responsible for the mass production and international distribution of Kawesa’s first album called Yerere. By the time he released Yerere (African cry) he had worked on many international projects with charity organizations in Africa.
He sung and won East Africa’s leading star search singing competitions at Carnivore Nairobi.
Between 2001- 2004 he released several singles that were eventually compiled into his second 14-track album titled Spirit of Africa. The singles became hits in East Africa.
In April 2003 Kawesa founded and launched a group of artists commonly known as the Musicians Community that includes Orlando, Rachael Magoola, Jose Chameleon, Michael Ross, Titie, Juliana Kanyomozi, Bebe Cool and Halima who offer their time and energy to social work in Behavior Change Communication most especially in the fields of HIV/AIDS/STD Clean water sensitization and poverty eradication.
Still continuing his commitment to the development of his society through Staging Value-driven AIDS-awareness concerts in so far over 6 High Schools Universities and other Institutions of Higher Learning in Uganda.
After his highly publicized social efforts Kawesa was invited by the President’s office as well as Uganda Aids Commission to spearhead motivational speaking at the Presidential Youth Dialogue on HIV/AIDS in different parts of the country.
On April 2004 Kawesa and another popular musician Jose Chameleone joined hands and founded a non-profit organization whose patron is a retired Germany Ambassador to Uganda. The organization’s object is to rally support for the restoration of hope and peace in the lives of the disadvantaged. They started with the war torn Northern parts of Uganda. The project code-named3 Hours Away: Hope so near and yet so far mainly targets children youth and women.
On December 27th 2004 Kawesa organized the Foot Soldier Shukuru Concert for the 4th Battalion of UPDF stationed in Northern Uganda. This initiative was founded purposely to show civilian gratitude to the foot soldier for his/her effort in sacrificing for the country’s security and welfare.
The artist founded and is the elected President of Music Forum Foundation a non-profit making organization with over 15 established and up coming member musicians in Uganda. The main objective of this organization is to accelerate the development of the local music into a professional transparent and profitable for all industry through lobbying regulating and networking.
October 2005, Kawesa was commissioned by the Uganda government to compose & produce the music to accompany the new Brand Uganda adverts to run on CNN.
Kawesa was invited to the UK by renowned score composer Alex Heffes (music composer of films Touching the Void Parole Officer Last Day in September etc) to work on the sound tracks of a movie Last King of Scotland featuring Forest Whitaker Kerry Washington among others.
On March 2006 Kawesa finalized recording his 14-track 3rd album Kanimba.
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
Hello. I would really like to talk to Kawesa regarding an international project. We want to make a song with several artists that will inspire the whole planet. I think Kawesa has an exceptional voice that would be perfect in this. Do you know his contact information?
Unfortunately, we don’t have recent contact information.