The nature and state of popular music in jinja city, Uganda

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the prevalence of popular music in Jinja City. The influence of western modernization has greatly affected the trends of the different popular music styles in Jinja. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to examine the state of popular music in Jinja City and to deal with this objective, we had 3 specific objectives, namely 1) to examine the context of popular music in Jinja City; 2) to examine the unpopularity of popular music in Jinja City and 3) to examine the popular music styles in Jinja City. In the findings, it was discovered that the local music, which is mainly the traditional music of the Basoga (the biggest ethnic group in Jinja City) is phasing out to give room for the western music genres such as hip-hop, dancehall and other secular music. Local music is also diminishing due to western influence and competition from popular artists, sometimes coming from as far as Kampala and other parts of Uganda to perform their music in Jinja City. We also found out that the unpopularity of popular music in Jinja City beyond the borders of this area is due to the low-quality writers and the stereotype other regions have towards the Basoga, the major inhabitants of Jinja City. As Rio Shahkhan put it, the “Basoga are referred to as foolish and stupid hence being segregated by Ugandans”. We therefore recommend that popular artistes and producers based in Jinja City should improve on the quality of the music they create and perform.