He takes no less than four months to conceive and develop an idea in his head, a process he refers to as mental sketching. It takes him a minimum of another four weeks to actualize the idea on canvas to his satisfaction. Meet Godfrey Banadda, a second-generation modern artist that has led a distinguished career in painting, exploring a diversity of themes that essentially question the mysteries of nature and culture.
Read More >>(As a society), we are responsible for documenting, studying and understanding the musical heritage that is available. Many contemporary musicians are looking for avenues to make their work more authentic. … The Klaus Wachsmann Music Archive would be the perfect place to establish more accurate study by those same musicians who are searching for ‘authenticity’ to research on various instrument, and to hear recordings of the canons of master players in Uganda’s cultural legacy.
Read More >>“What I like about Afrotopia is the assertively used indigenous instruments like the akogo, the nanga and the tube fiddle. When I compare Afrotopia, though, to another Ugandan album; Sipping From the River Nile by Tshila from 2008; it falls short. In this album by Tshila, being very similar in style to Afrotopia, the wealth of syncopation, rhythm and sound is consistent within every individual song. This quality is especially lacking in Afrotopia.” Pamela Acaye reviews.
Read More >>There are many new ways for Ugandans to be exposed to the arts. Startjournal wanted to find out if all the art that is permeating the air had actually seeped through the skins of the people. We posed the following question to working class Ugandans: Please tell us — what is ART to you?
Read More >>“Serena swimming pool area was the venue for this unlikely musical pairing, Pragmo and Lillian Mbabazi, even though as it turned out, they were not so different after all. The deemed lights, sound of the waterfall and even that of the frogs formed the perfect background for a quiet night out and a premonition of the style of music to expect: Jazz and soul.” Elizabeth Namakula reviews.
Read More >>Startjournal hereby publish the 2nd runner-up of Femrite’s Writing Competition under the theme ‘My Uganda @50?. The short story ‘My Uganda @50’ is written by Kaigo Betty.
Read More >>What do you do as a minority community in a greater Uganda when you find yourself landless and your heritage about to be extinguished? The Benet people, high up on mount Elgon in the district of Kapchorwa, have chosen to tackle their fight for recognition and preservation of culture through art, being helped by two Dutch artists, Arno Peeters and Iris Honderdos. The exhibition ROOTED opens at Makerere Art Gallery Jan 18 2013.
Read More >>In this third and final part of a three-part essay, Angelo Kakende reviews the recent Nude 2012-exhibition at FasFas: “Nudes 2012 was different from Nude 2000, Nude 2001… It was mobilised with local resources and initiatives. This created the burden of the need to sell and recover costs. In my opinion, it is this economic incentive which affected the positions the artists took while. They treaded carefully avoiding the risk of offending anyone.”
Read More >>Many artists will gush at the opportunity of participating in a group exhibition, especially when it is held in a non-traditional art space like a hotel or an open space. The excitement comes from the fact that they are going to make a good killing with their art. Unfortunately, many times the artists compromise a lot on quality—often the work is not good enough—and as such it affects the whole idea of creativity, competence and innovation.
Read More >>Serubiri Moses reflects on the recent Amakula Festival which showed films as diverse as Nairobi Half Life, Africa United, The Interrupters and Who Killed Me? and told contrasting stories of immigrants, thugs, gangsters, street children, and even a safe house.
Read More >>Iwaya reviews the latest Murica Kirya-album “The Book of Kirya” for startjournal.org. “More than anything else, Book of Kirya is about helping others. If Misubbaawa was about lighting the candle, Book is about demonstrating to the whole world of onlookers that the light has not gone out. It is still shinning, bringing light, and if you bring your light, like Kirya is trying, like in Mulembe gwa Kirya, this light can become a fire, a blaze, an unstoppable inferno.”
Read More >>The Lantern Meet of Poets is made up of mostly university students who share one thing in common. They were born in the 1980’s—at the time when the National Resistance Army (NRA), now the National Resistance Movement (NRM), allegedly liberated this country from bad governance. During this first themed recital and performance, they sounded out their splintered voices from within the revolution. The writing, though familiarly presented, managed to achieve a simmering hyper-realism in the audience.
Read More >>Startjournal hereby publish the 1st runner-up of Femrite’s Writing Competition under the theme ‘My Uganda @50?. The short story ‘Dependence’ is written by Muriel Baguma.
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