MC Afrik : Rest in peace..

Death has once again cheated us of one great one. The amiable Jimmy Bageire, one of Uganda’s foremost early 90s youthful music stars. The news started filtering at 7 o'clock on Thursday 22nd April 2004. My phone received a text from the MD Music Uganda Paul Mwandha ‘Jimmy Bageire aka MC Afrik has passed away’. He passed away in a swimming accident at the Imperial hotel swimming pool. Very shocking because this week I had been scheduled to interview Afrik on several things related to his music and marketing career, his life in India and Kenya and his planned come back. We kept postponing because of his very busy schedule and my own. The last I remember was we had one for lunch time and then he called and said he had a small problem for a relative he had to settle at a police station. We had settled with the possibility of doing this interview by emai.l Before it occurred, Afrik was gone.

Ace producer Steve Jean found the news hard to believe.

‘We had actually talked about him getting back to studio and then he was gone, he was a very social guy and everyone seemed to like him. I am shocked! More shocked than you are Joel.’ Was what Steve had to say.

I first met Afrik physically on the Easter of 1994 and though quiet (before you prompted him), he was a vibrant young man. Our meeting place was Sheraton’s Rwenzori ball room where we held a performance with Shanks Vivie D. Afrik was constantly in the company of the late DJ Berry. He had just finished recording his ‘Watoto w’Africa’ single featuring Anne Mirembe formerly of Hot Soul Crew at Dungeon studio. Afrik was also to become a member of the Dungeon Posse and an employee of Capital radio where he did Jam Traxx and later Dance Force before Alex took over. He joined Capital at the time the late Bob Bashabe was joining. Their boss at Dungeon Peter Sematimba was already at Capital.

The second time I had physical contact with Afrik was when I went with Beat FM’s marketing team to sensitise MCL McCann about our operations in August shortly after coming on air. Afrik was working at MCL and was still energetic.

‘Guys you are doing well, your music is deep but play a lot more Swahili music because it is taking over East Africa.’

Then I chipped in about his music and whether he planned to get back. He said

‘Yeah, Denno is my cousin by the way and he is going to be my producer.’

Denno was the resident No-End Entertainment producer but is now based in Tanzania. Afrik had eventually made up his mind to settle for the best. He called Steve Jean and they were laying down plans to invigorate MC Afrik.

The last time we had contact was vocally on the phone and we had to do this interview that didn’t take off.

MC Afrik was born in Uganda and studied here and in Kenya where his family lived for quite a long time. This perhaps explains his addiction to Swahili music. Afrik was very hard working. He even rose to the ranks of head boy at Kasasa secondary school and together with Moses Muwonge of Zulu Squad, they gave Kasasa a musical dimension in the mid 90s. During holidays, Afrik would perform and at School he was in charge of students administration.

A short time after leaving high school, Afrik left for India as part of the Ugandan influx to study. He did commerce and came back to Uganda around 2000. To my disappointment, he joined Capital Radio again briefly as a marketing executive (I wanted him on air because he was a superb presenter before he left) and then moved on to the newly opened Monitor FM in 2001. At monitor, he was the pioneer presenter of the Saturday Night Groove Theory show. He also worked in the marketing department and his colleagues still hold a high view of him as a person and a marketing executive.

Afrik then left to join MCL after a while. At MCL, he had settled down preparing to deliver new music. Before he did, he was robbed from us.

RS Elvis was audibly shocked and had this to say,

‘.. he was one of the most talented rap artists that Uganda had, it’s a pity that he did not push his talent beyond that one song ‘Watoto w’africa’.

Mich and Belinda of Sanyu FM could not believe this. They all met Afrik sometime this week.

Mich
‘Thanks for telling me but its such bad news.. am shocked. I met him this week.’

It’s a long time since 1992, 1993, 1994 when MC Afrik began his recording career. Its so long and to the people we spoke to, it was clear that Afrik was highly respected. Many believed he had potential that was waiting to happen. Unfortunately it was not possible. I wish there was a way of doing a posthumous release for MC Afrik.

Condolences to Jimmy ‘MC Afrik’ Bageire’s family and his wide network of friends.

MAY HIS SOUL REST IN ETERNAL PEACE

Article by Joel Isabirye

jayvee20@email.com