Phillip Nyehangane

Phillip Nyehangane is a 27-year-old super active energetic artist who has been around since 1990. He is a Munyankore born in Rwampara, Mbarara but is now resident in Kampala. He recalls that he started his singing career round about 1990 by imitating and miming other people’s music. His favorites were Lord Fred Ssebata and Matiya Luyima. He used to mime this music, which was in Luganda without even understanding what it meant as a young Munyankore man.

The time came for Phillip to take his talent to another level and he took the opportunity with both hands when it came. He joined Umaru Katumba and The Emitos in 1994. The late Umaru Katumba was Phillip’s close friend and he was saddened as he remembered the circumstances that led to his death in a car accident along Masaka road. He is however still in touch with Umaru’s son who he says is a big man now.

After Umaru’s tragic death in 1995, Phillip and other members of the group stayed to run The Emitos. This was through a lot of difficulty because the group was under funded and there was a severe shortage of equipment. He however persevered for four more years but left the group in 1999 due to the above reasons.
He joined Banalukoba United Artists and stayed with them for one year. Why did he leave them? The group closed down in 2000 due to luck of equipment and support. That wasn’t the end of the road for Phillip. He met Nsamba Godfrey and later joined his group called the Tropical Band and has been with them since.

Phillip now has a new album called Vaayo Gyoli, which is taking him places. He recorded the album at N.I.K studios in May 2002. He showed us a cassette and a CD and he also still moves around with his Emitos cassette, which he is very sentimental about. What happened to the Emitos? He tells us that the group still exsists and still makes music.

One of the problems that he thinks is retarding his progress in music is the fact that recording studios in Kampala are very expensive. Many of the groups he has joined have also been under funded and many times don’t earn enough to pay all the members satisfactorily.