August 22 marked 14 years since the legendary Elly Wamala passed on, and to commemorate the day, Hassan Badru Zziwa linked up with ROSE WANYANA, daughter of famed singer Eclas Kawalya and sister to Afrigo band’s Joanita Kawalya.

Above all, she was the inspiration behind Wamala’s 1973 classic, Akaana Ka Kawalya Ka Wanyana. Back in the 1960s, Elly Wamala and Eclas Kawalya were some of the biggest names in Ugandan music. Wamala was the band leader of The Mascots band whose main rival at the time was Kawalya’s Savanna band.

As individuals, they were close and did several collaborations but, most importantly, they were also best friends that shared a lot in common through their families.

In fact, Wanyana recalls growing up knowing Wamala as an uncle because he was very close to the family.

“Dad occasionally took us to visit his home in Kyengera [on the outskirts of Kampala] and he would also spend several hours at our home on weekends in Bulange [Mengo] practicing music with my dad and other instrumentalists. I remember faces like Frank Mbalire and Billy Mutebi.”

Kawalya’s home was strategic given that it was within a short distance from the top hangouts at the time; places such as New Life bar in Katwe and Suzanna at Nakulabye where the bands used to perform.

THE MAKING OF AKAANA KA KAWALYA

Wanyana was just nine years old in 1972 when Elly Wamala started the composition of Akaana Ka Kawalya [meaning, Kawalya’s amazing daughter], something she thought was a mere joke.

“I’m the eldest child in the Kawalya family [of 18 children] and dad was a strict disciplinarian who taught us to be humble. So, whenever he [Wamala] came home, I would be the first among my siblings to kneel and greet him. It’s funny, but I was also the shiest one,” she recalls.

“As a norm, I would bring him a glass of water and sit near him as he played the guitar during their practice sessions. So, when one day he strummed out a tune and started praising me…I was very happy but I didn’t think at the time that he was seriously composing a song about me.”

One day in 1973, Wamala went to Kawalya’s home to pick Wanyana along with her younger sister Margaret Katasi Kawalya.

“We thought it was a routine way of exciting us by giving us a ride but we ended up in a studio for a photo-shoot,” she recalls.

While there, Wamala ensured that Wanyana takes several photos before he settled for one, which later turned out to be the cover of his album Akaana Ka Kawalya.

It had several other hits such as Haamadi, Talanta, Kaama Katono and Viola – big hits on their own – but Wamala settled for Akaana Ka Kawalya as the title song.

“I had held onto that photo and album as a treasure, but unfortunately I lost them all in a fire,” Wanyana says.

OVERNIGHT STAR

The release of the album thrust Wanyana into the limelight at a young age.

“Many people visited home just to see me…they showered me with gifts for being an exemplary girl,” she recalls.

 

With her newfound fame, her father Eclas Kawalya started taking her along for his performances. Wanyana and her sisters would do back-up vocals on some of his songs.

“We were young but greatly entertained crowds with traditional kiganda dances, which was amazing for children of our age,” she says.

With time, however, Wanyana started to hate the attention the song brought to her, especially at school.

“Some classmates would tease me that I was not as good as was portrayed in the song, while others even went to the extent of bullying me by twisting around the lyrics,” she says. “But as I grew up, I got to appreciate it and each time peers knew it was me that Wamala sang about, they would praise me for inspiring them.”

If you carefully listen to the lyrics of Akaana Ka Kawalya, Wanyana dreamt of becoming a lawyer but she admits that career did not materialize.

“I simply loved the way lawyers conducted themselves, but I never really pursued it as a career,” she says. “It is only my young sister Nambassa [also mentioned in the song] who fulfilled her dream of becoming a nursing sister.”

Along with her sisters, Wanyana would later perform alongside artistes such as Fred Masagazi, Martin Munyenga, Fred Kanyike and many others.

However, Kawalya’s death in 1986 shattered Wanyana’s music career even though she had already exited the stage for the younger Margaret Kawalya and Joanita Kawalya, who would later carry on their dad’s music legacy.

Wanyana went to Sweden in the early nineties and joined Sammy Kasule’s Makonde band, where she mostly performed her dad’s songs.

“I enjoyed the performances but it was a tedious effort to converge since we all lived far from one another,” she says. “That is how I quit music.”

Now 55, Wanyana is still based in Sweden and the mother-of-two occasionally returns home to perform alongside Joanita in Afrigo.

Fittingly, Mbalire redid Akaana Ka Kawalya a few years ago and 45 years since its release, the song remains a true classic.

bzziwa@observer.ug