By. Katongole Arnold
“Am greatful that today we have managed to pull this event off, two women, musicians of class here to showcase a style of music and entertain their fans and this is good for the music industry.”
Comments of Dr.Lawrence Muganga vice Chancellor of Victoria University, the official organisers of the
Yolo Festival (Cindy Sheebah battle) after the battle at Kololo Airstrip
EVENT CONTEXT
Newton’s third law of motion states that for every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction, this sounds physics but it’s the reality of life and equally applies to the Cindy -Sheebah battle that happened on Friday 15 ,September 2023. In March 2020 before the outbreak of Covid19, one of Africa’s greatest Dancehall artists of all time Cindy Sanyu staged up her Boom Party concert at Lugogo Cricket Oval, an events venue commonly known for international acts and a few of the male artists in Uganda. Cindy defied the odds and became the first Ugandan female artist to stage a concert at Lugogo Cricket Oval, the event sold out and Cindy shut down Lugogo this meant breaking a barrier and setting a precedence for the Ladies in the industry.

The UMA boss, held the last Concert before Lockdown was declared in Uganda . After lifting of the
Lockdown in Uganda, Sheebah Karungi and modern day pop star stagged a two day concert at Serena Hotel ,this is the first time such an event happened an artist filling up the same venue on two days in succession, this was another precedent set by a female artist to the music industry of Uganda.
After the Cindy show in 2009, rumours and street talk stated of Sheebah battling with Cindy, but at the time the talk didn’t mature and after the Sheebah two day show at Serena Hotel ,the talk gained it’s popularity from the streets and corridors to the media and gradually grew. The first time it’s alleged that city promoter Balaam Barugahare wanted to give both artists 50millionUgx each, which they refused, later on more allegations of Bell in collaboration with Swangz Avenue wanted to organise this event but this time they considered it being between Sheebah and Rema Namakula , which Rema declined the opportunity.

In mid June 2023, Sheebah approached Victoria University with the idea of the Yolo Festival to be intertwined with the University’s graduation for the year in September 2023 as branding strategy from her as the University brand ambassador, the idea was instead bought off for an estimate of 50100millionUgx by the University .
Later on the Festival was supposed to at Kololo Airstrip, which was already booked by Cindy for a show on the Same day. According to Cindy she had booked the venue when no event was there and she had reciepts. After it was announced that they had agreed and there was a battle between Cindy and Sheebah at the venue organised by Victoria University, this announcement raised a swarm of comments and ignited support for the different camps. The announcement was stamped by the public after a presser at Victoria University where the two artists confirmed the news and this was kept alive through social media, broadcast advertising, artists initiatives like concert songs Tosoboola and Fire by Sheebah and Cindy respectively and eventually the D-day at Lugogo where the artists took it to each other’s face- music from Cindy, pomp and glamour from the UNFA vice president Queen Karma Sheebah Karungi . The whole event was presided over by Isaac Katende alias Kasuku a prolific household entertainment Journalist with Nation Media Group
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE EVENT
The event signified a couple of elements that were beyond singing, pomp, fashion and showbiz and among these are positives and negatives;
Positive
Both acts Sheebah and Cindy were able to earn atleast more than 100miliionsUgx, which is a quite a huge chunk of money to be made in one month and an elevation in their finances.
This battle enabled Sheebah and Cindy, both get 25millonshillings from the Victoria University to do a battle song before the battle and Cindy did Fire and Sheebah did Tosoboola, this enabled these acts get more to their catalogues and gather more audience.
The battle set a new precedence for women not only in the music industry but across the divide. Cindy and Sheebah showed that women can stand up for equal opportunities like men and can as well get supported and it’s possible. These music battles before were for men like the one between Bobi wine and Bebe cool “Battle of the Champions”Radio and Weasel vs Bebecool and it was impossible to think women could do this but they set the precedent right and enlightened affirmative action.
There was economic trickle down effect from this battle at a large scale , as different camps involved contacted different service providers to perform specific roles like Sheebah, Cindy and Victoria University the chief organiser all assigned people roles from designers, MCs, in charge officer, stage.
Increase of Market value, Cindy and Sheebah have gained valuation as artists and from this battles both acts booking and hiring fees will increase as a result of what they achieved and demand is likewise to go high for them so those is a plus for the acts.
Brand Visibility, Sheebah and Cindy are big brands but this battle has increased their visibility enormously not only in Uganda but across Africa and the globe, because it’s on rare occasion that you find such an event of this stature across the world and their google and social media analytics has increased in pre and post battle and this doesn’t only enable them get more online steams and sales but also increases their bargaining power as musicians during policy framing and endorsements in and outside Uganda and chance for bigger collaborations than they have had before.
New trends, for every industry to grow there must be innovation and creativity and these ladies showed, we don’t need to be friends to conduct business. They have set up a new trend for the industry that battles and partnership concerts may be a new venture to engage in and give the industry a fresh breath of action.
Negatives
The music industry of Uganda is still divided alot as musicians from the Uganda National Musicians
Federation (UNMF), all sided with Sheebah who is a Vice President to Eddy Kenzo , choosing side wouldn’t be wrong but as a uniting body for artists, they were supposed to put teams at both camps and support both to the contrary they only distorted and punched holes into their aims and objectives.
For organisers, this exposed the gaps left in preparations as Cindy’s stage had sound inconsistencies which wasn’t good for the entire show.
For the artists, more practice was needed coming to the show . Sheebah prepared more choreography than Cindy which was a plus to her but did bearly sing and Cindy’s choreography was average, however her singing was prolifically top notch.
For the MCs DJ.Nimorod and Zahara Toto, lost their cool on stage and the battle started before even the artists could perform