Bobi Wine says Uganda’s music industry is “under siege”

• Bobi Wine says Uganda’s music industry has been captured and weakened to silence artists’ influence.
• Ahead of his London show, Bobi Wine claims artists are forced into making “meaningless songs.”
• Bobi Wine accuses authorities of controlling the music industry to block voices of change.
  

Bobi Wine has once again spoken out about the state of Uganda’s music industry, describing it as “under siege” and deliberately weakened to silence its influence.

Speaking to the media during rehearsals for his upcoming London show, the musician-turned-politician said the industry has been captured by individuals who “don’t know but don’t know that they don’t know.”

He argued that the government has deliberately suffocated the industry because it once produced powerful voices like his, capable of shaping society and inspiring change.

“Artists were normally disrespected, but as we grew up and saw legends before us like Bob Marley and how they used music to change the world and move from colonialism, when I came up, they decided to capture and control the industry,” he explained.

According to him, the authorities have since resorted to creating their own stars — musicians they can control and manipulate for political gain.

Reality in music is representation. Us artists are like mirrors; what you see in society is what you see through us. Our mouths are meant to communicate what I see in my society. Fans come to our shows to listen to the songs they relate to, so music is social commentary.

He added that artists have now been reduced to producing “meaningless songs” with no social or political impact, killing the industry’s true essence as a tool for expression and transformation.