Uganda: From The cupboard, 'You're Special' Became an Instant hit
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New Vision (Kampala)
9 October 2008
Posted to the web 10 October 2008
Tony Mushoborozi
Kampala
THERE is this new gospel song that gets everyone asking about who did it. This is because there is something about the way it sounds that just blows your mind.
The song, You're Special, and you must agree with me (if you have heard it), is not only world class in many production aspects, but also, out of this world. And the sweet side of things is that it is Ugandan.
Isn't it quite a shame that newspapers cannot play music? Well, I can only give a hint on the fact that it is a carefully rhymed hip hop song, whose baritone rap borders on the periphery of the genre, yet stays sweet.
When the chorus comes in, the mellow, almost husky lady's voice oscillates between hip hop and R&B, making the song a great marriage of two music genres.
How they did it, only God knows.
However, in spite of it being excellently produced, You're Special was not done in a professional studio, by a veteran producer. And that is the shocking part.
The song was produced at home by an amateur. Nelson Muhairwe, the writer and lead singer of the House of Prayer (H.O.P), a worship group, produced this A-class song, only armed with a simple home computer and a cupboard!
Yes. For lack of an isolation audio booth, which professional studios use in recording, Muhairwe used a cupboard full of clothes to record the song's vocals.
Muhairwe wrote the song for a girlfriend of his who was going through an emotional low. Her situation motivated the famous lines: 'I don't know what's on your mind, I don't know what makes you cry, I don't know what makes you smile, but there is one thing that I know, I know that you're special.'
That was four years ago, when Muhairwe was still at Greenhill Academy, and the original recording never got to play on radio. But the You're Special we all know today was recorded early this year.
The group is working on a 10-track album, which unlike their first single or many other Ugandan songs, is fully-recorded in live instruments.
Relevant Links
Muhairwe's home has evolved into Cupboard Records and we hope for more works of art from this cupboard-dwelling rodent.
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Copyright © 2008 New Vision. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
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