Kenneth Mugabi Vs Maurice Kirya: Who is Uganda’s King of Soul Music?

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By Gloria

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Ugandan artists Maurice Kirya and Kenneth Mugabi are currently two of the leading Soul musicians in the country. In the past years, Ugandans were not receptive to this kind of music, but thanks to the two artists, Soul music is more appreciated in the country.

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Their gifted voices, stage presence, sweet melodies, guitars, harmonies, rhythm and soft lyrics make them stand out in the music industry. In this article, we review some of the key achievements that have shaped their careers:

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Experience

Kenneth Mugabi debuted professional in 2013 when he went for Coca Cola Rated Next competition after being eliminated from the Tusker Project Fame in the second round. He is inspired by stories of our daily life in relation to the past, present and the future. On his part, Maurice Kirya started his music career in 1999 and has staged performances in and outside Africa.

Awards

In 2019, Kenneth Mugabi  won HiPipo Best Soul Song award for his sensational song ‘Nkwegomba’. On his part, Maurice Kirya won awards like RFI Discoveries award, Eworld music awards and PAM. He has also been nominated for several awards that include;  Channel O video music awards, Uganda Music Awards, AFRIMA awards, Kisima Music Awards andKora Music Awards among others.

Albums

Kenneth Mugabi has two albums; his debut album 'Kibunomu' and 'Ugandan' released on 29th August 2019.

Maurice Kirya has released five albums namely; Misubbaawa (2009), The Book Of Kirya (2012), Mwooyo (2015), Free Dreams (2017) and Beyond Myself (2019).

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YouTube Viewership and Subscribers

Kenneth Mugabi's YouTube channel was launched on 31st October, 2017 and currently has 11.6K subscribers. He has a cumulative viewership of 672,914 views. Maurice Kirya's channel was launched on 14th July, 2009 and currently has 12.8K subscribers and a cumulative viewership of 1,416,016.

Social Media Followers

Kenneth Mugabi has 11.9K followers on Instagram and 107K on Facebook. On his part, Maurice Kirya has 195K followers on Instagram and 371K followers on Facebook.

Life outside Music

Kenneth Mugabi invests most of his life in music keeping his private life off social media. As for Maurice Kirya, he is not only a musician but also a movie actor and he has featured in Loukman Ali's 'The Girl In The Yellow Jumper' and Hollywood movies that include; The Queen of Katwe as Theo alongside Oscar award-winner Lupita Nyongo and David Oyelowo. The Last King of Scotland as starring Forest Whitaker, Kelly Washington and David Oyelowo.

He is the C.E.O/Founder of 'The Sound Cup Coffee' A Premium Coffee Brand that started as a restaurant in 2013. He recently opened another branch in the Netherlands. He is also C.E.O/Founder of 'Piz & Pots', a Ugandan based Branding Agency which also runs the annual music festival KIRYALIVE FESTIVAL in Kampala.