One thing we have to give it up to Africans is their vast creativity in all forms of art, whether it is acting, singing, writing or even dancing, there is always something memorable as a takeaway. A song presenting a set of calculated dance routines and moves that soon become the in-thing on the streets or in households didn’t just start yesterday, it dates from back in the day. For this case, our focus will be Uganda as we break down songs that have not only had us have our speakers on full blast but also helped us learn a dance move or two.
The dances listed here are according to research, mass appeal, and overall trends but in no particular order.
- Kipepeo
‘Kipepeo’ was a popular dance in the early 2000’s at the time the legendary Jose Chameleone and boss of Leone Island Music Empire released the record by the same name. The dance involves one standing as they flap their hands like a butterfly. The dance was greatly enjoyed by all generations, just like Chameleone sang, it left both the old and young on their dancing feet, and doing this easy step dance.
- Calypso
“Calypso, calypso, calypso…”, goes the lines in 80s popular record Calypso on The Island by Stanley and the Turbines. The song came along with a dance and it is probably one of those dance strokes parents and children, inclusive of Gen Z’s appreciated and embraced with open arms.
Musician turned Politician Bobi Wine made an attempt to localise it by featuring Phina Mugerwa doing the Calypso dance in his Bada song. And for some time, people referred to the local version of Calypso as the Bada dance.
Calypso is danced by going up on your toes and back down over and over again on the same spot! You can shake your waist, gyrate your hips, jump up and down (if it’s a song with a fast pace) or you can just bop your head in time with the music, the upper part of the body is usually stiff though.
Calypso in itself is not just a dance, but a genre of music originating from the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago.
- Bolingo
Eddy Kenzo and Tip Swizzy introduced and popularized the ‘Bolingo’ Dance. The dance involves one bending their back, as they sway their hands, and move their legs forward and backward. It gained a lot of mainstream success, more so among primary school students who performed/ mimed the song on their interhouse competitions as well as choreographing it among their peers.
- Stamina
The high-spirited laid-back dance not only made a craze when it was introduced by singer song writer Eddy Kenzo but also catapulted him into international stardom in 2009. Appearing in the music video of song was mohawk-haired dancer Ronnie Julian who was doing the dance, which involves back and forth swaying of one’s legs and body as a whole, as they turn their head from the right to the left.
- Smart Wire
Probably the easiest Ugandan dance ever. The dance was made popular in the 2017 by Vampino, former member of recording duo Benon & Vampos. The dance involves waving both hands simultaneously in the air- in a graceful fashion. To this day, you will find Millennials consciously or unconsciously incorporating the Smart Wire dance into their urban dance routines, especially when the song is played in bars, or at hangout spots where music is.
- Kachumbali
“I say java eli, she tell me balya Kachumbali. Kyava anyirira bwati, mi say bwatiiiiii
Tanaaba ga luzzi, alabika anaaba Rwenzori…” these are lyrics to by far one of the most popular records of 2020 ‘Kachumbali’ a song by Quex. The magnitude of how much of a classic or big deal this song is can be heavily felt once the song plays. You immediately notice that whoever is on the dance floor reaches out to their members of the crew (recommended for groups of more than 5 people) to make a formation and start doing the Kachumbali dance routine.
With legs apart, all raise your arms in the air, then touch the chest, and lower back as you swing your waist and buttocks in all directions. This is followed by jumping to the front and back, then turning around in unison. The record as well as the dance routine first became popularized by students of Uganda Martyrs University in Nkozi where George Kwesiga also famously known as Quex had a big fan base as an artist despite not being a student there since he was pursuing a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery programme at Kampala International University (Ishaka campus), but his music was traversing cities.
- Skonto
When Fik Fameica basked onto the music scene, dance became part of his signature offerings especially on visuals. The muchly enjoyed ‘Skonto’ was choreographed by Wembley Mo, of the Wembley Mo Dance Foundation, who also happened to be Fik Fameica’s frequent dance collaborator at the time.
Fik rightfully put this in the chorus on which he sang “Wembley kafulu mu gano, sconto Tubakubye ne kano, sconto”. In the street dance’s routine, individuals leaning back, do sway their hands in the air, each hand separate, right and left feet each doing a forward and backward step movement and then pose like a statue at once. There’s a part of the routine where people doing the dance strokes fling one arm forward, and their keep their hips in motion and swing their heads. The dance was so vibrant and was greatly by many young people, of all walks of life.
- Empele
The ground breaking dance move has been for a whole while now. It was re-awakened and brought back to the masses last year, sky rocketing its popularity and glory when Crysto Panda released a song after it, by the title ‘Empele’.
As its architect, Crysto Panda in his song breaks down the routine on how to dance ‘Empele’ to perfection. The now viral dance involves, first of breaking your back (bending), bending one’s knee, and forward jerking one’s foot onto the ground. Some even go an extra mile and get a nearby item to hold onto, bend and then dance ‘Empele’. Quite an interesting dance that it leaves both the young and old on their dancing feet whenever a song that needs Empele to be danced goes on or is played.
- Kachima
Kachima as a dance picks its name from an animal which is a Monkey, locally known as ‘Enkyima’ in Luganda, one of the native languages spoken in Uganda.
It was popularized by Fik Fameica when he teamed up with Wembley Mo of the Wembley Mo Foundation, his official choreographer by then.
Just like its name, Kachima involves dancing while imitating the movements of a monkey. While executing the dance, a plethora of hand- movements are made, first, with two arms in the air, as one swaggers in balance, and then afterwards turn to the opposite and do the same, and it goes on and on. As was the case in most of the dance strokes highlighted here, Kakyima was so popular among primary and secondary school goers since it appealed to them to a bigger extent.
Elsewhere, among the most popular dance moves is the legwork or Zanku dance from Nigeria that was largely popularized by rapper Zlatan Ibile. Gwara Gwara from South Africa, Azonto by UK Based- Ghanaian singer Fuse ODG, Gangnam style by PSY, Shoki that was largely popularized by Nigeria’s Lil Kesh in 2014, Alingo by P-Square, to mention but a few.
