Rachel Magoola
Rachael Magoola, a Ugandan singer now based in the UK, formerly a member of The Afrigo Band is set to perform with Claude Deppa, a celebrated South African trumpeter at The Queen Elizabeth Hall, on March 10th, 2005. She is going to be a guest performer in a musical collaboration of ‘African Divas’ led by Deppa. During an interview on the BBC’s Outlook show earlier today, she talked briefly about her Afrigo background and she and Deppa performed a rendition of Deppa’s song, ‘Don’t worry, panic’ which is off his new Toi Toi album.
She made an exquisite vocal performance of the song, which was originally all-instrumental in the BBC studios. When the host asked her what language she had written her lyrics, she said it was in Lusoga, a language from south eastern Uganda. Deppa then explained that Rachel really twist her tongue to adjust her Lusoga lyrics to suit his South African melody, which she did very ably. It was her Lusoga lyrics in the the Afrigo hit ‘Obangaina’ that shot her to fame and her ability to write good music in her native language cannot be undermined. The performance was described as a collaboration between East and South Africa.
About Rachel
She is a charming lady with a wealth of experience. She is also gifted with different skills like song writing, dancing; dance choreography and God know she sings beautifully.
From 1989 to Jan 2001 she, worked as a music teacher in Kaliro Primary Teacher’s College. While at Kaliro she was the patroness of the Music Club. She formulated the syllabi and schedules for the college. The College choir under her patronage on several occasions represented the Busoga region at the National Primary Teachers College Music Festivals. She also arranged many other musical activities both intra and inter college
With in the same period, Rachel worked as a co lead singer for ‘Afrigo Band’. With the Band, she worked professionally and produced smash hits that rocked the charts nation-wide. Two of her best-known hits are obagaina and inhaife. Obaingaina was the the nunber one song on Capital Radio’s coca cola hot seven daily countdown for thirty consecutive days which was a record for Ugandan FM stations. It was also voted Song of the Millennium on the millennium countdown. The video tape ‘inhaife’ has been extensively played on UTV WBS CTV and other TV stations.