Red Banton Tells How Paulo Kafeero Wrote ‘Dipo Nazigala’ for Nine Years
Veteran musician Red Banton has opened up about how music production in Uganda has changed since the time of the late Paulo Kafeero.
His words give fans a rare look at the challenges of the past and how different things are today.
Speaking to Shalom 256 and Frank Ntambi, “Nonya Money” hitmaker said making music today is much easier.
The reason, he explained, is the large number of recording studios now available.
It was not easy, especially when it came to recording. But today, studios are like groundnuts. I would not advise anyone to start an audio production studio today.
He added that the oversupply of studios makes starting one as a business a poor choice.
Looking back at the Kadongo Kamu era, Red Banton said recording music was far more difficult.
Songs often lasted over ten minutes and every recording had to be done in one take. There was no way to pause, edit, or resume.
They recorded using reel-to-reel tape recorders, which required them to do everything in one take. They did not have the luxury of stopping, cutting, or resuming. If you made a mistake, you started over. The instrumentalists were always playing live. It was like they were on a show with no room for error. When you made a mistake, you started from the beginning.
For Red Banton, that time was marked by patience and dedication.
He revealed that Paulo Kafeero spent years perfecting some of his songs.
Recording was not easy back then, not even writing. Paulo Kafeero told me he wrote Dipo Nazigala for nine years and a few months. He would write, then put it aside, then write again, and continue like that.
Banton also shared a dramatic moment from Kafeero’s life. He said the musician lost a songbook containing unfinished works in a road accident.
They got into an accident on Masaka Road. After the accident, they lost their songbook, which they advertised heavily on radio with a big reward for whoever returned it. All the songs they were writing were in that book. I do not know whether they ever recovered it.
Through these memories, Red Banton shows a world where making music was a test of skill, endurance, and passion.
It is a world that looks very different from today’s fast-moving and technology-driven music industry.
