The Track: Tugende Tukyekole – Toniks

You remember when you were younger, a long time ago, you played around with your nostrils, you know, covered them up and then tried to speak, giving you a weird intonation in the process, which at that times you wrongly thought was a very cool thing to do; you remember? Well, there are some times, actually many many times, when Toniks sounds exactly like that, like he is singing through his nose and the mouth is blocked.

But, I will stop my acutely inadequate sense of appreciation right there and decide to have some real gratitude for this song, because, in all honesty, Tegende Tukyekole (only God knows what it really is they plan to do to themselves) is a good song. It is Zoukish – and Zouk has become nearly the easiest genre to do a good song in Uganda of late – with some very groovy synchronisation of its beats and syllables.

Toniks weaves his voice along, like he usually does, attempting a lower tone on his verses and then suddenly going a pitch higher when the chorus kicks in. And the chorus is mellow, even tasty, and after you listen to it, you are likely to catch yourself involuntarily humming along to its tune. It is a simple lovely song, though of course it will not make us forget what the guy sounds like.