JOHN SEGAWA
As we mourn the death of legendary musician Moses Matovu, popularly known as Papa Moi, the saxophonist, vocalist and long-time leader of Afrigo Band, one question hangs in the air: Will Afrigo survive as a performing band, become a legacy name, or simply become the Moses Matovu Band and nothing more?
Matovu co-founded and led Uganda’s longest-running musical group for more than five decades. Under his leadership, Afrigo Band survived political upheaval, changing musical tastes and the rise of new technologies, remaining a cultural mainstay across generations.
His death therefore raises a deeper question, not only about Afrigo Band, but about what it takes for an entertainment institution to outlive its founder.
This moment takes me back 32 years.
Straight from university, a group of visionary young men and a woman left their parent drama club, Omugave Ndugwa’s legendary Black Pearls, to form Diamonds Ensemble and Afri Talent.
The group included Abby Mukiibi, Ashraf Ssimwogere, the late Kato Lubwama, Mariam Ndagire and the then little-known John Ssegawa. My own story of how I ended up in Afri Talent is one for another day.
About a decade later, the group began to split. Kato and Ashraf left. I stayed for a time with Abby and Mariam before eventually departing to form my own modest company, Beyond Borderz Entertainment.
Those same individuals went on to build distinct careers and entities, with varying degrees of success. Why?
Because survival in the entertainment business demands more than talent and early stardom.
Those of us in the arts can suddenly become stars and forget that we operate in the same ecosystem as Kikuubo traders, taxi and boda boda operators, hospitality workers and school owners, all of whom have to struggle every day to keep their businesses alive.
The people who endure are those who understand that their names must become brands attached to something that can last.
Think of Mulindwa Kitende, Charlie Lubega of Guvnor, Mesach Semakula, my brother Lule Pakalast, Sozo and Kasuku.
Names become brands through sustained hard work. It requires dedication, discipline, loyalty to talent and, above all, loyalty to the art itself.
A disciple of the discipline.
That is precisely what Moses Matovu embodied.
For more than 50 years, he remained committed to his craft and to Afrigo Band. He was not simply a musician who happened to lead a successful band. He became part of the institution that Afrigo represented.
That is why his death presents such a difficult test for those he has left behind.
Can the remaining members of Afrigo Band believe in themselves enough to take the lead?
If the collective effort falters, will individuals step forward and prove that they can weather the storm?
I am not optimistic unless those left behind were truly good students of Matovu and understood that Papa Moi was mortal.
Tragic events happen. Leaders die. Founders retire. Businesses change hands. The real test is whether those who remain were prepared to take on the mantle.
I doubt it.
Uganda’s entertainment industry, like any serious business, teaches the same lesson: longevity is not automatic. It is earned through the quiet, daily discipline of treating the work as bigger than any one person.
Afrigo Band has already defied the odds for more than half a century. It survived because Matovu and his colleagues built something that was bigger than a single performance or a single generation.
Now the responsibility passes to those who remain.
They must decide whether Afrigo Band will continue as a living, performing institution or gradually settle into the status of a cherished legacy.
The music will play on in our memories. The harder question is whether the band itself will keep playing.
The author is an actor, director, and creative entrepreneur.
