Museveni shares songs he listens to in his car

The president said most of the songs he listens to contain religious messages and historical information.

The songs the president enjoys were composed as far as 1890 and he recorded them during the bush war, which started in 1981 and ended in ‘86.

He said he would record the songs and his drivers would keep them.

His daughter Natasha Museveni, who is involved in the entertainment industry, recently retrieved over 100 songs from the drivers.

"On account of my love for this indigenous music, my daughter Natasha tells me that I would sing to them some tunes such as Abagorola-nshoonga, the cattle of the King of Kookyi, Kamushwaaga. Ever since the bush days, I was recording these songs and my librarians were my drivers who would lose some of them along the way but, to their credit, especially one called Byaruhanga, many were kept," President Museveni said in a statement.

President Museveni with daughter, Natasha Pulse

"Recently, Natasha and her able aide, Ataho, managed to get from my drivers a total of about 119 tunes spanning the two centuries ― from [the] 1890s to the present."

The songs he shared are Enanga yo kutonzya, Mpoora Nshokoozo, Ekiziniro kya Kanyena, Omushana Gwakangire, Bwera ye Bigabiro and Masindi na Kijunjubwa.

Museveni said: "The music is excellent. This is music and not noise. I enjoy it so much. It is the main music in my cars when I am driving, plus some religious tunes and NRM songs. The content is excellent ― dealings with contemporary social or political issues. The language is so rich. I used the songs to get vocabulary to enrich our Katondoozi."

Some of his favourite musicians are "Kibazibira, Maaga, Rwandaare’s wife, Kamuzaana, Mzee Kiriindi, Kembuundu, Muhara wa Beene-Ruzira, Kyanyweire, and Kakashaka," among others.

"I also thank my drivers for only losing some and not all of them. I directed my team to edit out words that would be part of the tribal chauvinism that the incompetent rulers were using to keep their fiefdoms that kept our people divided," Museveni said.

"Only the innocuous ones were kept to illustrate the weaknesses of that indigenous society. In one of the songs, there are references to the rivalry between the Bagina and Bashaambo in the Omutara area. That area is now in Rwanda."