Solome Live Season 3 at Salama Springs in 2024

Welcome back from the break from shows, how have you been Solome?

I'm back! I feel like I've been around... But anyway, I've been well.

Emotionally and mentally healthy, which I give God glory because things can be really tight.

But I'm so glad that my head is still above water. I'm still focused on my music, still focused on growing as a person but at the same time also growing the music.

So, I'm really thankful that I'm in a good place. A place of, like, I see the dream, I see the vision and I'm in it... I'm so thankful for that.

What should people expect from your first show of 2024?

So, this is the first show of Season 3... Season 2 happened last year.

So, season 3 is coming bigger, better, infused with so much of everything love.

You want to propose? Come!... You want to fall in love? Come! You want to forgive somebody? Come.

Solome Basuuta Pulse Live Uganda

You want to dance and laugh? Come... so much entertainment. I keep saying that my shows are a whole buffet of so much... so much sound and so much genre... so, I think there is a bit of everything for everyone

So, people should definitely come through.

Promoters and musicians are saying it's becoming harder and harder to organise shows in Uganda today because of low returns, what is your opinion, and what do you think is changing in the industry?

... the thing has been about getting people in, and that's the thing every event is all about: get the people in, and so that has been tight because you just to have to find a way of marketing the show so well... and make the show so outstanding that people are willing to pay 100k or 50k or 30k for your show.

So, I understand definitely low returns can be there... there is an opportunity to still get big returns even for your show.

I think it's just the way that you are marketing and that's the thing I'm still definitely figuring out and still getting at.

I feel like Ugandans, post-covid, it's as if they have multiplied in going for events. They are willing to pay for value.

And so, I think in the industry, you just have to create the event that has the value and the value that is speaking for your fan or your client.

In your opinion, what makes a good music show?

There are so many things that you can think about. But I think you have to know, whom am I talking to? Who is my client? Who is my fan?

And, first of all, you have to be authentic to who you are because that's what your client is attracted to.

So, first of all, be authentic as the person who is curating the show, but also make it dynamic.

You can't have a one-level kind of event. It can get boring. You have to continuously keep engaging the ears, the eyes of the person. Does the visual look good?

Does the sound sound good? So that's another thing that makes a really good show.

I think start on time, end on time. Make sure that it's in a place that's actually good. People can access something to eat and drink.

Africans, we like eating, we like drinking, so can we just have a place where I can access those things?

Solome Basuuta Pulse Live Uganda

And whoever that is coming on stage needs to be entertaining. Does it have entertainment value?

Collabos are among the most effective ways through which an artiste can expand their reach, how come you haven't done many duets?

That's true, I haven't had many collabs... I think the only collaboration that I've had is with St. Nelly-Sade with my song Love Lead.

I think why I have not had collaborations is because, ah, is because... personally, I've been up and down, up and down with my journey, figuring out who is Solome? Who is she authentically and I'm making sure that I sit in that well because the team and I didn't want to collaborate with somebody and get swallowed up.

You will have a collaboration, let's say with Chameleone, and then we are not getting Solome Basuuta because she doesn't know who she is and then she ends up adapting.

So, for me, I've been kind of figuring out who I am, making sure that I have a sound that is very clear... I've been trying to figure that out myself, producers and also a team. I feel like now I've figure it out.

Now I really know what is Solome. I know the sound I like bringing out. I know what I sing well and so now I feel I'm way more ready to take any collaborations in the future.

So, definitely, I'm ready to experiment and see a way of doing great collaborations in the future.

What do you base on when choosing whom to collaborate with?

I think who I choose or how I see a collaboration working... I think sometimes people do collaborations according to strategy.

If I want to get into the client base of Azawi or get into that space, I could strategically do a collaboration with Azawi then get into that space.

Solome Live is on for Season 3 Pulse Live Uganda

That is an assumption. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't work.

But I think for me, it's one -- do we have that X Factor thing that can bring something fresh to the industry?

So imagine Solome Basuuta does a collaboration with, let's say, Kenneth Mugabi, I think that can be such a beautiful sound!

Or Solome Basuuta does something with Azawi or does something with Yemi Alade... that kind of thing, it can bring that X Factor into the industry.

The other thing I can look at also is... I like challenging myself or doing something that stretches me. If I did a collaboration, let's say with Bebe Cool; oh that can stretch me!

Not vocally but, like, creatively; how would that look like? So, I like experimenting creatively.

But also if something comes by that just really touches my heart. If it's a message that I want to get through and I know that if I collaborate with [someone, it can be delivered].

What's your general view on the current state of the Ugandan music industry?

I feel like the industry is absolutely evolving. I feel like we are fertile ground for so many great opportunities that can happen for different artistes.

And especially, let me speak out even the alternative space. So, when I started out in 2015, I came out really dominantly as the alternative kind of artiste. I wasn't mainstream and so that was hard for me. Even when Maurice Kirya came out, it was really hard.

When I came out, it was kind of hard to break through because, again, the sound that the Ugandan was used to was the mainstream sound, you know, have a beat, have a rythm; you know, the kidandali, let's go!

However, I feel like now the space or the Ugandan ear has expanded, if I could say... now we appreciate another sound that is not the usual one.

Of course, now we have the Nigerian influence -- Afrobeat is, like, out there. So, now you can fuse so many things. You can experiment and a Ugandan will be able to kind of accept you.

However, I feel like with the industry as the alternative person, you still need to make sure that you are getting your music to your people consistently, almost force-feeding them the music. Then eventually they'll get used to it.

But I've also found that generally the Uganda people, they will take a while to get used to you if they don't know you.

But when they know you, then they will love you. And an example is Kenneth Mugabi. But right now I feel like the industry is quite ripe for an artiste to come through.

There are different spaces for artistes to grow in and so many things to learn, so I feel like it's really ripe right now.

What do you think can be done to take the industry to the next level?

I think, one, we should stop... the bickering. The bickering that happens with fights and, you know, this one doesn't like this one, or this one is against this one.

That constant bickering between different artistes or all of us... it really let us down and we end up stagnating, if that's a word, the industry as a whole.

Because then the young people won't have a picture of how to get in. That's one thing that I feel is limiting us because we keep bickering.

[She also said artistes should stop complaining about deejays not playing their music]. We just have to up our game in making it sound good. That's the truth. A good song can never be rejected in the industry.

A good song is a good song. And, of course, you have to find a way of marketing it very well. But otherwise start from having a good song, good production. Right now we have so many producers... As artistes, we have to invest in good production and also good songs; songs that can have longevity through the industry.

That can really up our game so that we can now go on the same level in other industries: Kenya or South Africa or Nigeria and actually stand on the same stage. And as a Ugandan, you can actually compete at that level.

The third thing is just as Ugandans, the people, to become even more patriotic. We are quite patriotic with our football-ish. With our rolex buying, yes. But our music, we are not yet there. We still need to be very patriotic and support Ugandan artistes whether they've made it big yet or not.

Because I find that sometimes you have to make it big, then they say, oh my God, that's our person. Sometimes you have to make it big outside Uganda, then they accept you. But we need to support Ugandans.

Solome Basuuta Pulse Live Uganda

Corporate companies, you know, coming in on board. [She thanked companies like MTN and Stanbic that are already supporting artistes.] But even more corporate companies or small businesses, invest in that artiste.

Yes, it's kind of a long investment, but it pays off in the end if the artiste is really a good artiste and we have so many good artistes like Solome Basuuta.

Even for people to share the music, make noise about the music. Buy the music. Come for the shows, pay for the tickets, all that, just to support the artiste so that we push our thing. Make so much noise about it so that other continents will say, oh my God, what's in Uganda?

Should your fans expect more music soon?

Yes, they should expect more music as of May 1. So, May 1 I am releasing my next project. I have not released a song since 2022, so I'm releasing a new song called 123 Go.

It is a new sound. It is a bit different from the Solome soul. It's very happy, go lucky, fun. [She said anyone no matter the age will enjoy the song.]

It's so much fun, you can dance to it, whatever it is. And so they should absolutely expect more music coming and the first one is 123 Go, coming out on May 1.

What are some of the projects you're working on that your fans should look forward to?

[She said one of the projects is releasing her new song.]

The second one is Solome Live, which is my baby, which I have been working on since last year. And then consistently just producing music.

Tell us more about the concert and invite people to attend

Solome Live 2024, the first show of Season 3 is coming up at Salama Springs Apartments in Bugolobi.

The show begins at 8pm to 10pm. Short, sweet but packed with so much. Ladies and gentlemen, you are absolutely welcome for the Solome Live Show 2024.

It's going to be an unforgettable night of everything soul and everything love.

I can't wait to see you and I know that you are gonna have a great time.