Jamal Waswa Audio Playlist

Biography

Jamal was born in Masaka in Senyange village in Uganda to Mariam Nantongo and the late Muhammad Mutabazi. He is the last-born of seven children. He came to Kampala when he was five years old.He went to Kisugu Primary School, Kakungulu Memorial and Kitende SSS, and then proceeded to Makerere University, but
dropped out before completing his degree course in social sciences.

He started his early years by performing in the karaoke bars in Kampala, Uganda, together with other artists and people in the music scene. At that time these karaoke bars where the places to go if you wanted to make it, the stars of tomorrow you would find here. in 2006 Jamal decided to go to Rwanda, to get away from the media attention he started to gain in Uganda and focus on the music and finding out what he had in him. In Rwanda he was singing in bars and night by night he started to find his own sound. In 2007, and after some months of singing in the bars he went to the studio and recorded the song Oba Wuwo. After the song was recorded Jamal came back in the beginning of 2008 to Uganda with that song and after some months the song was a success – it was played at all the big radio stations in Uganda and Jamal Waswa was a phenomenon.

Jamal then recorded more songs and in just 2 years Jamal had released 5 hit songs like Anavawa, Abkyala bazila (Heroes) and in November 2014 he released his first hit song in Swahili, ‘Siste’.

Jamal is now one of the most loved and appreciated artists in the Ugandan music scene and he continues to keep this position, creating music and spreading messages that people from all over the world fall in love with. His ability to divert in many different types of music, from soul, to pure African, to reggae and pop music shows how much talent he possesses. The focus for many of his songs has always been the celebration of the women, with strong messages that women are the heroes and should be respected and equal.

Jamal has been involved in many music projects, held many concerts around East Africa and Europe to raise money for Red cross and other organizations and is using his music for social change in Africa. During the years 2010 – 2012 Jamal toured and made collaborations in the U.K. and in Scandinavia where he was invited by the Danish redcross and made concerts with the Danish group The Jungle Boyz.

2015, will be the year when Jamal releases his first official album. The album will contain a mix of his most important work, from some of his biggest hit songs and many new songs in Swahili, Luganda and English.