One of my favourite things to do as a creative is listen to music. The notes, the lyrics, the videos – they all unlock a part of me I cannot explain. But what I like even more is hearing the story of the artists and what drives them to create such masterpieces.
A few weeks ago, I had the privilege to listen to the story of one such artist – Bowman Aremwaki, a young emerging Ugandan musician making waves with his music. His recent EP, Public Notice—which is a notable mixture of Dancehall, Afrobeats and RnB formed to make a unique Ugandan sound—has been received with both love and energy from fans.
Prior to this, Bowman was also part of a music collective, Shwento, alongside artists such as Agaba Collins and Simbaraishe Goodson. As independent artists, they formed the collective in 2020, before Bowman decided to venture out into a solo act in 2022. His music has skyrocketed since then, and he speaks to Qazini about his humble beginnings and success as a musician.
Can you tell me a bit about your childhood and what inspired you to pursue a career in music?
My childhood was pretty much seven siblings running around the house, playing, singing, yelling, and fighting. It was a humble setting. We were a typical family living near the village. So, it was not eventful or bougie.
Music came into play because my mother is a musician, a singer who never really did record music, but who used to sing in church and everywhere at home, all the time. I ended up singing with her all the time. Every time she sang, I'd harmonise in the background, or she would harmonise in the background when I sang. It was a perfect synergy.
My siblings do sing too, but not full-time. They know how to sing because we come from a musical family, sort of. We would sing in church and at Sunday school. We would sing in events like music, dance and drama festivals at the local school we attended as well.
I remember singing at those events and getting a lot of gifts and money from people, from random parents and all of that. Then, I didn't understand that it meant I was a good singer. I thought maybe I was funny or they pitied me, or I didn't even know how to read it.
Yeah, so growing up with music like that, I ended up having music embedded deep down without even knowing it.
Ugandan music is slowly taking over globally. As a young musician, who were your biggest musical influences growing up, internationally and locally?
I've tried to explore because as a music enthusiast, I also needed to learn. So, very early on, I was listening to the Ugandan music out there. I know almost every Ugandan song from back in the day to date. I have also listened to a lot of the music from Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria.
But when we finally got exposed to all this other music, I remember listening to and loving Sean Paul. He was amazing. He still is, of course. Chris Brown as well. I never got around to Michael Jackson, but I finally did when he died. I do love some rap too, and some RnB. I have listened to Billboard countdowns, Trace countdowns, MTV countdowns. I can say I've lived in the era of all kinds of music in the world because I got a chance to listen to all of them.
I think my biggest musical influences have been, um, they don't even have a name, the folk music we grew up singing. If you listen to my music, there's a touch of folk somewhere. It may not be as apparent, but there are people once in a while who tell me that they can sense something folky in my music. I feel like that is my biggest influence because it's the first music I knew, and that music is so deep in my musical DNA, where I resonate most.
Gospel has also influenced my music, from the time I was in church. But if you ask me about my pure musical influences, I'll say Chris Brown because he can do what everyone else does. I don't know how far international goes, because there's Africa as a continent, and there's everywhere outside Africa, but I am a music enthusiast, so you best believe I listen to everything I can. And I feel like that shapes my musicality to a certain level, because I know what to do and what not to do. I know what I want to sound like and I know what I don't want to sound like.
In your own words, how would you describe your musical style and how has it evolved over the years?
My musical style is a touch of very immaculate melody mixed with beautiful lyricism. I don't lean towards any genre of music, but a few people tend to think I have an RnB touch, which is, I guess, inspired by the melody and the rhythm of my music.
But if you ask me to describe the style, I would say it's fusion, and alternative. It could be rap, it could be Afrobeat. It could be RnB. It could be anything. It's good, beautiful music. All I aim for is for whoever is listening to know that that's the best piece of music they have listened to.
So my music style, over time, is going to be hard to describe as well, because I'm still trying to discover. I am not trying to guide my music. I'm letting the music guide me. I don't get in the way of it. That's why I can't even describe it.
What was the first song you ever wrote? What was the inspiration behind it? Do you still listen to it and feel proud of it?
That's a very hard question because the first song I remember to have written could be the song I wrote in Senior One back in 2010. But then also it's probably not the first song I wrote, because I've been writing music for a long time. There's music I think I've written today, but when I go back, I remember melodies from 5, 7 or 8 years ago.
The simple answer? I think it would be a song called What would Jesus do? I wrote it in 2010 with a friend of mine called Jukebox, who I later made a song with when I finally started making music officially. It was a beautiful song. Still is a beautiful song. I think there will be a time in future when I go back to all the music I made back in the day and remake it, improve it and release it again.
On Public Notice, my debut EP, as you will find out later, I wrote some of the music there not so long after I wrote my first song. So I can say music has been beautiful right from the start, and there's nothing I ever wrote that I could look back and be disappointed in. I could definitely make it better, but it's been beautiful all the way.
Your EP Public Notice which you released earlier this year has been received with both love and energy. Can you describe how the project came about and how it was working on it?
Even when I was describing it, the project is just like its name, Public Notice. I cannot lie that it was inspired by a sudden thing in my life, like a heartbreak or something I was going through. For me, Public Notice is and was meant to be a warning, a notice, of a force called Bowman, announcing that I’m coming. It was simply like a shot, a taste, a teaser of how much more work there is to come.
What inspired it? The music on Public Notice has been spread across around 10 years. The inspiration is singularly different for each song, and for me, each song that I put out there was perfect for its type. I felt like I was trying to give people a variety of what Bowman can give. And there is so much more, people should expect more. Maybe a deluxe of the EP, maybe part two, maybe another EP or something, because there's so much music to give, and it's amazing that it's being received with love.
I've been seeing different people rank their favourites from top to bottom on the EP, and for every other person, it's a different arrangement. That is beautiful. It means that what some people consider their least favourite is someone else's favourite. It means that all the music is rotating around straight As and that's beautiful for me. The energy, the love are the motivation and inspiration to give more.
Big shout-outs to the producers that I worked with. I worked with Victor Tima, Axel, Ledra, and we made a beautiful project. Also, a big shout-out to Saint Bless, Agaba Banjo, Ishasimba Jukebox, all of those AraC, all of those people have had a part they played in the EP, be it in songwriting or in background vocals or in the artwork or in any other way. It was beautiful, working on the project, and there's a lot more work coming up. I'm excited to receive positive news about my debut EP. It has been wonderful. When it comes to my music, this is one of my proudest achievements.
Writing music is not an easy task as some people can imagine. You need a creative process to get you in the mood more or less. Can you walk me through your creative process when writing and composing a new song? Do you have any rituals or routines that help you get into the zone before creating?
Music for me is not a process. Music for me is not an action. Music for me is not a mood I have to get into. Music for me is not an errand. It's not a responsibility. Music is my way of life. So I write a song every other day I'm awake, every other day I'm alive.
I don't mean to sound poetic with it, but I have written some of the most beautiful songs without even trying to write them. I just hear a beat and I know I need to record. I just get my phone out and I get a recorder on, and I don't know what I'm going to do, but when I open my mouth, it's just fire from the start to the end, and I listen to the thing after, and I don't need to change anything.
I am always in a musical mood no matter how I'm feeling. If I'm angry, there's an angry song I can make. If I'm happy, there's a happy song I can make and if I'm sad there's a sad song I can make. And for everyone out there who's trying to make music, I would say, just don't get in the way of it. Sometimes we get so caught up in the idea of how we want to sound, of what song we're trying to write, that we forget that there's a song that's writing itself.
***
Listen to Bowman Aremwaki’s EP Public Notice here
