‘Just Giovanni’ All-round Ugandan musician

Giovanni Kremer Kiyingi is a versatile musician. He plays many instruments and this has enabled him create unique music liked by many people across the world.

He creates fusion music with instruments such as the fiddle (endingidi), thumb piano (akogo), adungu, harmonica, flute, djembe, calabash, congas, drum, maracas and the classified guitar.

“I fuse in my own language which makes my music style special,” Kiyingi says.

Kiyingi says this sole musical style keeps him competitive in the melodious world.

“In this competitive music world, people want something unique and these traditional instruments I play have made my music extra special,” he says.

Kiyingi was inspired by the Sole Beat Africa, a band that existed in early 2000s, and some elders.

“It was Jude Mugerwa, Ambrose Tugume, Michael Ouma, Herbert Kinobe,  Bakabulindi Samuel, Alex Mukulu and Richard Kaweesa – these elders  inspired me,” he says.

Initially, Kiyingi’s dream was to become a priest, but he found himself in music. He says this was because of the great love he had for music. He is now a renowned song-writer and instrumentalist.

Kiyingi is unhappy that West African music has dominated Uganda and he would like to see a reverse of the trend in just ten years.

“I will be adding something to the call of Ugandan sound to lift up the Ugandan music to be compared to the West African music which has dominated this generation. These people [West Africans] also have a journey they took and this is the struggle I see myself in,” Kiyingi says.

Kiyingi is currently recording a new album named Antidote which he hopes to release before the end of 2018.

Kiyingi was born on June 3rd, 1991 in Mityana. He is the third born in a family of six children – two brothers and four sisters.

He attended Saint Joseph Nagalama Primary School, Saint Joseph Secondary School in Mukono District and Makerere University where he was pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in the Performing Arts but he quit in his second year to concentrate on research in music.

In his first performances, he launched himself in yoga in India; and then in the Buganda kingdom cultural dos. It was then, in 2008, when he started singing and released albums entitled including Esanyu lyomufilika with tracks like Ssegamwenge, Asante, Omwana Womufilika, Ekyalo Mpala, Ekibobo and Kanyimbe.

Giovanni performed at the biggest yoga event in India in  all this came when Yoga master, Jaggi Vasudev, better known as Sandhuguru visited Uganda .

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