When tragedy befell singer Jose Chameleone hours to his concert, many condoled with him.
Naturally, this would be the reaction. The industry stood in solidarity with him.
However, there were a few dissenting voices that seemed to imply “good riddance”. In the subsequent days, these few voices got louder.
“Everything that happens, happens for a reason. There have been bad prayers aimed toward Chameleone. We must admit Chameleone has done many wrongdoings. So many. And it’s time he repented. What happened was because of people’s prayers,” popular event promoter, Abby Musinguzi alias Abitex said at a recent press conference.
His comment was not isolated. A comedian had revisited an incident during which Chameleone beat up a boda boda rider and satirically milked it. The message was – the tragedy was payback for the singer’s transgressions.
Even when it was an act of God – a heavy downpour – that was responsible for the cancellation of the concert, there were murmurs that there were darker forces behind the storm. Those that murmured this mentioned ghosts from the singer’s past that had returned to haunt him, citing the mysterious death of Robert Karamagi.
Karamagi died in 2012 after succumbing to injuries said to have resulted from a fire. What remains uncertain to date is whether Karamagi who was on Chameleone’s property in Seguku on the fateful night burnt himself or someone set him on fire.
“After the incident (Gwanga Mujje), people really talked. About Chameleone killing Karamagi, about the boda boda guy. It was too much,” Chameleone’s mom, Proscovia Musoke, said in a recent interview with radio and TV host, Kasuku.
“We are used to such talk. I no longer worry over such because I know they (statements) come from a place of ignorance,” she added.
She faults the media for misreporting and sometimes exaggerating stories that involve her sons – Chameleone, Weasel and Pallaso. The media targets her sons because they (the Mayanja brothers) sell news, she says.
While like Abitex says Chamelone’s misdeeds and victims of these misdeeds threaten his legacy, it is for this same reason – his legacy and his larger-than-life personality – that perpetrates what some view as his impunity. His role in Uganda’s culture is undoubtedly too significant, his influence reaches far and wide. When one is that magnanimous, the only equalizer becomes the universe. A famous principle (Karma from Hindu) says what goes around comes around.
When you have reached a certain ladder in the social hierarchy, it is common to get drunk on the high life. On that high horse, many tend to downplay the importance of humility.
Many times, this status quo tilts the odds of justice against those on whose toes you might have stepped.
Days to Gwanga Mujje, a video of Chameleone beating up a boda boda rider went viral online, prompting sharp criticism towards the singer. There were calls for justice for the victim. Despite public interest, these calls achieved little because law enforcement said they could do little without the victim filing a case.
Soon, the dust would settle. As he has done in several other incidents where his conduct has been questionable, Chameleone had prevailed over this challenge too.
Singer Bebe Cool hasn’t been as lucky when it comes to criticism.
At the start of the year, Cool, the only person who shares career credentials with Chameleone, made an observation.
“I grew up competing with Chameleone musically. And to me, I saw the public favoring Chameleone many times. Joseph Mayanja is the only artiste I have ever seen who can do anything and gets away with it. Whereas in my case, even if I cough slightly, I will be criticized for it,” Cool said on January 1 while releasing the list of his biggest songs of 2022.
Even when both singers have dared to publicly identify with certain political sides, Chameleone barely got as much as a slap on the wrist. Cool on his part endured public embarrassment when his performance was cut short during a major concert in September 2018. The crowd pelted bottles at him, for siding with the ruling NRM party. As a result, he had to take a long sabbatical from stage appearances.
Not that Chameleone’s two-decade music career hasn’t been without shortcomings.
Owing to a pattern of domestic violence, he has had to live a separate life from his wife, Daniella Atim, and children, which he has said is very lonely. His wife who now lives in the U.S. has in the past opened up about the singer’s cruelty, accusing him of beating her whenever he returned home. Daniella said she had endured violence for 4 years since 2013. The singer has previously admitted to the allegations. In 2017, he said Daniella had separated with him and taken their children for a full month.
At the heart of the singer’s record of violence is impatience and a short temper, both traits being at extreme levels. This is according to Daniella.
For a very long time, Chameleone’s singing career has been entangled in dishonesty and breach of trust, especially with business partners. There are very many incidents, some for which he has been sued, when he was booked to perform and he failed to show up, causing event organizers to suffer losses and a bad reputation. In one such incident in Luwero back in 2012, he showed up but refused to sing claiming the sound and stage were wanting. He almost got lynched by revelers for this.
This month, an events promoter in Moroto district issued Chameleone a notice of intention to sue demanding Shs 150m from losses he suffered after Chameleone snubbed a concert he was meant to headline in Moroto on January 13. The singer has said he missed the show because he hadn’t returned from the U.S. but the aggrieved promoter claims the singer was in fact in Uganda.
Abitex shares that experience and it is for that reason he has had a sour relationship with Chameleone. He recently said the singer called him and apologized.
On Sunday, Chameleone admitted as much that events of Feb 10 had a message from powers beyond him. It would seem the days that followed the tragedy in Lugogo have been a reckoning for the Kipepewo singer.
“God’s power is incomparable. People say the tragedy in Lugogo was the making of Satan. But because I’m a strong believer in God, I told them that’s not possible,” the singer said while attending a church service at Worship House in Nansana on Sunday.
Adding that; “God did that (the storm on Feb 10) to reveal his power to us. Had it been Satan, there would have been greater damage caused. There would have been deaths. But because God loves us, he just showed us a sign of his might”.
His remarks were a departure from statements he himself had initially made when he first arrived at Lugogo Cricket Oval a few hours after the storm damaged the stage. That evening, he said “This is the work of Satan. But we will prevail over Satan”.
During the church service, the singer borrowed a Biblical story – when Jesus calmed a storm after the disciples had tried all their efforts and failed – to explain his comment. “God is in charge of everything. If you live life without God or Jesus in your heart, you are similar to a tree that was cut. It’s lifeless, it becomes wood.”
His church appearance on Sunday, looked to be more than a mere guest appearance.
In fact, whether sincere or just a PR act, he was humbler. The congregation saw Joseph and not Chameleone. Midway the service, he walked to a grey-haired 90-year-old who lay her hands on him to pray that he lives a long life like her.
He participated in the praise and worship session. He attempted to perform Bwosaba (ft. Tickie Tah), a song in which he proclaims that God answers prayers. But only managed to recall the chorus. Little surprise that the song never makes the cut when he performs at events in spite of its high tempo. A testament to how much he has relegated his work that glorifies God. Perhaps equally a testament to how much he has relegated prayer – the thing he reminded Ugandans to rely on God for in the song.
Yet God has manifested himself in the singer’s life for almost its entirety. At least according to him. In the same venue (Lugogo Cricket Oval) where a heavy storm led to the cancellation of his concert, Chameleone witnessed a miracle many years ago.
At age 5, his mom had carried him to Lugogo to attend a crusade led by late T.L. Osborn who was an American evangelist. Chameleone had been suffering asthma, a condition he got at a very early stage. His father used to ride a scooter and a little Joseph always sat in between his legs. He has previously said he suspects that’s how he became asthmatic “because the first attack was recorded while on that scooter”.
It was evident that Pastor Bugembe’s sermon – which dwelt on Biblical figures like Moses, Joseph and what they represent – struck a cord for the singer. Many times, he applauded and raised his hands, whenever the pastor made comments. Like when he said God had appeared to Moses (who killed someone) through a burning bush, as a sign of God’s sufficient grace.
Chameleone also reacted to the case of Joseph who Bugembe said despite suffering ill-treatment by his brothers eventually became the same person that fed them when there was famine.
The singer represents conflict as much as he represents resilience. Considering his family initially didn’t believe in his aspiration after he refused to continue with school, but later on, he fended for them.
“We even beat him (Chameleone) up. We called Police on him, urging him to go to school. We wanted a white-collar job for him. But he stuck his ground,” Chameleone’s mom says.
“He told his father that for everyone, educated and non-educated, the end goal is to get money. And that he had already spotted something (music) that can bring in the money. We were very harsh on him. Until he finally left for Nairobi.”
She says it took Mama Mia, Chameleone’s first hit song which spread like wildfire, to finally come to terms with the career path he had taken, and that life has never been the same.
In trying to maneuver the latest controversy, Chameleone has done and said a lot. Understanding the motive behind these actions and statements would be easy had it been an ordinary person that was under scrutiny. That he said one thing at Lugogo and the complete opposite in church is a reminder of the paradox that his name is.
It would also be no surprise if his appearance at church was about nothing but optics. After all, this is the same Chameleone that ‘converted to Islam’ months before his ‘Mukisa Gwo’ concert back in 2011.
