Artist: Priscilla Kalibala
Priscilla Kalibala who studied Business Administration at Makerere Business School has always taken on other work in addition to her music career, and is interested in production aspects of the music business as well as architecture and fashion coordinating. She used to work with the Paparazzi Modeling Agency (later to become Sylvia Owori’s Ziper Models).
Kalibala burst onto the Ugandan local music scene in a big way with her successful G-Power show in 2005. She had already been treating appreciative audiences to her catchy afro-beat melodies for several years prior to that, and has a loyal fan base to prove it.
Kalibala is a humble and happy girl who loves to sing and interact with the audience. Strong and versatile voice allows her to handle everything from Afro Pop and Dancehall to Zouk and Kwaito. Clear and pure, or rich and resonant, she is able to reach and convey the very soul of her songs to the audience. Her own life experiences have given her valuable insight into the emotions which sound so compelling.
Kalibala is no stranger to the big stage either, after all she has performed to huge crowds at most of the popular nightclubs throughout the country. Indeed, it was Kalibala’s success on her previous upcountry ventures that convinced current tour sponsor Club Beer to get behind this year’s Girl Power concept; and she has an impressive song catalogue worthy of her reputation too.
Fan favourites such as Gumikiriza, Mwana Gwe and Dancing now compete for stage time with her more recent chart-busting hits like Boo (2010) and Kwaata. In addition, past collaborations with the likes of Qute Kaye or working on the Battle of the Souls soundtrack prove that Kalibala doesn’t mind sharing the spotlight from time to time either; and that spotlight is getting pretty bright these days!
Becoming involved with music in her early years led Kalibala to Robert Segawa who assisted in the recording of the first version of her future hit song Gumikiriza. Although she never released that recording, she later hooked up with Joe Tabula who rearranged the music, and together with Kalibala’s polished vocals Gumikiriza went on to become a fan favourite, earning plenty of airtime on local radio stations. Soon afterwards she launched her first album Mwana Gwe.
Never one who is afraid to experiment, Kalibala also employed producers such as Eric Mushoga of Homeboyz Studios in Nairobi and Henry Kiwuwa of No End Studios to add further dimension to her repertoire.
Kalibala has a collection of new songs to her name which have gained enormous airplay on local radio and TV.
