Happy birthday Jose Chameleone, nobody can take away your legendary status

LEGENDARY: Jose Chameleone. 

Often times, we wait for people to die or leave and then profess our love towards them. We write heartfelt notes, sing them all kinds of praises, buy them the best of flowers and shamelessly, buy them the best of coffins to bury them in in order to show them our love.

I don’t even know when humans will understand this, but all those things we do for our loved ones when they are six feet under mean absolutely nothing to them. The subject of this article, Jose Chameleone, in one of his biggest songs ever, sang about this very thing in Basiima ogenze.

I will not wait for him to go (not that he is going any time soon), to show him my appreciation.

Joseph Mayanja, alias Dr Jose Chameleone, these days just Jose Chameleone (I don’t know why he dropped the doctor thing because he truly came with the medicine to our limping music industry in the late 90s), is truly a megastar, a living legend of the Ugandan music industry and Africa’s a whole.

Apart from just sheer pretence, any musician, or lover and follower of East African music will attest to the fact that Chameleone is a different breed, one that comes once in a thousand years, or even in a lifetime.

His voice is not the soft one, but he mastered the art, over the years of singing to our hearts and souls through his coarse voice that is unique, so unique that you can say, “That is Chameleone” just seconds into listening to his songs.

The oldest from the Mayanja music family, ever since we heard and very much so danced to his Mama Mia song, the man has given us hit pon hit, pon hit, pon hit, in a career spanning over two decades. You don’t find such longevity on the top from these other musicians who come up, do a few songs for a few years and go away, only to he remembered on “Throwback Thursday” shows.

Over the years, Chameleone has given us music for different occasions. He sang about domestic violence in Jamila and Effuga bbi, gave us numerous love songs in Dorotia, Nkwagala nyo and those ever fresh-sounding collabos with Papa Cidy.

If you want to go down, listen to Tingisha, those collabos with Leila Kayondo, among others. He sang about frienemies in Bayuda, told us to work hard in Kuba bulungi, and other hits. It is also worth noting that the man went to Kenya for a few years but his Kiswahili catalogue is better than the whole Kenyan and Tanzanian music industry (no offence my Kenyan and Tanzanian friends).

Jose Chameleone has timeless hits, so many of them that it is actually hard to choose his best song. Basiima ogenze speaks volumes. Most times than not, we have found ourselves in situations where we have done our best, came out with the best product, and not get an ounce of appreciation.

A footballer will score all kinds of goals, a writer will pen the best of pieces, a musician will compose the finest piece of music, a dancer will break their leg to pull the best of strokes, a leader will be as selfless as they come, but will still stay under-appreciated, ridiculed, critiqued, or compared to one in a different atmosphere with far better resources, only to be remembered when they are long gone as “great”. Now that is volumes in that song.

I cannot talk about a legend without talking about Chameleone’s stage performances during his sold-out concerts. With creativity in costumes, stage settings, fantastic sound and stage presence of nothing but a megastar, Chameleone’s live performances leave you wanting more, and more he will provide the time he holds a concert. The man raises the bar high, only to meet it the next time he holds a concert and sets it even higher. That is the thing of a legend that Jose Chameleone is.

It goes without mentioning his scandals, but those are expected to come along with fame, money, and showbiz. Sometimes you get provoked to measure you, other times you provoke to show your prowess. But maturity has truly fazed that out of his life now, more so that he is looking into the political direction where he has to conduct himself very responsibly.

As ‘Atakogga, Atagenda, East African Heavyweight’, the legendary music doctor Jose Chameleone or Chamili celebrates his birthday today, for all he has accomplished in our music, his legendary status is already cemented with concrete underneath, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. You can find all his music on his YouTube Channel.