When you talk about the 2010 song of the year, Omukwano Gunyuma, most of the people will recognise and appreciate diva Samalie Matovu without giving credit to the writer of the song.

Besides the above hit, Nince Henry, young as he is, has produced a number of hits for local big artistes which have seen them winning different musical awards. Henry Mulindwa caught up with him and below are excerpts:

Who is Nince Henry?
My name is Henry Ssekyanzi. I got the name Nince long time ago while still in primary school when my teacher wrote on the blackboard that my handwriting is neither impressive nor seductive. The kids at the school started calling me “Ninsi” but I substituted S with C and here we have Nince.

When did you start writing songs?
I started in 2009 with Chizzo’s abalekanyi.The song didn’t hit because Chizzo went to London and so there was no body to promote it.

What are some of the songs you have written?
Many and surprisingly they are all hits. Sweet loving (Bebe Cool) ,Aninginingi(Eddy Yawe), Begombeko,Nsambu,Birowoozo,Nabulo,Kawoowo,(all of IrynNamubiru),Omukwano Gunyuma (Samalie Matovu),Ekikunyumira(Julie Mutesasira), Obuyonjo(Bobi Wine), Minzani(Bebe Cool) and G-Snake’s Kampala anyuma kiro.

You have written a number of hits but I have never heard your name mentioned anywhere by the above artistes. Why?
You see, it is by nature that a human being will not always let another person “steal” the show.

There is no way you can expect a big artiste to mention a simple Nince Henry in his or her music. Actually, very few artistes will appreciate the writer’s efforts.

Where do you generate the song ideas?
I get ideas from day to day inspirations. Music being an art, one needs to be creative in order to produce a good song. Talk about Omukwano Gunyuma,who doesn’t know that love at the beginning is always the best thing to happen to anybody?

How much do you charge for your compositions?
It depends on the status of the artiste. At times you set a price but you get a different artistes. For example, most of the gospel artiste’s music is not commercial which means you have to charge less money as compared to commercial music. But normally, my range is from 3m for a normal song while the project songs depend on how big the project and the client is.

Why are most of your songs in Luganda?
Basically, Luganda is the local commercial music language. If you produce English songs, your music won’t sell and actually very many artistes who approach me demand for Luganda songs.

Before writing a song for any artiste, what factors do you consider?
I first get an order from an artiste on a topic that he or she wants the song to be about. Secondly, I consider the personal characteristics of an artiste. For example the song for Iryn Namubiru cannot be performed by Juliana Kanyomozi. So you need to study the artiste before giving him or her a song.

What does it take for a good song?
A good song must have good melodies, a sweet voice as well as a catch word. The production must also be good with nice instrumentation, sound among others.

We have seen many songs being nominated in wrong categories at different music awards. What do you think should be done?
In Uganda, it is only the Pam Awards which have recognised me as a song writer. Other awards do not have writer’s categories.

The advice I can give to the award organisers is that they should introduce a research panel to research about the style of the songs.  That established panel should always get in touch with the writers and producers of the nominated songs.

Say something about the Uganda’s music industry.
Our industry is flooded with music without art. Artistes are being used because there is no copyright.

Apart from writing songs, we have seen you singing. Are you shifting from writing to singing?
I’ve managed to learn a lot in music. What forced me to go on stage is that I have written many hits for other musicians, so I wanted to know what makes a big artiste. Is it the song or the writer? When I did it, I proved to myself that I can as well sing.

Any other future plans musically?
I want to set up an international standard studio in Uganda because we don’t have one. Lack of a professional studio contributes much to the downfall of music in our country.