Ugandan violinist Allan Watson Waswa released his debut album titled In My Dreams on October 27 2020 in all major music streaming and download platforms worldwide. One month later, he released a Christmas EP titled It’s Christmas At My Church. Both In My Dreams and It’s Christmas At My Church are track albums featuring the violin as the lead instrument and were both released under Magic Spell Records.
In My Dreams
The album consists of eight tracks Kenogo, Aboweitu, Erizooba Nindaara Neiwe, The Harvest, Allan’s Song and Orikuura Akafunjo which also has a violin version. The songs on the album were all composed by Waswa himself between 2016 and August 2020. His first song to compose was Allan’s Song and the first to record was The Harvest featuring The Tabs Ug. The Harvest was recorded and used as a movie soundtrack in 2018. It was later released in May 2020 as the lead single for In My Dreams album.
The songs on the album were written mostly about his memories and troubles from childhood to adulthood. The melancholic violin tune in the songs depict the lonely, sad and scary times that almost led him to commit suicide.
The loneliness continues into The Harvest and this time accompanied with the desire to fight and get his life back to normal, but he wins the battle all weary after stumbling and falling several times before standing tall again.
Aboweitu is a sad love song about a jilted lover who has remained in a toxic relationship and now feels trapped in it. Unlike Allan’s Song, The Harvest and the other songs on the album, which have elements of folk and classsical, Aboweitu employs elements of rock.
Waswa also tries his hand at afrobeat pop in Erizooba Nindaara Neiwe which is about a lover who has had a crush on someone for a long time and now finally gets a chance to be with them romantically. He wrote this song while he was at a wedding where he performed. He saw the happiness the two lovers had after they had tied the knot.
Another love song on the album is Kenogo, about a girl who breaks cultural traditions and proposes to a man she has secretly loved. She also finds out that the man is also secretly in love with her. The song also attacks the inequalities within cultural norms when the public feels like Kenogo has shamed societal values by proposing to a man.
Orikuura Akafunjo is a Kinyankore folk marriage song where a girl gives out tasks for her suitors as a way to find the best, fit, skilled and intelligent man to marry her.
It’s Christmas At My Church
Much as this is a Christmas EP, only ‘Once in David’s Royal City’ is the Christmas song. The second and last song on the EP ‘When though Wakest’ is not a Christmas song but was added on the album nonetheless. Each of the songs runs for longer than 9 minutes with variations in tempo, pitch and style.
Who is Allan Watson Waswa?
Allan Watson Waswa started playing the violin in 2016 under an instrumental duo called The Tabs Ug, formed between him and David Tayebwa at the Milege Acoustic Project in Makerere University. Together with The Tabs Ug, Waswa has played at different events including Stonefest festival in Jinja, Milege Festival in Entebbe, Commonwealth Youth Leaders Meeting in Munyonyo. They also performed at fashion shows, dinners, luncheons, corporate meetings, weddings and so on.
He started playing solo in 2018 at different events while still remaining a member of The Tabs Ug. In 2020, he started producing his music which he released in October of the year under the album In My Dream on Spotify, iTubes, Apple Music, Pandora, Tidal Amazon and all streaming and download stores. By December 2020, Kenogo and The Harvest were the best-selling songs from the album. His second album, a Christmas Ep titled It’s Christmas At My Church was released one month after In My Dreams and had, by Christmas time, surpassed In My Dreams in sales. Once in Royal David’s City, the first song on It’s Christmas At My Church, became his second most streamed song after Kenogo.
Allan Watson Waswa is also an actor and publicist. His first film role was in 2016 in a short film titled Black Disc in which he played a minor supporting role. His second role was in Jane the Iron Lady also in 2016. That same year, Waswa got a lead role in Mission 2016, a film by Linsbin International Entertainment as Suudi. He then went on and worked on Nana Kagga’s Beneath the Lies in an extra role and as a publicist. In 2017, he worked on yet another production, a television series by Nana Kagga titled Reflections, in a guest supporting role as a performer.
