For decades, Kadongo Kamu earned its reputation through storytelling, life lessons, and songs that often stretched well beyond today’s standard running time.
Veteran musician Fred Sebbaale believes that changed the moment radio and television transformed the way Ugandans listened to music.
Speaking to YouTubers Shalom 256 and Frank Ntambi, Sebbaale said broadcasters rarely played Kadongo Kamu songs from beginning to end because they mainly aired them during program breaks.
During their programs, songs were played during breaks and not entirely.
He said that approach worked against a genre built on detailed storytelling.
Kadongo Kamu was mostly about teaching, storytelling and entertainment.
Sebbaale recalled that songs often lasted around 10 minutes, especially during the cassette era when artists planned albums around the 30-minute limit on each side of a tape.
A tape had 60 minutes with 30 minutes on each side. So you had to make sure that each song was at least 10 minutes long so that you had three songs on both sides.
He also argued that radio and television gradually took control of deciding which artists reached audiences by repeatedly playing selected musicians, even without listener requests.
Someone would be sitting somewhere and they play an artist’s music even under no request.
Sebbaale believes those changes gradually pushed Kadongo Kamu out of the spotlight.