During Christmas and New Year's Day season most people admire new things but there is one thing that never changes year in, year out and people seemingly like it that way.
Uganda: Jingle All the Way - Christmas Music Rules the Festive Season
The Monitor (Kampala)
COLUMN
December 22, 2006
Posted to the web December 21, 2006
Rafsanjan Abbey Tatya
During Christmas and New Year's Day season most people admire new things but there is one thing that never changes year in, year out and people seemingly like it that way.
The season's classics never change that much - in Uganda radio stations still turn to Philly Bongoley Lutaaya (RIP) to spread yuletide cheer just as Boney M rules in the United Kingdom
Lutaaya's fans could consider him a deceased and forgotten star but during Christmas and New Year's time, chances of hearing Lutaaya on the radio grow fast and he returns as the household name, one of the reasons why he is Uganda's most-selling posthumous artiste.
Certainly, many of you have bought a CD of Lutaaya comprising hits like Ssekukulu and Merry Christmas/Happy New Year; that is if you don't have any already anyway.
In UK radios still turn to Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole and Burl Ives.
As you read this there are thousands of radio stations around the world playing Christmas tunes around the clock to suit the festive mood.
In Uganda most radio stations change their programming. The radio play lists change as early as late November, playing Christmas Carols one after another.
Some songs can be rejected in some countries but Christmas songs are loved everywhere simply because of the feeling they give.
Boney M, with their bubble gum infectious tunes, became one of the few Western groups to become well-known outside of the West, including Africa, Arab countries, South Asia, South East Asia and the USSR.
To this day, along with Swedish pop group ABBA, they are among the most widely known 1970s western music acts in these regions. Actually their music is one of the most played in Uganda during Christmas and New Year's time.
Boney M released Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord, which was the 1978 Christmas number one single in the UK and up to now the song still rules.
Their 1978 song Rivers of Babylon with lyrics partly based on Psalm 137 became (at the time) the second highest-selling single of all time in the UK.
Actually, on the list of the all-time best selling singles in the UK, Boney M appear in fifth place (with Rivers Of Babylon) and 10th place (with Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord).
Sir Paul McCartney is the only other artist to appear twice in the Top 10 of that list.
The deluge of Christmas airplay may yield a few humbugs, but it succeeds nearly universally in boosting radio ratings, industry officials say.
For listeners, the nostalgic music creates a soundtrack as they shop, wrap presents, decorate trees, bake cookies and go to parties.
Seeing that Christmas carols sell, many local artistes have tried to run for the Christmas cake by producing season's songs but most of them end up in the trash bin perhaps because they cannot compete with Lutaaya's Merry X-mas or Boney M's Mary's Boy Child among other classics.
This year, Mesach Semakula led the way with a six-track album full of Christmas Carols. The album comprises the title track Kati Tuyimbe, Happy New Year, Ssekukkulu, Akwagala, Tulekera Mukama and Olunaku Lukulu. According to Dicks Production the company distributing Semakula's album, Kati Tuyimbe is "currently the best-selling album."
However, it is not that easy for new artistes to make it on the list of Christmas songs. One of the recent examples is Sheila Nvanungi whose 2005 Azaliddwa flopped. Many other artistes like Julianna and Kaweesa also have Christmas songs but they have failed to match Lutaaya's 1980 classics.
Even in the West, listeners seem to prefer the old songs like Crosby's White Christmas, Cole's The Christmas Song, Ives' A Holly Jolly Christmas, Bobby Helms' Jingle Bell Rock and Brenda Lee's Rockin Round the Christmas Tree to new songs.
This has compelled some new artistes to redo the classics into contemporary styles but they never sell like the original ones. For instance people don't buy Clay Aiken's version of White Christmas record like they do the original version by Bing Crosby.
Some radio programmers believe switching to Christmas carols is one of the most significant and successful programming strategies.
Now let's all sing "Merry Christmas and Happy New" but if you cannot sing please keep quiet and listen.
Uganda: Jingle All the Way - Christmas Music Rules the Festive Season
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Some famous carols
Ding Dong Merrily on High
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n Music written by Jehan Tabourot
n Words written by George Ratcliffe Woodward
The Twelve Days of Christmas
n English traditional
Unto Us a Boy is Born
The Wassail Song
Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne
The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy
n Trinidadian traditional
A Virgin Unspotted (A Virgin Most Pure)
n English traditional
The Virgin's Slumber Song
Wachet auf (Wake, O Wake!)
Wassail! Wassail All Over the Town! (The Gloucestershire Wassail)
n English traditional
We Wish You A Merry Christmas
n English traditional
We Three Kings Of Orient Are ("Three Kings of Orient)
n (Actually an Epiphany carol)
Angels We Have Heard on High (Les anges dans nos campagnes)
n French traditional
Based on traditional carol Les Anges dans nos Campagnes
music is traditional hymn Gloria
n English translation by James Chadwick in 1862
n Reworded, retitled, and sung by Michael W. Smith as Gloria
As Lately We Watched
Away in a Manger
n First published in 1885
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