Maurice Kirya is not in any way new to the music industry. The 33 year old musician who is also an actor and business man has been making a name for himself on the Ugandan airwaves since 2008. Known for his enormous talent and unique style of music that he prefers to call ‘’Mwooyo’’ or Soul, Maurice is Uganda’s undisputed king of soul.
Maurice Kirya- GHOST (Feat Ruyonga) Official Video
His album was released in late 2009 and was an instant success that sold numerous copies via both iTunes and ReverbNation. The same album won him the 2010 RFI Discoveries Music Award, where he won beat over 500 artists across Africa and received prize money plus a grant worth 18,000 euros (approximately 1.9 million shillings) to develop his musical career.
He was one of the three Ugandan artists to perform at the inaugural annual Tribe One festival in South Africa and has also staged performances in Paris plus a yearlong tour of Africa where he toured over 35 countries. Notably known for his guitar skills as well, he was nominated for the Kisima Awards in Kenya. He was also nominated for the most gifted Afro pop video of the year in the 2012 Channel O video music awards and it seems he is not about to stop making sure that everyone knows his name.
He recently released his first animated video, which is personally one of the best I’ve seen so far. The song ‘Ghost’ is off the Mwooyo album and it features one of Uganda’s most talented rappers, Ruyonga.
The song talks of a girl who comes into his life and immediately changes his perception about how he has always chosen to love a woman. It gets to a point where he even thinks that whatever is happening to him and whatever experiences he had are almost not real; they are an illusion. He doesn’t even know how to explain how she got to penetrate the walls that he had built around him and get to be in his life.
It has a very soulful feel and it also has a similar idea to Kanye West’s video ‘Heartless’ that was released over 7 years ago that portrayed him as a heartbroken guy who was lied to and deceived by a woman who he loved but ended up breaking his heart.
The video that was posted only 2 days ago has already garnered over 3,500 views and is only bound to gain more love in a matter of time.
Maurice has also made his Coke Studio Africa 3 debut as he performed alongside Neyo who recently visited Africa to record a song with selected artists like Maurice; Wangechi from Kenya, Alikiba from Tanzania, Dama Do Bling from Mozambique and Ice Prince from Nigeria.
Kirya has a devoted fan following both locally and internationally and not only is he a seasoned soulful musician but he also has a talent in the acting scenes. He has been featured on the movie ‘The Last King of Scotland (2006), Moving with Purpose (2004) and Queen of Katwe (2016). He also has a passion for food and he own a renowned restaurant in Uganda called the “Sound Cup”.
Maurice is not about to leave the music scene anytime soon as he is also working to release new videos and some interesting collaborations as well.
