When the news of Moses Matovu's death reached my ears, I was already preparing myself to hear that he had died from cancer or some other illness. I was not prepared to hear that the veteran musician had died after an attack.
My connection with Moses Matovu's music goes back to 1989, when my family and I had just returned to Uganda from Kenya the previous year. At that time, we used to listen to his music on Radio Uganda. I remember songs such as Afrigo Batuuse, Emmere Esiridde, Speed Controller and Amazzi Genyama. These were songs I grew up listening to, long before I could have imagined that one day I would be writing about the death of the man behind them.
As the years went by, his music continued to reach different generations. Songs such as Omutanda Gyali, Olumbe Lw'obwavu, Jim, Obangaina, and later Nantongo and Nfunda N'omubi, among other songs, kept his music alive among Ugandan audiences. Matovu was not only a singer; he was also a saxophonist, composer, arranger and band leader who spent decades with Afrigo Band.
That is why hearing that Moses Matovu had died was difficult to take. I had expected news of illness because of his age, but an attack was not what came to my mind.
Moses Matovu died on September 24, 2026, after he was attacked in the Kibuli Market Zone B area of Kampala. He was taken to Kibuli Hospital but later died. Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding his death.
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