Ugandan musician Bebe Cool (real name Moses Ssali) is no stranger to East Africans.

He insists on calling himself the biggest Ugandan musician in spite of the rankings showing otherwise. But one thing that everyone agrees on is that he is controversial and always in the limelight for all the wrong reasons.

Take for example the time he danced on the table of Queen of Buganda Sylvia Nagginda Luswata much to the consternation of everyone present or when he was involved in a bizarre shootout and the government paid his medical bill. Lately, he has been embroiled in a virtual fight with DJs and radio presenters who prefer to play Nigerian music.

Love him or hate him, his August 8 concert at the upmarket Kampala Serena Hotel, his first indoor concert in the 15 years of his career, got the media abuzz. That Bebe Cool had finally arrived and can be counted among the great.

First, the concert tickets sold out way before the day of the event, at Ush5 million ($1,886) for a table of eight being the most expensive and the cheapest being Ush50,000 ($18) per person.

The production was by Steve Jean, an artiste known for his obsession with perfection, and his team at Fenon Entertainment.

Second, the venue was most unlikely. As far as music is concerned in the region, Bebe Cool is a musician for the mass market like many other musicians. For him to perform at the exclusive Serena, it meant he was targeting a difficult but much needed audience, that demands superior quality.

The conference hall at the Serena has become the venue to conquer for any Ugandan musician worth his or her name, particularly those, like Bebe Cool, who think of themselves as superstars.

The venue is fast becoming the place that separates talented musicians from the “noise-makers.” The undisputed talented musicians here are the likes of Isaiah Katumwa, the jazz maestro; Maurice Kirya, an ethno-soul artiste, and singer Juliana Kanyomozi, whose shows are usually priced at Ush100,000 ($38), which is at least six times the average cost of a mass audience show. Then there is the Ush170,000 ($64)-a-ticket annual jazz safari, which draws a mix of Ugandan and foreign artistes, and usually sells out in advance.

“Serena or any top end hotel venue is the new trend and musicians will have to stop looking at the masses and focus on quality if they want to be taken seriously. The fans will demand it so the industry should focus on such closeted performances that emphasise quality because that is now the distinguishing factor,” said Bebe Cool.

Bebe Cool had 14 weeks of planning the production, 10 of which were for rehearsals. He did personal marketing by drawing up an A-list of Kampala’s who’s who, approached each one of them and explained why he was worth spending their $1,886 on.

Joel Isabirye, a media and music industry expert, says concerts at Serena are positioned, marketed and produced differently (just like Bebe Cool did) and fill a demand gap for a certain audience that has high expectations and are ready to pay to have them met.

“There are people who would love to see their favourite artistes perform but cannot go to certain venues because of their social status and do not trust the quality of performance in such venues. The Serena concerts on the other hand are highly professional. So this group is willing to pay,” said Isabirye, a communications professor.

“I think if there is anything that will deliver Ugandan artistes to the level of performance required on the international stage, it will be the Serena concerts because they are taken more seriously by artistes and audiences. Even Bebe Cool admitted that he had never rehearsed this much for a show. That tells you something,” added Isabirye. 

Bebe Cool went to Serena, he says, to perform to an audience that has never seen him in action but who hold certain perceptions. He sought an up close and personal experience where they would understand his music.

“In Uganda, the audience has challenged us to show them whether we are good. There was a time when hit songs were the issue. Today it is about influence; it is about what you will do to capture that audience,” explained Bebe Cool.

“If the Nigerians have taken over television, we will have to figure out how to take over Nigerians. We need to be perfect so we can have a comparative advantage.

“We can’t compete on shooting expensive videos because we don’t have the money,” said Bebe Cool who also owns and runs Gagamel, a production company.

At the beginning of 2014, Denis Asiimwe, a music reviewer, predicted a year of well-planned and meticulously produced live performances. Whoever bet against him should be very worried.

“As an owner of a band myself, the shift from CD-enhanced to live performances was inevitable because a lot of pop musicians were being compared with live musicians and they would always fall short. So they felt they needed to validate themselves from being merely entertainers to real musicians,” Mr Asiimwe explained.

“As for the Serena, it is and will definitely up the ante of how musicians prepare and present their shows because of the calibre of the clientele that it attracts,” he added.