Chris Bahizi for shizo manizo, nevertheless don’t mind that’s me trying to make the name rhyme and sound cool. I just keep wondering how people manage to maintain being humble character without messing up but one Christian Bahizi is a master at this and that’s me trying to sound sarcastic.
An afro soul artist, guitarist, vocalist, graphic designer and an ambassador of hope, born in Goma in D. R. Congo then later came to Uganda in 2011 as a refugee due to war and insecurities back home the soft-spoken, humble with a faint smile Bahizi shares with us his experience and journey as an artist.
Xris Bahizi at Bayimba Festival of Arts with Kitara Nation
I fell in love with music when I was young, way back when I was in primary school. Not sure of the year yet, my dad bought a TV and every evening I would sit with a cup of porridge watching music on national TV and my Mom could sing along while the songs were playing and I could ask her who those artists are, and she could tell me their names and titles of the songs, I really fell in love with that music and I still listen to those songs up to now. Pause these kinda memories can never die though my experiences are different because at that age it way games, cartoons may be the only time I would listen to music was when I was promised money in case I danced along.
Some of those artists are; Lokwa Kanza, Kassav, Wenge, Koffi Olomide, that’s the kind of music I grew up in and some western music that’s Justin Timberlake, Enrique and many French Singers.
Many artists are groomed through church choirs and reason being church is a forgiving audience so they can’t trash your music and that’s my opinion but trust me Bahizi is good.
I’m an artist that was shaped in choirs around Kampala and in those choirs, I got the opportunity to learn different instruments and I got to learn different voices; almost everything he rejoinders. I started learning how to write songs, later on I started performing at Gigs that UNHCR used to organize, started getting used to performing my music and people enjoyed.
I personally think music is poetry and literally, some people can agree as a one Bahizi who was introduced to the poetry community when he auditioned for a gig called WORD UG and passed. It was a big platform I got to meet Lule Ssebo Lule who is a household name when it comes to spoken word art and poetry as a craft. This improved my writing as a person
Chris Bahizi recently released his debut single Malaika, a Luganda word that translates Angel and he wrote the song that I wrote when I started learning how to write songs and the time when he started performing live with a guitar.
In Malaika I talk about the beauty and the commitment of a girl and he literally fell in love with it thus had to release it first because it’s the fruit of my debuting days.
Link to the song https://song.link/s/6WnBLaZNOsI6wG81xof7Yc. It is available on all digital platforms