Lilly Ahabwe is no stranger to the Ugandan music scene. Her break out track ‘Beera nange’ with Allan Toniks blew airwaves and night spots 12 years ago and is possibly one of the most loved duets from the last decade.
Over the years, there has been a lot of speculation on why she left the music industry after ‘Beera Nange’. She demystifies this and more on her You Tube channel.
The Freedonia Album is a follow up to her February Love EP that she released on Valentine’s Day this year. In both projects she demonstrates her musical growth with her gorgeous vocals, versatility and lyrics.
Gukuba and Our Love (Ekilavilavu) which she released in February resonate well with today’s metropolitan millennial women and tease as to the quality of mastered songwriting, beat selection and gorgeous vocals that one should look forward to in the rest of the album.
Each track is a gem, a pocket of poetry to escape into. Ahabwe worked closely with producer Andy Music to create a 12 track ‘Freedonia’ album.
Speaking to Chimpreports about why she choose ‘Freedonia’ as the album title, Ahabwe said, the term Freedonia can be anything from a noun describing a plausible yet fictional country, to an adjective (“Freedonian”) used to characterize a place.
“This was the inspiration for the title album and title track. Freedonia is a metaphor for a special place in my mind (my world) and it is really an invitation to the listener to immerse themselves into my thoughts as they are expressed through the lyrics and the music put to those lyrics,” she said.
“ Having been out of the industry for years, it was important for me to come back with not just one or two songs but to work on a whole album because I feel like a full album tells you a little more about the artist and what they are potentially about,” added Lilly.
Asked on how she relates to the album personally, Lilly explained thus;
“This album is a more mature and diverse representation of who I am as an artist in comparison to who I was back in 2008. Freedonia is a culmination of stories about myself, stories I’ve come across, my struggle to fit in versus my struggle to just have the freedom to be myself.
Writing this album was a cathartic experience for me, because I finally had the chance and the freedom to represent myself in the way that I wanted to be seen. To me Freedonia is really a teaser into who I am and who I hope to be.”
Commenting on the future of her budding career, Lilly noted that this Freedonia is only but just the start to greater things.
“I hope that this is just the beginning for me to show what I can do as an artist.”
The Freedonia album drops today June 22.
