Biography

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Rachel Magoola was born to two music teacher parents and started singing at an early age. She was involved in

music throughout her youth at school and within her local church. She later trained as a music teacher and on

qualifying, taught for eleven years at Namasagali College, a secondary school and Kaliro Primary teacher

training college. Her college choir represented the region several times at the national level music competitions.

From 1989 to 2001 Rachel performed professionally with Uganda’s top group, The Afrigo Band, before moving on to

a solo career. She is now a successful artiste in her own right, having produced four solo albums, Inhaife in 1997,

Tyenda Wundi in 1998, Tonyiiga in 2000 and Atwibembe 2001. These albums earned her much respect from her fellow

artists and amongst the Ugandan public. “Obangaina”, one of the tracks on her debut album Inhaife, was a smash

hit countrywide and arguably the biggest hit in the history of Ugandan popular music. For example, it was Number

One on Capital Radio’s Coca-Cola Hot 7 at 7 for 30 consecutive days, a record. The video promos for “Inhaife” and

“Vooto” were extensively played on national TV UTV [now UBS], on commercial stations such as WBS and other

terrestrial TV stations.

Rachel later hosted radio shows like Kampala’s Top Twenty and The Morning Crew shows on Capital radio. Other radio

appearances include: Radio Simba’s Countdown Africa (on which “Obangaina” was voted number one); Radio Sanyu’s

African Express; Star FM’s Munakatemba; Dembe FM and BBC's Focus on Africa in March 2003. Magoola has been featured

numerous times in local Newspapers. In a New Vision poll, she was voted one of the 100 most influential women for

1998-90. She was also voted one of Uganda's top 25 celebrities 2001.

She wrote the awareness song “Take Me As I Am” for the Sickle Cell Association of Uganda (SAU). The song was first

performed at the British Council-hosted launch of SAU in 2002. “Take Me As I Am” has been greatly appreciated by

Emeritus Professor Graham Serjeant, the World's top authority on sickle cell disease. Another of Rachel's hits,

“Bakulimba”, was selected as one of the songs on a CD Flavours of Sound compiled by the Commonwealth Secretariat

for its warning messages about underage relationships and related risks among the youth. Rachel later wrote

“I am not a Toy” for the girl education movement and “Under the Sand” was Rachel's effort at creating more

awareness about HIV/AIDS and a call for behavior change among the youth. She has recently written yet another

HIV/AIDS awareness song “Treat for Life

Rachael Magoola, a Ugandan singer now based in the UK, was formerly a member of The Afrigo Band. From 1989 to Jan 2001 she, worked as a music teacher in Kaliro Primary Teacher's College. While at Kaliro she was the patroness of the Music Club. She formulated the syllabi and schedules for the... Learn More »

Rachael Magoola, a Ugandan singer now based in the UK, was formerly a member of The Afrigo Band. From 1989 to Jan 2001 she, worked as a music teacher in Kaliro Primary Teacher's College. While at Kaliro she was the patroness of the Music Club. She formulated the syllabi and schedules for the college. The College choir under her patronage on several occasions represented the Busoga region at the National Primary Teachers College Music Festivals. She also arranged many other musical activities both intra and inter college

With in the same period, Rachel worked as a co lead singer for 'Afrigo Band'. With the Band, she worked professionally and produced smash hits that rocked the charts nation-wide. Two of her best-known hits are obagaina and inhaife. Obaingaina was the the nunber one song on Capital Radio's coca cola hot seven daily countdown for thirty consecutive days which was a record for Ugandan FM stations. It was also voted Song of the Millennium on the millennium countdown. The video tape 'inhaife' has been extensively played on UTV WBS CTV and other TV stations.

In Rachel's words:

"I wrote songs and contributed in the instrumentation and arrangement of the music, I acted as the bands choreographer and I also participated in media related activities of the band"

http://rachelmagoola.com/

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