Uganda: Moses Matovu, voice of Afrigo Band for fifty years, laid to rest in Kyanja

Ugandan musician Moses Matovu, co-founder and central figure of Afrigo Band, died on September 24, 2026, at Kibuli Hospital in Kampala at the age of 77, reports the pan-African site Music In Africa. He was laid to rest on September 25 in Kyanja, in the Ugandan capital, where thousands of people gathered, according to public broadcaster UBC.

According to UBC, the artist succumbed to injuries sustained during an assault that occurred on September 24 at the Kibuli market in the Makindye division. The Ugandan police have opened a murder investigation. The news site Nilepost reports that a primary suspect has been arrested and was expected to be brought to justice; no guilt has been established at this stage. Muslim funeral prayers were held in Kibuli before the body was taken to the National Theatre in Kampala.

Sixty years on stage

Born in Kampala in 1949, Moses Matovu began playing in the 1960s with the Thunderbirds Band, the Police Band, and then the Cranes Band. In 1975, he co-founded Afrigo Band with Charles Ssekyanzi, Jeff Ssewava, Paddy Nsubuga, Paulo Sserumaga, Fred Luyombya, Anthony Kyeyune, and Geoffrey Kizito, details Music In Africa.

For five decades, the orchestra blended Congolese rumba and soukous with touches of jazz and funk, drawing on Ugandan rhythms, languages, and the art of storytelling. Afrigo Band celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2025 and performed across East Africa as well as in South Africa, China, Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The group received an honorary award at the Pearl of Africa Music Awards in 2007, and Matovu received a lifetime achievement award at the HiPipo Music Awards in 2021.

The "beating heart" of Afrigo

During the funeral, singer Rachel Magoola hailed him as "the beating heart of Afrigo's history," according to Nilepost, while recalling the role of the instrumentalists, technicians, sound engineers, and tour crews who kept the orchestra alive. For Eddy Kenzo, president of the Uganda National Musicians Federation, cited by Music In Africa, Matovu was also "a teacher, a mentor," beyond being an artist. Musicians Mesach Ssemakula, Eddy Yawe, and Catherine Kusasira were expected at the funeral, as were the Minister of Gender and Culture Henry Tumukunde and the Katikkiro of Buganda, Charles Peter Mayiga.

With his passing, one of the last great bandleaders of the Ugandan scene disappears, at a time when live bands, which are expensive to maintain, are losing ground to studio productions. Afrigo Band, born nine years before the end of the Idi Amin Dada regime and still active, has traversed half a century of the country's history without ever leaving the stage.