Love Knows no Lockdown, Rapper Leumas Owabajaja Weds Long time Girlfriend Kaycee

The year 2020 is that story which started with great hope but many lost it on the way, for Leumas and Kaycee the story is different because while many lost hope, they inspired, they showed the world that Love can still be celebrated amidst all challenges, In June they took their vows in a super love wedding, we had a conversation with the Rapper who shared with us about their marriage and also we got chance to find out what Leumas Owajaja stands for in terms of Music, and his humanitarian work, his tireless efforts to support disadvantaged children.

Q: Tell us about Leumas Owabajaja

A: Leumas Owabajaja is a VJ and a performing artiste. He is also a social worker working with Beyond Culture Ltd. Beyond Culture is an organisation that works with disadvantaged children in communities and it is also a music label.

Q: Owabajaja seems to be a Stage name. What is your real name?

A: My name is Samuel Ssendagire aka Leumas Owabajaja. For me, Owabajaja represents the son of the ancestors; like in my music I talk about African Heritage, African history and culture and I always say African solutions for African problems.

Q: Congratulations upon your very successful wedding; why did you keep it off the media, friends and fans?

A: My life has never been so much on the media, I try to exclude as many things as possible, things that I do as Sam and getting married, I did not get married as Leumas Owabajaja but as Samuel Ssendagire. These are two different people, because Leumas Owabajaja is performng artiste while Samuel Ssendangire is a human being just like everyone else and for me as a person, I did not want anything extravagant and my wife wanted something very simple, we just wanted something very small and intimate. So imagine being at your wedding and someone asks ‘who is the bride?’ But also looking the current circumstances, it was hard to have something big, but as a couple we have to have something big when corona is done.

Q: Tell us about your wife, who is she and what does she do?

A: she is called Casie Lyn and we have been together for a very long time and we were like, you know what, let's just get married. It feels so good to be married despite the propaganda surrounding marriage. I cant wait for the day I will celebrate our 70th marriage anniversary

Q: How did you meet?

A: we met in a camp, we were both teachers. She was working with American Peace Cops, working in a school in Namutumba community. We actually met here in Uganda in Iganga. She was teaching and I was called to facilitate a workshop with Girls Leading.

Q: Now that you are a married man, should your fans expect a different Leumas?

A: I cannot say that something is gonna change or that nothing will change but change is inevitable, whether or not I am married, I would still change based on what I would be going through in a particular time.

This is a new moment in my life, a new chapter, so definitely my thinking is going to change mostly for the positive. Im expecting myself to do greater things.

Q: What other projects are you working on besides music?

A: I wouldn’t call myself a rapper, I am poet and a writer. But, besides the music, we work with communities like Mugiiti, we work with an orphanage called Child of Hope where we do workshops for the kids and at the same time, we do farming projects. For instance, during this COVID time when everyone was giving communities food, we sat down and thought about it because what is the use of giving someone 5kgs of posho flour, what if you give them 5kgs of maize seeds to plant such that in a period of 5 months, they can fend for themselves and they can also help others. Some did not have land and what we decided.

I am also a mentor for the youth on sex education, drug abuse and creative expressions and entrepreneurship.

A: Most of the things I do, I do with my wife for instance in Mugiiti community, we work together, we also work together at WMI and music wise, she is always on the frontline, she makes my big decisions. Even before I release a song she’s always gonna listen to it and be like ‘nah, this isn’t you, you’re just rushing to put out something’

So I think I will have to think about that balance probably when we have a kid. QN: What music projects are you working on right now?

A: We will be releasing an E.P soon, most probably in October or November. We are also planning on releasing some music videos featuring a lot of different artistes.

Q: We have not seen any music videos from you, and yet we see you winning awards; how have you managed to beat the Ugandan trend which is predominantly a music videos market?

A. If you do something that people can relate to, music that really speaks to you, it can speak to other people, I feel like my music speaks to people. I am not a commercial artiste. A: Everybody tries to find their spot that makes them different in the industry, I do not feel like I am better than anyone, I am and I choose to do something different from everybody. I have always wanted to make a video but it is not so easy to find a videographer who is going to execute your vision. But as Beyond Culture, we have been acquiring some equipment and training personnel that can really bring out the vision that we have as a brand.

Q: What makes leumas Owabajaja different from other rappers? A: The environment that I grew up in made me who I am, the fact that I am African, a Ugandan and a Muganda who grew up in Mbale, I am a young person with two different cultures, I have learnt a lot of things at the same time.

I love reading and writing about history, I love following African culture, heritage and spirituality. I represent the actual African history, and not the one we were written for, that is what I choose to represent.

I learnt that for me to be unique, I had to get out of my comfort zone and circle so I can grow my own circle.

What makes me unique is I feel like learning never ends.

Q: How has the lockdown affected you?

A: I feel like the lockdown has affected all of us, it has helped me think about my career, for instance the E.P I’m working on is so much about the current situation that we are going through. Politically, I think that the lockdown has helped me know who to cast my vote for and it has helped me learn about different people and their personalities, like when you see people giving out food for relief and before they give it out, they want the recipient to first pose for a picture. Also, I was able to take some time off work because each day was always a new project, there was no day I would spend an entire day at home. So this lockdown has helped me rest and re-strategize. It also helped me invest in other things like farming.

Q: If you are to project your vision for us all to see, which Leumas shall we see?

B: That is a very broad question but let me talk about what I hope for although I cannot predict right now: my dream and vision is to have a creative center which has an open studio for all young creative people and a space where young people can prepare and plan anything because I plan to retire from active music like performing but rather training and writing. I would also love to pioneer a music school in Mbale.

Q: can you leave a message for your fans?

A: Everybody should be free to express themselves and also, being an artiste does not exclude you from being an artiste. Do not put pressure on artistes because it is that pressure that forces them to have an extravagant life that they cannot afford.

Do not push yourself to do what you don’t wanna do, do something that makes you happy.