As the news of Herman Basudde’s death spread, Mr Julius Kaweesi, the village head of Catholic laity, who actually grew up with the deceased, rushed to meet the catechist, Vicent Kyewalabye, to request him to engage the priest at Buyoga parish to organise a requiem Mass for the deceased. Fortunately, the catechist had just taken the mandate to visit the priests at the parish, who asked him not to put in an official request for the Mass. The initial claim was that Basudde had multiple partners and he glorified polygamy in his music, which is against the Catholic faith.
The priest escalated the matter to an elder, who was also his father. Joseph Kabugo Nyombi told his son to temporarily leave the village to avoid many questions from Basudde’s fans, which the priest did at night. A person who witnessed the drama but requested anonymity to speak freely shared that the catechist fled to his sister’s home in Kamenyamigo, Lwengo District. ‘At night, mourners looked for the catechist in all corners of the village to lead the night Liturgy of the Word, and when they failed to find him, the furious mourners vandalised his house.’
Some accounts say Basudde was painted by sections of the Catholic Church as rebellious. He was allegedly criticised by some clergy for forsaking religion in favour of witchcraft. The artiste was also accused of sensationalising his music by using provocatively dressed dancers and commercialising the Kadongo Kamu genre. This religious rift resulted in certain elements of the Catholic clergy in the region refusing to conduct burial rites, including a church-sanctioned funeral Mass or formal prayers for the artiste at his send-off.
Prayers amidst drama
‘Ludigido Ludigido wange’ music analyst Yekolera Itongwa shares that a random woman showed up and mesmerised mourners as she pulled off unbecoming antics whilst hollering Basudde’s name. A self-made village music star, Basudde had left the village several years ago and turned a new page in the leafy Kampala suburb of Ggaba. It is understood that as a youth, he fled the village following allegations that he was part of an anti-Obote insurgent group, The Federal Democratic Movement of Uganda (FEDEMU), which he denied in his songs, Akaalo ke Bubondo. Milton Obote served as the second and sixth president of Uganda.
It was during his second presidency in the 1980s that FEDEMU surged to the fore as the Uganda Peoples Congress-led government faced resistance from the Greater Masaka region. Some of the victims of the war in Masaka hated Basudde so much that when he died, their families reportedly refused to offer hoes and spades meant for digging his grave. This, however, did not stop the funeral proceedings from taking centre stage. Loved by many, three coffins were bought by his family, friends, and singer Paul Kafeero.
It was decided that the deceased be buried in the one bought by Kafeero given his friendship with the singer. Other coffins were broken and laid in the grave. As he wished in his song, Wasa nju, Basudde was buried with a guitar so that he could continue with his music career. He was, however, not buried with his acoustic guitar immediately. Weeks after his burial, Basudde’s family members dug beside his grave and placed his guitar alongside him. Priests from Ggaba Catholic Parish, who had shown up for his burial ceremony, were joined by singer Fred Ssebatta to pray for the deceased. It is not clear whether a priest conducted a proper requiem Mass, Liturgy of the Word, or just prayers.
Shrouded in mystery
Until today, the Catholic Church in Uganda has never come out to issue a public statement to deny or explain why Basudde, a baptised Catholic, was denied an ecclesiastical funeral. In a song, Okufa kwa Basudde, his spouse, Aisha Nakitto, expressed her disappointment in a village catechist as she called out religious leaders to stop judging the dead. This was in spite of the fact that exclusion from a Catholic funeral is canonically allowed. In fact, more exclusions would soon follow. In recent times, artiste Paul Kato Lubwama was denied a Catholic Church funeral following his alleged involvement in witchcraft and ownership of a traditional shrine at his home.
Rev Fr Joseph Ssenkaali, the Kampala Archdiocesan Associate Judicial Vicar, came out and explained that the Catholic Church can deny someone a Catholic send-off depending on reasons that are purely liturgical. He revealed that an ecclesiastical funeral is accorded to a person who is a member of the Catholic Church. This is essentially a baptised Catholic. Those not baptised and were intended to be baptised by their parents but passed away before the sacrament could be administered. Rev Fr Ssenkaali explains that one reason the Church may choose not to hold such a requiem Mass is if the deceased individual is considered a notorious apostate. An apostate is a person who betrays or deserts the faith or religion he or she at one time professed to belong to and was baptised in it.
Current Canon Law 1184 denies a Church funeral to unrepentant ‘notorious apostates, heretics, and schismatics,’ those who choose cremation ‘for reasons contrary to the Christian faith’, meaning they deny the resurrection, and ‘other manifest sinners’ whose funeral would cause ‘public scandal of the faithful.’
The ride to death
Basudde had acquired a new Land Cruiser, which he repeatedly tested in the areas of Munyonyo and Kansanga on the same day when he had organised a reunion with his brother, a one Thomas Sserunjogi, with whom they had unsettled differences. At the party organised at one of his homes in Ggaba, Basudde invited several of his close friends and his other spouse, Jane Basirika. At the party, he informed his people that later in the evening, he would go visit his sick father in Masaka – a trip that was joined by his brother Sserunjogi, friends Sylvester Busuulwa, Mbalire Kateteeyi, and Phionah Nakayiza.
Nakitto said Basudde asked her to join him. Nakitto, however, declined because she felt tired. Basudde was displeased. ‘He asked me to join him on the journey, and I declined, and he asked to give him his cigarettes, saying: ‘Have you allowed me to go alone?” Nakitto shared. Hours later, on June 11, 1997, Basudde was pronounced dead following a fatal road crash at Kabale Bugonzi on Masaka-Kampala Road. The 38-year-old artist was travelling to his parents’ home in Bubondo, Masaka, when a truck attempted to overtake him, causing him to lose control and overturn.
The Basudde you didn’t know
When Herman Basudde’s father Eria Kizza Katende returned from the Second World War in late 1945, he came with an acoustic guitar, reportedly gifted to him by his friend, a one Mr Brown, as a souvenir. Later, his son, Herman Basudde (pictured), forged a worthwhile music career on a guitar whose strings had started getting damaged at the time.
It is understood that before using the same guitar to compose his first single, Mukyala Mugerwa, in 1986, the self-taught musician used the same guitar to do live performances in Bubondo, his home village in Masaka. Basudde was born on December 5, 1958, to Eria Katende and Dimitiria Namyalo. He attended Kibanda Primary School and Kitenga Primary School and is said not to have gone beyond the primary level.
A singer and songwriter with an unmatched husky voice, he is known for several songs about mischievous love affairs, social affairs, cheating men, and bizarre witchcraft. He won the 1994 Best Solo Country African musician award.