When it comes to music, or spinning the discs, DJ Junior is one talented genius you wouldn’t want miss. Everest Junior, 29, better known as DJ Junior by his Rwandan fans, is a Ugandan artist who has been in the music industry for quite sometime. Junior, who came in Rwanda in the earlier 2000s for greener pasture, has worked with most ‘A-listers’ in Uganda’s music industry, including Steve Jean, Shanks Vee Vee Dee, Ragga Boys and the Blood Brothers. While in Rwanda, Junior met Andy, a Germany music producer (works for Cobra), who introduced him to the country’s music industry and together, they composed a track ‘Tora Kagame’ (vote Kagame), which won massive airplay during the 2003 presidential campaigns. With songs like ‘Mavubi’, ‘Kamukwekure’, ‘Sukuma’ and his latest single ‘30’, the self-appointed star is into music out of passion. Production is his other business. Having a huge fan base in his country and now in Rwanda, Junior has the ability to conquer East Africa’s music industry. Junior says Rwanda’s music industry is dull compared to Uganda’s. “The country’s music industry is really inactive,” he says. “Even those who are talented don’t have the capacity to give their fans worthy compositions because there are no specialised music productions in the country,” he noted. The singer, who is also a brother to Uganda’s diva, Grace Nakimera, says he has no intention of working with any other artist because they might claim what doesn’t belong to them. “Collaborations are good, but also bad when someone alleges the song to be his or hers, thus causing trouble,” Junior says. “I would rather do my own songs and get all the credit as a solo artist.” The singer’s complaint comes at the right time, when recently a Ugandan- Rwanda based artist, DJ Mike claimed copyright of the track ‘Tora Kagame,’ which belongs to Junior. Junior is in the country to add flavour to the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) presidential campaigns which began on Tuesday.
