Richy receives RFI nod

Richard Kaweesa, commonly known by his stage name Richy, a songwriter, singer and guitarist, has been shortlisted on the top ten finalists of this year’s RFI Discovery Awards. This makes him the second Ugandan to be nominated for this prestigious award after Maurice Kirya. In 2010 Kirya beat over 500 musicians from all over Africa to scoop the award.

RFI Discovery Awards, also known as Prix Décourvetes, aim at giving new artistes an opportunity to promote their music talents. They are organised in partnership with Cultures France, the French Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs and the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie.

Over the years, the Prix Découvertes has been awarded to diverse popular artistes, including Tiken Jah Fakoly (Ivory Coast), Awadi (Senegal), Amadou and Mariam (Mali) and Maurice Kirya (Uganda).

Richy was selected together with other artistes that include; Albino Mbie (Mozambique), Bobona (Burundi), Idylle Mamba (CAR), Ife (Benin), Krotal (Cameroon), Marema (Senegal), Oupta (Congo Brazzaville), Shishani (Namibia), and Couzany (Cape Verde).

Congolese sensational singer Fally Ipupa will be on the judge’s panel for this year’s awards.
The award winner receives 10.000 Euros and goes on a tour of selected African countries and gets to perform at a concert in France. Burkina Faso’s Smarty won last year’s award.

Richy is one of the voices behind the Uganda 50th independence theme song Yoga Yoga. The jubilee song also featured Esther Nabaasa and Ruyonga. In the gospel circles, he is known for his RnB song, True Love. Ebiro byaffe (our days) the afro-beat single off his album, My Words, is getting massive airplay on East African radios and TV channels.

 To vote, log on to: http://www.prixdecouvertes.com/en/vote

The voting process ends on 30th October.