Irene Ntale on the genius of Mowzey Radio, making of ‘Bikoola’

One of Ntale’s most popular collabos is Bikoola which she recorded with the Goodlyfe Crew which Radio was the other half of.

In an interview, Crystal Newman asked Ntale if it was fun working with the duo.

"It was so much fun,” said Ntale before she started narrating how Radio came up with the song’s title. “First of all, the way Radio came up with the title of the song."

She said the Swangz Avenue’s compound had a lot of trees so while in studio Radio saw the many leaves.

"So, he said, ‘You know what, why don't we sing about these leaves?’” said Ntale.

“First I was confused. I was like, ‘what is he going to sing about the leaves?’ So, anyway we go down in studio and he was like, Mungi Mungi nyo gusinga nebikoola and I asked him, what's a lot and he told me, ‘love’.”

Mowzey Radio said, according to Irene Ntale: "This love is a lot, it’s more than the leaves in trees.”

Ntale said: “And that's bow Bikoola came.”

The song was produced by Washington.

Who is Irene Ntale?

Born on January 30, 1989, Irene Ntale picked interest in music at about the age of 16 when she was still in high school.

She went to Martyrs Way Nursery School in Ntinda, Kitante Primary School, Kitante Hill School, Makerere High School, then Kyambogo University where she studied procurement and logistics management.

After university, she was given a job in Mbale district, but she rejected it to focus on her music career.

At 16, Ntale became active in church and picked interest in choir, and also started learning music instruments.

Then she teamed up with some boys at the church to form a band though they only practiced with no commercial pursuits.

Then one of the members died and everyone went solo.

Ntale then started backing up a female singer who was doing world music.

The singer she was backing one day allowed her to do a cover at Emin Pasha Hotel and the manager of the hotel liked her voice and gave her a weekly gig on Wednesday evening.

It's from here that she was scouted by Swangz Avenue. She had been there for a year and Swangz Avenue spotted her at the end of 2012. Irene Ntale joined Swangz Avenue in January 2013 and left in 2017.