 I haven't met her, but actually I've been sampling her music. She has amazing music. I know, right? And she's really with Dana if you're on Zoom right now. Can you hear me? Dana, if you're on Zoom right now, can you hear me? I can hear you. There you go. Finally, finally. We've been waiting to host you for the longest time. Oh, thank you so much for having me on the show. I wish I would be there in life, not just online. I know, you know us guys back here, we've just been like, Dana, this Mzungu from Uganda, we need to meet her, we need to... We've been seeing your videos and all that, and we had to look for your manager just to have you here. And that is what us DJs do here. Yeah, I'm so excited. It's actually my first time to be on Kenyan TV, so I'm very excited. Oh, wow. That means a lot to us. And thanks so much for honoring us. So, quick question because I'm sure many people want to know who Dana is, who is this Mzungu from Uganda, what kind of music does she play? Because this is a very first time she's appearing on Kenyan TV. So, Dana, tell us a brief, just brief history about yourself and were you born in Uganda or did you just decide to come and have a life in Uganda? No, I'm actually born and raised in Germany. I came to Uganda the first time in 2013. And I came there just to travel and see the country. And I have been doing music my whole life. So, since I was there already, of course, I was very interested in the Uganda music scene or in the East African music scene in general. And, yeah, I had an opportunity to meet some producers and my label, my manager today, who gave me the opportunity to just record something in Uganda, which was in the first place fun and suddenly turned out into a music career, which I didn't expect. Tell me that you never used to sing from way back before you came to Uganda? Excuse me? Used to sing before you came to Uganda or you just started your music career in Uganda? I used to sing. Since I'm a child, I'm doing music, but I have never done it on a professional level. I just have been playing in different bands. I have been a lot on stage, but not like in the purpose of just making it professionally. Okay, great. And, quick one, how is it working for you in Uganda? Doing music in Uganda and it's not your home country, how do people take you? Like, do they appreciate your music and your genre? They actually do, which I'm so grateful for, because when I started, I just found this amazing opportunity for me to experience the industry and get to so many talented artists in Uganda and the producer. I could see how things are done in East Africa. The music is very different from where I came from or from the Western pop music in general. So it has been such an amazing journey and I have been meeting so many talented, good people and I was able to work with them. So I'm grateful for that. And when I released my first song, we just dropped it online on my Facebook page and I didn't expect anything. I was just like, who knows me? I'm nobody. So I just dropped that song and I woke up the next morning and things just started to go wild and the response was really huge. And until today, I cannot really believe what happened. I mean, your career is really picking up because even as guys, you are fans and we're listening to your music back here. That means you're doing a great job and you should continue doing it. So do you speak the native language back there? Do you just speak English or do you speak the... Do they call it baganda or what is it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you have just ganda there? Yeah. I speak some Luganda. When I started singing in Luganda, I actually didn't even speak it. I learned through the music and with the music. So in between, I have been trying other languages and some Kiyankole which is a language and I have been mixing swahili into my songs. Although my speaking swahili is not yet where I want it to. I cannot speak that well, but I can sing it. So, yeah, I'm still trying to learn everything that I can sing. Hey, that is very nice. So guys, at home, I'm sure you're wondering who is this person we are talking about. Just that is in case you've not seen her on YouTube or on any of the local channels. I'm going to be playing one of her songs for you to see exactly who we are talking about and how exactly she performs. So this is a song by Dina, all the way from Uganda. I'm going to play Swahili. The Swahili one is called Milele. Milele. So listen to Milele by Dina. All right. Who can sing in Swahili? Some of us can't even speak fluently in Swahili. I feel like talking to her. It's the mongelesha since the start of the 80s. I wish I could. Not yet there. Listen to Dina, your such an amazing soul. Absolutely. And you have great music. And you're pretty as well, Dina. So make sure to do it to you. Make sure to do it to your music. Make sure to do it to everyone who supports your music. You're going too far. Too far, yeah. There you go, Dina. My DJ likes your music a lot. And he thinks you're pretty as well. I don't think. Dina is pretty. Yeah. Dina is so pretty. I know. He thinks you're quite pretty. So, Dina, probably throwing a question out there to you from the fact that you're pretty. And people would like to know, are you in a relationship, are you taken, are you single? Are you an entanglement? I'm the first fan of that answer. Of course. Let's say I'm married to my music. To my music. Jackpot. What a jackpot. That makes my DJ very happy right now. Really amazing gift in 2020. There you go. Dina, there's a song you did with Chameleon. And I know you've done many other colabos. How was that for you? It's just awesome. The first colabo I did was with the late radio, Mose and Rizu. And that is such a beautiful song. Until now I'm so happy I had the opportunity to actually work with them. And I also worked with Josie Chameleon on a video, not yet on a song. I'm still hoping we're going to manage that as well. I remember when I first came to Uganda in 2012, he was like the songs he did, I mean still all of his songs are great, but I remember I listened to his songs so much and it was one of the big inspiration where I actually started to do music in Uganda. So I would really be happy if we could manage to actually work on a song, not just the video. I don't know if... I know your manager, but there are very many people. Who's the currently managing you? It's called Basheer. He has been managing me since 2014 and we have been going this journey together and they have really been doing a great job. Because he's really doing a good job on you and I think that's how we even got to know you and check out your music. Kizuku, your music is starting to enter into Kenya, pole pole. And that brings us to the song that you released very recently, Tokota. I think that's your current, your latest song, right? Yes, it has just been released like two weeks ago on the 15th of July. So it's really fresh, very new. Yeah, tell me more about the song and what inspired the song, Tokota. I think when I wrote the song, I was currently in the mood that I didn't want to sing about so many serious things. I just wanted to have a song where people can dance nicely to it. You can have fun with it. It brings a lot of energy and a good feeling. And I love dancing. So that song was supposed to be a good dance song and we shot the video in February when I was in Uganda and I had really great dance on the set and all the set-ups were really nice. So I really like listening to the song. Every time I listen to it myself, I just dance and go crazy. Nice. It's such a club banger and I think the DJ you have it here. Actually, I wanted to start the song with Nikamuana producer. No, it's for a guest today. So it's a good music. It's BPM 133 and that's where I started from. Oh, yeah. I actually wanted to play it here. Really? So you want to play it here? Yeah, I want to play it here. Definitely we'll be playing that song in a few and I think we can't keep up for so long because this is Zoom. You know how Zoom business is working. But now, Dina, before I let you go, I'd just like to know how is it in Uganda with this COVID-19 going on? How is it for you as an artist? Is it affecting you? Amaz, it gives you time and enough time to work on your music and content creation and all. Actually, coincidentally, I flew out of Uganda to visit my family in Germany just five days before they locked down everything. So I basically got stuck in Germany because airport is still locked down. Things are just stopping. And currently for us as artists, I mean the whole entertainment industry is down. Some of us trying to do some concerts or things like that, but it's hard to manuva through the whole situation right now. I'm trying to use the time and produce music and just write music. Trying to see it like a little time out from all the craziness that we usually go through and concentrate on the important things. I just hope that things become better and can be normal one day. Maybe we find a medicine soon or a cure or something like that. Yeah. I know it's difficult for us back here as well, but I think it's time for all of us back at home, of course, and even you in Uganda just to reflect and try to do maybe even different things trying now to strategize on post-Covid things there, how you're going to work out your career and things like that. So, Din, of course, we appreciate you so much and thanks for taking so much time to be with us right here on Zoom.