Cindy Sanyu: A Cindy, Blu 3 Reunion?

Yes... I know... What happened to that final part of the Cindy interview? I know... Perhaps we felt that with already three parts to the Cindy interview we had over loaded you with Cindy over the summer. Perhaps we saw so much traffic going to the first three articles and decided to hold back on the final part to add to its value... hmnnn.... Who knows.

UGPulse Promo

Well since then the Ayokyayokya video (completed and released after the interview was held) has been setting records in the UGPulse video collection on YouTube, week after week remaining in the top 10. While it is relatively easy to be in the top 10 when we upload videos for the first time, the true measure of a successful video is how long you stay there. No other artist has done better than Juliana whose videos are still among the top ten most watched videos every week- Kanyimbe (uploaded in June 2007) and Usiende Mbali (uploaded August 2008). No wonder she does not produce that many videos... Hers are as good as new. Even more successful than the Ayokyayokya video over the summer is Cindy's friends' Where You Are video which is another one that has been dominant in our top ten.

Where You Are

Cindy was this month crowned Diva of the Year 2009 by Afrika Diva Music Awards in Kampala and our website statistics clearly show why. It was this summer that Cindy opened up to UGPulse.com on the whole ordeal of her split from Blu 3. Determined to set the record straight, and clearly more driven to succeed because of the ordeal, she answered all our questions openly and at length. It was a very fast paced interview... me having so many questions and her eager to answer.

Cinderella Sanyu aka Cindy is interviewed by UGPulse.com.

Continues from: Cinderella Sanyu: The Unfinished Duo with P Square

Peter: Great... So what else have you worked on?

Cindy: Ummm... I'm working on this song called Ayokya.

Peter: Ayokya?...

Cindy: (With a big proud grin on her face...) Which is doing sooo... well. I... I am amazed... (Quietly laughing in disbelief...) Hahaha...

Peter: Okay? (Trying to understand her amusement...) Its already out on the radio?

Cindy: Hahaha... ya... It's already out... (Still maintaining her 'to the bank' grin...) And its playing in e-v-e-ry club.

Peter: Hmmmn...

Cindy: Yeah... So... Right now I'm doing the Girl Power Tour with Bella and Priscilla Kalibala. So we are basically taking the songs around the country. (Back to Ayokyayokya...) And then... every where we go people are loving it. So by the time we are done on the 5^th of July, its going to be everywhere. The video is coming out in two weeks... I'm excited...

Peter: So you already finished the video... The last time I talked to you, you...

Cindy: Yes... (that 'to the bank' grin...)... I finished (shooting) it.... Yes. But its going to be done (completed) soon and we'll then put the video out there.

Ayokyayokya

Peter: Great... Ummm... Let me think... What else do you want to talk about?... Tell us about growing up... Who you were as a child? Like what kind of person where...

Cindy: Hmnnn...

Peter: ... or what would you have been if you had not pursued music?

Cindy: I think I would have really... really been a bored lawyer...

Peter: Lawyer... (I have this grin on my face... Cindy... A lawyer?)... Really?

Cindy: Yeah...

Peter: Nice.

Cindy: If I hadn't been a singer... But I think... Since I was a child... Since I started Un-der-standing? I think I've always wanted to sing. My mother has always told me that's what I'm going to be.

Peter: Ok.

Cindy: Yeah... since I started like... You know when you are a child you don't remember a lot of things, but as soon as you start understanding what you're doing, ...(emphatically)... I always wanted to sing!

Peter: Hmnnn...

Cindy: I grew up... I could sing all the songs by Chaka Chaka... I knew all the words. I did not understand what she was saying... But I knew everything Chaka Chaka sang... I used to call myself Chaka Chaka... and I wanted everybody to call me that. You know... and then...

Peter: Wow... But that was in the 80's... Where you born by then?

Cindy: I was born in 85...

Peter: Yeah but...

Cindy: (Trying to convince me...) As I grew up... when I was like six in the 90s...?

Peter: Yeah..?

Stimela by Yvonne Chaka Chaka

Cindy: I sang every word! ... of her songs... You know... I just loved her. I loved the way she looks... Everything! I used to love her a lot. Till this day, when the music is played... I remember the last time I was in a supermarket and I heard one of her songs... I just stopped. (She laughs...) You know? I couldn't believe it. I... I loved to sing.

Then as young as 6 I used to sing in choirs... school choirs. And then my mom used to encourage me all the time. She'd say, "Your Dad said you'd do this." Cuz my Dad died when I was 2.

Peter: Oh really... Sorry to hear that...

Cindy: So... Yes... So I didn't get a chance to... You know... He had a whole band... He had all his instruments in the house... So music was the thing that I grew up listening to... But nobody else in my family actually loves to sing... They love music... but they don't like to really sing. So it was... I have always wanted to sing.

Peter: Tell us more about that... (Hesitating... Not too sure whether I should ask...) I mean... You lost your f... father at the age of two?

Cindy: (Sighs...) Yeah...

Peter: Umm... Did you know much about him?

Cindy: (She kindly replies...) No... I have a very faint image of him. (She lets out some sort of protective short laugh...) Yeah... because at t-w-o... man... I can't remember anything... Almost nothing at all. So ummm... I've grown up not knowing how it feels to have a daddy. And then growing up I saw dads and I really didn't miss having a daddy... (It seems like she's always ready to laugh...) Cuz you guys are so tough...

Peter: Aaaah.... (We both laugh out loud.) Girls are supposed to like their fathers... (We continue to laugh...)

Cindy: My mom is just enough... My mom was... She was everything... She was our God... She was our mother... She was our security.

Peter: How many w-e-re you?

Cindy: S-e-ven!

Peter: Seven... girls... and boys....

Cindy: Five girls, two boys.

Peter: OK.

Cindy: So it was really hard on our mom... And she was very hard on us as we were growing up... So I felt like... Now... if I had a daddy?

Peter: Yeah...

Cindy: (She laughs...) It would be terrible! So I grew up not missing a father. I started missing a dad when I was like sixteen... That's when I was like... I wonder how it would have been like? You know... It would have been really nice to sing, and he says something to you. Or... you know... Maybe he would have taught me to play the Bass guitar because that's what he loved to play... All these things. So that's when I started missing him.

Peter: He probably would have made you become a lawyer instead of a singer... And God knows where you would have ended up... (I laugh by myself... She just smiles.)

Cindy: Naaah... I don't... (She now laughs...) I don't think so... My mom tried so hard... Seriously I got so many beatings?... Aaah... A lot of them growing up? She couldn't believe that I was actually serious with it... You know...

Peter: Hmnn...

Cindy: I remember the last time she beat me for singing is when... I used to go for Church rehearsals til late... really late... like eleven in the night... and I was like fourteen... So she thought I was hanging out with guys. So the day when we were having a crusade... cuz I used to sing at big crusades that needed choirs of like fifty people...

Peter: Hmnnn...

Cindy: It was really nice... Then she came to the crusade to BEAT me off the stage!

Peter: Wow...

Cindy: She said, I'm coming to the crusade today and I am going to beat you if you climb that stage.

So I... I get on to this stage... and Aaaah... (A sigh of disbelief...) I remember I was singing this song... (She starts to spontaneous sing!...) Jabulani... Jabulani Africa... So I was up there singing and thinking, "She... she's coming..." (We both laugh...)

And then she comes to the front and she looks at me... and she goes back and sits... and starts crying. It... It... was amazing. I come off the stage... I look at her and I was like... Cuz I was thinking she was going to hit me really hard... cuz now she's crying. You know... She said, "That was really beautiful."

Peter: So wait... You are singing on stage and here she is, she's coming towards you...

Cindy: Yes... she's coming to beat me up... I can see her. I can really see her... and she stops and she looks at me... She doesn't say anything... She sits on the side... like... not on the side... cuz it was on a field. So she sits until the crusade was over... and you know crusades... they don't have a time limit... you know... So we ended really late.... And then I go to her and I really think she's gonna beat me up... and I want to say I'm sorry... but instead she says, "That was really beautiful."

That's the last day she beat me for music.

Peter: That's some powerful stuff... (I start to laugh...)

Cindy: Awww man.... I... I can't take her face out of my head... You know... But it was really nice when I saw her and she was happy for me. I was like... Yeah, now I'm unstoppable... You know... Nobody can stop me now... So now she's the person that keeps me going...So no matter what the people say, no matter what comes out, my mom is always there. And yes... I think my family has been the strongest thing in my life. I think if they ever left me... The rest of the world can turn against you... They can... Because there is no blood... There is no connection at all. So they (family)... They have never turned against me.

Peter: Guys like us (media) like it when you are down so that...

Cindy: Ummm... You know?... So you can have something to talk about... (She laughs)

Peter: Exactly.

Cindy: Yeah.. But my family always have something positive to say about everything... Yet they criticize... But they also encourage.

Peter: What else are you pursuing apart from your singing?

Cindy: I love fashion... I... I'm really... I... I love shoes. Yeah... I really... really love shoes.

Peter: So... we're seeing a Cindy line down the road?

Cindy: Of shoes... I don't know. But of clothes... yes. (She's giggled at the idea but its clearly in her mind.)

Peter: OK... Cuz we just interviewed Grace Nakimera ...same exact thing... (I interviewed Cindy immediately after Grace... In fact Cindy was waiting for me to call her after Grace's interview.)

Cindy: (Ever smiling...)She wants to do shoes or clothes?

Peter: She wants to do... ummm... She said fashion...

Cindy: Yeah... I... I love clothes... Seriously. I love clothes. I love dressing up women. I love... make up... you know... I love everything about beauty. So I'm really looking into starting a clothing line... or you know... opening up a beauty parlor. And then a make-up studio. (She seems almost ready on the whole idea...)

Peter: Is there a name for the ... er... line? Perhaps "Cindy"?

Cindy: I.. I would be "Cinderella"... you know... Yah!

Peter: Oh.. Cuz if you use Cindy they might mistake you for Cindy Crawford? (We laugh out loud...)

Cindy: Nah.. Maybe it will be "Cinderella". I haven't seen that in clothes... Yet... Yeah so maybe I'll just do that.

Peter: Talking about beauty and style... You had some rather interesting and constantly changing hairstyles while in Blu 3... Where you trying to make a statement? How come you were a little bit different from Lillian and Jackie when it comes to styling yourself when it came to consistency in style?

Cindy: I get easily bored. I'm so easily bored by... especially hair. You know... Even clothes... If you notice I don't have a particular style... of clothes that I wear... I love dresses... I love shorts... I love to be elegant... I love to be sassy... I like to be bitchy... whatever.

Peter: Hmnnn...

Cindy: Yes... I get bored very easily... Same thing with hair... Everytime I look at myself in the mirror, I can't stand looking the same for more than two weeks straight...

Peter: Yeah?

Cindy: No... It can't happen... (She laughs.) Yeah so that's why it happened in Blu 3 that I always had something crazy... The girls were different by then. They didn't like trying different things... They were just comfortable with what they had. Right now they are more creative. But before they did not change much... I think its just me. I get easily bored.

Cinderella Sanyu with Jackie and Lillian.

Peter: How many albums have you had as Cindy.?

Cindy: I'm working on my first...

Peter: How many songs do you have so far?

Cindy: (Almost hesitantly...) Thirteen.

Peter: Thirteen songs...

Cindy: Yeah... I want to do a big album... I want to release an album and not do an album for three years...

Peter: Wow...

Cindy: Yeah.. So I don't...

Peter: Not do anything for three years... You sure you wont be forgotten?

Cindy: I'll just promote it... and promote it... You know... And just keep renewing songs... and remixing songs... and you know. Stuff like that. I don't want to do a small album that is going to last me a year and have me going back to the studio. I want to do a big album that I can market here (Uganda) and outside... marketing it and doing shows all over the place. And that's what I'm working on.

Peter: Any concerts lined up...

Cindy: Yes actually I have something coming up in Sweden... in August... early August.

Peter: What's the concert called?

Cindy: Oh my gawd... (She laughs...) I always just get calls and I know I have to be in Sweden in August on a certain day... I'm terrible at finding out what exactly... My manager always gets the details.

Peter: OK... And who manages you?

Cindy: She's called Daphne Kyaligonza. She's my big sister... So she is somebody I could trust. Right now I really... really needed someone I could trust. So she's managing me at the moment.

Peter: Where are you in terms of... Some people saw you as being different... And have predicted you will go further alone than if you were to have remained with Blu 3.

Cindy: Yeah... I ... I... definitely feel like that. Cuz in the group they don't see you as individuals? They see you as a group. So even if you achieve anything as a person... as Cindy... or as Jackie... or whoever... They don't see it. I'm different now because I can get my name out there. Its not a name of a group, but they see me as Cindy. So that is different. So I don't know if I am a step ahead of them (Blu 3) or behind them... I just know that I am doing my thing, and it's working out here (in Uganda). Yeah and its working out in East Africa...

Peter: Others have likened you to the levels of Juliana and Iryn.

Cindy: Wow... wohaha... (She laughs...)

Peter: C'mon now... Don't say wow... That's not news to you... (She continues to laugh.)

Cindy: No... no... no... It is... Seriously. It is. Those are people I look up to. Yeah... (She suddenly remembers something...) Actually I have to say when I left the group, the people who really encouraged me... Juliana really encouraged me. It was a small conversation of like thirty minutes... But to me... It meant really a lot. I... I sat with her in the club and she was able to tell me, "You can do it." She was like, "I've done this before. It is hard but you can do it." You know.

Peter: Is it because she has had similar drama in the past...?

Cindy: Yes... Yes... Finally somebody I can relate to. You know... Somebody who understands how it feels like. Yeah... so...

Peter: Do you read the comments... like on the internet when they comment on your videos...?

Cindy: Yeah... yayaya.

Peter: What are your... Like some of the comments were like Cindy needs to go back to Blu 3...

Cindy: Hmnn... Hmnn.. Hmnn...

Peter: Some of them are stuck in the middle... Like do you have any response towards that?

Cindy: I.. I'm sorry that the group... (I start to laugh at her apology and she briefly follows...) broke up... Seriously... I am. I didn't want to leave Blu 3... That's the truth... no matter what everybody says. I loved it... You know... I'm not a person who sticks to something when I don't want to do it. Sometimes I'm hard to work with for that reason. If I don't like a song, I'm like... You know what... delete everything. So I loved the group. I feel really sorry that it broke up... Blu 3 is still there... You know...

Peter: Yeah...

Cindy: And I think that they... they are trying. You know... They are doing really well. It was a set back when I left but Blu 3 is still there for anybody who loves Blu 3. For those that like Cindy... There... There is me now. (We laugh at her self promotion at the very end while respecting her former group. She quickly goes back to being serious though...) So you just gotta embrace me the way I am... There is nothing I can do about that.

Maybe in a couple of years... Maybe... Aah... I wish... We could do like a reunion or something... just do a concert together...

Cinderella Sanyu when she was in Blu 3.

Peter: That would be great...

Cindy: Or do a tour together. It would be really nice for our fans... and also for us... You know... Cuz there is a lot that we achieved and those are things that you can't forget. Those are things that you can't just throw away... you know. It can't happen...

Peter: Hmnn...

Cindy: Yeah... So maybe after a while it will happen... I really pray that it does and as Cindy I promise that I will try... to make happen... You know... maybe not now... But I will try to make it happen. I should disturb the girls as much as I can to see that this happens again. I'm sure they want it too... You know? Somehow... I'm sure they want it too.

And then I... I get a lot of people who blame me... you know... who... they say maybe just talk to them an go back... "You girls were beautiful together." It can't happen now...

Peter: (Not sure if I heard correctly...) It can't happen?

Cindy: Not now... No... right now it can't happen... But I have hope. So I think people should have hope as well. It might happen some day. I'm never going to leave Cindy. Because I... I'm lovin' it. Finally I'm getting to be me. I will never leave me.

Peter: Which other artists have you worked with?

Cindy: Well... apart from Mickie Wine... I have done something with Rachel K... a really beautiful song... Then we are working on something with Wahu...

Wahu and Chege with Running Low

Peter: Wahu... nice...

Cindy: Yeah... and definitely P Square... We thinking of doing something else or remixing the version that's out. We have a couple of ideas down... and we are yet to decide which to release and when. Those are the people are the people right now that I have worked with.

I'm actually also trying to record with Papa Wemba.

Papa Wemba with Mon Jardin Secret

My mother adores him... So yeah... I'm trying to work with him. Apart from being being in Congo, he is big in Africa... on the continent... Especially with the coorporate audience and the older generation, and somebody I've always adored growing up. Its a different style altogether... (She laughs.) But that's me. Yeah I really want to work with him and I'm trying to work that out so you might be lucky enough to hear Cindy and Papa Wemba. (She laughs quietly again.) I'll let you know as soon as we do it.

Peter: Excellent... Thank you.

My album is not gonna have a lot of collabos though... cuz I don't want people to think that I'm depending on others.... So I... I wanna come out as me. I just want to promote myself as Cindy. Because before I introduce myself to anyone... I need to introduce myself right now. So my album is going to be ninety percent me. So I have done collabos but don't be shocked if you don't see any of them in the album. But there will be videos and singles.

Peter: Ok... What else? Some acting?

Cindy: Heh Oooh... (She becomes extatic...) Nice question...(She laughs...) Aaah... There is this guy called Omugave Ndugwa... He used to work with Black Pearls years ago... He came back this year and gave me call and asked me to act... So I got to act in his play Ekoligo... So I gotto do two shows...(She laughs again...) It had nothing to do with the glamorous Cindy that you are used to seeing. It was really nice and it had a lot of my fans shocked. Yeah... cuz I was on stage doing this really... really... really rural girl... So it was very interesting. When I did it, I thought, "You know what, I should act again." I used to do that in school a lot and it was really a joke. But right now I want to act!

Peter: OK... So if someone calls you saying they have a role for you...

Cindy: Yes... True that... Yes... We're talking about it. I have got a number of proposals about doing movies. Very you gonna be...

Peter: Anything you want to talk about?

Cindy: N-n-n-n-n-o. Not right now. Its going to be a big story... That's something you will talk about for years. But ummm... (Smiling and teasing me with suspense...) Its coming. (She laughs...)

Peter: OK. So soon you will in the Movie section of UGPulse. By the way do you visit UGPulse?

Cindy: Yes... I like the way you talk about artists... Yeah... A lot of websites do not really focus on a person... They write a couple of lines... Then when they find a big artist, they write a lot of things... Then there is a way that you bother to find out the truth... (She adds...) and not the rumours...

Peter: Hmnnn...

Cindy: (She laughs...)

Peter: We try...

Cinderella Sanyu.