Between Sylver Kyagulanyi and Nince Henry, who is a better songwriter?

I find it somewhat unfair and not so thoughtful to compare creatives because I think that creativity, in some sense, is comparable to giving birth to biological children.

Works of art are babies!

Factors that determine the nature or appearance of a biological baby are beyond a parent’s control. We don’t control processes by which genes, which determine the nature of our offsprings, are formed and distributed in our bodies.

Even what seems to be under our control — like choosing a beautiful or ugly, tall or short, intelligent or dumb, light or dark-skinned partner — isn’t entirely in our control as we presume.

Our choices are, in the grand scheme of things, shortlisted by forces of nature and it’s from the short list that we “choose” and convince ourselves that we “chose”.

Creatives are inspired by things around them and their personal experiences to produce their works of art. On the whole, we neither choose our immediate surroundings nor our personal experiences.

Those things come to us without our input. For instance, I didn’t choose to be a Ugandan, a Mutooro, or a Kampalan.

As a Ugandan who lives in Uganda, I have my experiences that are distinct from those of an Argentine who lives in Argentina; as a Mutooro, I have my experiences that are incomparable to those of an Alur; as a Kampalan, I have experiences that are not anywhere close to those of an upcountry peasant and ultimately, as Moses Baguma, I have individual experiences that are by no means akin to those of any known individual because there’s no other copy of Moses Baguma.

Whereas a European who lives in Europe can find the inspiration to create about snow or winter, a Ugandan who has never traveled to Europe or winter-affected countries may not.

Creatives in totalitarian countries are likely to produce works of art that mirror their mournful situations while those in free societies are likely to create about something different — maybe a free political or social debate that happened on some local TV or written about in local newspapers. Et cetera.

So, since no two people can have wholly identical personal experiences — even when their immediate surroundings are closely related or comparable — it’s impossible that two different people can be inspired by perfectly the same things to create.

It’s possible that both Silver Kyagulanyi and Nince Henry have ever suffered from heartbreaks in love, and it’s probable that the heartbreaks have influenced some of their works of art, but it’s improbable that the heartbreaks affected the two exactly in the same way.

That probably, just probably, explains why Sylver Kyagulanyi wrote Nabikoowa for Juliana Kanyomozi and Nince Henry wrote Omukwano Gunnyuma for Samali Matovu.

Both songs reflect that disappointments occur in romantic relationships. However, Nabikoowa reflects emotions of a bitter and possibly vengeful heartbroken person while Omukwano Gunnyuma reflects thoughts of a lover-turned-philosopher, unbitter and seemingly non-vengeful person who has also found disappointments in love.

So, if one artist’s work of art appears to be better than another artist’s, it may not necessarily mean that one artist’s creative faculty is better than another artist’s.

It could simply mean that one artist has more interesting immediate surroundings and personal experiences than another artist — which surroundings and experiences artists never chose.

Alternatively, it could mean that the work of art you find better than another is the one that most reflects your experiences and therefore more relatable to you.

Next time, if someone asks you to compare Sylver Kyagulanyi the writer and Nince Henry the writer, or any other creatives in any field, show them my argument. They may start to appreciate creatives of the same categories without the urge to compare them.