Irene Namatovu has opened up about some of the unforgettable moments that shaped her music career, including a risky promotional stunt that ended with her and her colleagues being stopped and cained by police in Jinja.
The singer recalled the incident while reflecting on her early years in the entertainment industry, when she was not only performing music but also working as a dancer.
During one promotional drive for a show, Namatovu found herself dancing on top of a moving car as she and her colleagues made their way around Jinja.
The stunt was intended to attract attention to their upcoming performance.
Instead, it attracted the attention of police officers.
Namatovu said the incident happened as she and her colleagues were promoting a show scheduled for later that day.
They were driving around Jinja to alert people about the upcoming performance, turning the journey into part of their promotional campaign.
Namatovu, who was also a dancer at the time, took the unusual approach of dancing on top of one of the cars as they headed toward Owen Falls.
The plan apparently worked in one sense: they certainly attracted attention.
But the attention changed quickly when they approached Owen Falls Dam.
Namatovu recalled encountering several police officers who stopped their vehicles.
She said the officers questioned why she and the others had remained on top of the car while passing the falls, apparently considering the stunt dangerous.
“As we approached Owen Falls Dam there were so many police men who stopped us. They cained us questioning why we didn’t come down from the top of the car as we bypassed the falls because it was risky,” Namatovu recalled.
The incident became one of the memories she carried from the early stages of her career, but it was far from the only unusual experience she encountered.
Namatovu also remembered an embarrassing moment during her time with Eagles Production.
On one occasion, one of her colleagues was absent, and Namatovu was asked to step in during the group’s performances.
She saw the opportunity as a major chance to introduce herself to the audience and demonstrate what she could do.
“I was so excited because I thought I had gotten an audience to showcase my talent and also show the people who I really was,” she said.
Namatovu confidently went onto the stage and performed, believing everything was going according to plan.
There was just one problem.
Something was wrong with the sound.
Namatovu’s early career involved more than simply singing.
She also performed as a dancer, giving her experience across different parts of the entertainment industry.
That background helps explain why she was willing to participate in unconventional promotional activities, including dancing on top of a car during the Jinja drive.
Her time with Eagles Production also gave her opportunities to perform in front of audiences and develop her identity as an entertainer.
The stage incident she recalled, however, showed her how quickly an exciting opportunity could turn into an uncomfortable experience.
She believed she was singing live during the performance.
It was only later that she discovered the sound setup had not worked as she expected.
According to Namatovu, the DJ had pulled the wire connected to her microphone.
That meant the audience was hearing background music rather than the live vocals she thought she was delivering.
For performers, early career mistakes and embarrassing moments can be difficult to forget.
For Namatovu, however, those experiences became part of the learning process.
The Jinja incident taught her a lesson about the risks involved in promotional stunts, while the stage mishap exposed her to the realities of live performance and sound production.
She said she was devastated when she discovered what had happened.
“I cried so much when I went backstage,” Namatovu recalled.
But she eventually understood that the incident had not necessarily been intended to humiliate her.
According to Namatovu, she later realized that she had made a mistake while singing and that the DJ had pulled the microphone wire “not to embarrass me.”
The stories reveal a less polished side of Namatovu’s journey — before experience and years in the industry made such situations easier to navigate.
She was once a young performer eager to prove herself, excited about every opportunity to get in front of an audience.
That enthusiasm led to both memorable successes and painful lessons.
The embarrassment she felt backstage did not end her journey.
Instead, it became another story from the early years of a career that continued to develop.
From being cained by police after dancing on a car near Owen Falls to discovering a microphone mishap had undermined one of her early performances, Irene Namatovu’s career has been filled with moments she is unlikely to forget.