Ugandan singer Allan Toniks, real name Allan Ampaire, has called upon his fans to respect musicians by not abusing them on social media, something that has pushed some of them to resort to drug use.
He said this on Wednesday, September 18, 2024, during a press conference he held at Lion’s bar at the Kampala Sheraton Hotel.
“There is a new era of cyber bullying that has gone to another level where artists are cyber bullied, harassed, and blackmailed. This put artists down, and people deal with this type of treatment differently,” he said.
”It is unfortunate that people treat artists like they are not humans or as entities. Some end up getting depressed or demoralised. I have a friend who told me that when he posts something on social media, he does not look again because he does not want to see the comments because either he will be tempted to react, which makes things worse, or get annoyed and feel like doing something bad. He cannot read feedback because of what social media has become,” Toniks stressed.
He stressed that people cope in different ways whereby some become hopeless, end up being angry with the world, and that is how drugs end up coming into the picture of trying to forget or calm down or just be in another headspace totally out of reality.
“This kind of cyber-bullying is about to stop. The cost is getting too high, and there is no one to support in anyway. Initiatives like mental health under UNMF will help, but we are tackling the problem at the other end, but the cause is still there,” he added.
Toniks also called upon the people in media not to put artists down but rather work hand in hand with them, giving an example of how Nigerian musicians, DJs, and media personalities work together and all make money in millions of dollars.
He also promised to take his fans through his music journey, singing all his songs without leaving any ballad behind in his upcoming major concert dubbed “My Journey Concert,” to be held on Saturday, October 5, 2024, at the Sheraton Hotel Gardens in Kampala.
Lillian Ahabwe, who sang the break-through song “Beera Nange” with Toniks, said that she is looking forward to the day of the concert as they perform together on a big stage.
“It is an honour to be here as a musician, Allan’s friend, and a fan of his music. He is a part of my journey. We never got to perform this song together. I am excited to perform our song “Beera Nange” together on that day. This is going to be the biggest stage we are going to perform on together,” Ahabwe said.
The 37-year-old is known for his songs like My Miss, Nzewuwo, Nsubiza, Regular, Akahama, Sikuleka, Romance, Beera Nange, Swag Meter, Falling, Itano, Hold On, Two, Ojje Nkuwe, Kibala, and many others.
The lovers of the Toniks’ music are expected to part with UGX 200,000 business class, UGX 500,000 first class, and UGX 3M a table of five people.
Toniks is also a cultural ambassador for Reach a Hand Uganda, which is a youth-eccentric organizational program that enhances skills development, sexual reproductive health and rights, and HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention.
