By Juba Pulse
Kampala-based Okuta Ceaser Maris, popularly known as Silver X, is originally from Juba South Sudan and one of the most recognisable faces in the South Sudan music industry. He also runs a record label in Kampala, Holy Land Music Empire, where he has signed and mentored more than ten stars.
The 30-year-old singer cut short his ambition to finish his A-level education, a dream that he revived years later, in 2008 after senior school level where he tossed himself into the unpredictable world of show business despite the challenges that face many local artistes in Juba.
“I was a good poet in school and a bright student in general though I chose to follow my passion, which did not augur well with most of the people who knew me. They believed I was wasting my future since I was a star in academics. I actually did my primary level education in only four years instead of the usual seven back at home, covering two classes in a year,” he recalls.
Silver X had been in Uganda as a refugee and later decided to settle there.
“There are very few TV and radio stations to even play a songs to a good audience, let alone the fact that in the war-torn areas with poverty-stricken citizens, they do not even have the luxury of listening to music,” he says.
His journey to the top has had its fair share of challenges, growing up as a refugee in Adjuman District.
“I didn’t have the luxuries that a many of my age mates had. Paying my school fees was a major challenge and as I had to look for sponsors every now and then,” says the singer, who reveals that he is inspired by Black Eyed Peas because their songs touch on the situation in his motherland.
Under his sleeve he has numerous albums including Fetisu Sokol, Wele, Maswa, Carolina, Ana Bi Wori, Bamba Ta Deng’ and Saaga.
He was acknowledged by the U.S based Foreign policy magazine as a global thinker for the year 2014 for composing a peace and sensitisation song, Let’s Stand Together, which calls on South Sudanese leaders to stop conflicts and rebuild their country. He was also noted to have launched a campaign, Music against Hunger. The nod saw him ranked among global top names including Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as decision-makers of the year. Silver X was the first Sudanese to be ranked in this select group.
His most known songs locally is Tufaa remix, which he did with Wyre, Kenrazy and Visita, and East African Lover, which features Renee.