AFRICAN CULTURE
Pallaso Biography: Age, Real Name, Songs, Family & Awards
Read Pallaso’s biography: age, real name, family, US years, hit songs, albums, awards and return to Uganda’s music scene.
August 3, 2026 at 8:45:16 PM
August 3, 2026 at 9:07:11 PM
🕒 12 min read
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Pallaso, born Pius Mayanja, a Ugandan Dance hall artist
Pallaso is a Ugandan Afrobeats singer, songwriter and producer whose career has crossed two continents and more than two decades. Born Pius Mayanja in Kampala, he first recorded as Lizard, spent years developing his music in the United States, and returned home after “Amaaso” gave him the opening he had been waiting for.
His official X account now documents an artist still releasing at full speed: after the award-winning “Malamu,” the romantic “Nalonda Nemala” and the 2025 album We Outside, his catalogue continued with several 2026 singles. Pallaso’s story is not simply about belonging to Uganda’s famous Mayanja musical family; it is about leaving, rebuilding and finding his own place within it.
Who is Pallaso? Pallaso, born Pius Mayanja, is a Ugandan Afrobeats artist known for “Amaaso,” “Malamu” and “Nalonda Nemala.” A member of the musical Mayanja family, he rebuilt his career after returning from the United States and became the 2021 Zzina Artist of the Year.
Formative Beginnings: From Lizard to a First Song in Kampala
Pallaso was born Pius Mayanja on 5 September 1987. Apple Music identifies him as being from Kampala, while a New Vision report on his 36th birthday confirms the date and year. He is 38 as of 3 August 2026 and will turn 39 in September.
Music was already close to home. His brothers include Jose Chameleone, Weasel and the late AK47, placing him inside one of Uganda’s best-known popular-music families. That connection created access, but it also set a difficult standard: Pallaso had to become more than another Mayanja surname.
He performed from childhood and used the name Lizard during his earliest professional period. A Pulse Uganda account of his beginnings says he learned studio routines around Chameleone’s operation by 2002 and released his first song in 2003. Pallaso has given different titles for that first recording in interviews “Mudigidde” is widely cited, while he told The Observer it was “Obulamu Bwakiseera.” The firm point is the year: 2003 marked his recorded debut.
His schooling moved through several institutions in Uganda before he left while in Senior Five. Pulse reports that he later completed high school in Pennsylvania. The move interrupted the most visible part of his Ugandan career, but it did not end the ambition behind it.
The American Years and the Album Called Change
Pallaso spent roughly a decade in the United States. Away from Kampala’s established music circles, he learned to produce, direct and build projects with fewer familiar structures around him. He also adopted the Pallaso stage name, replacing Lizard with an identity derived from Pius.
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