East Africa’s biggest and most celebrated weekend long party Nyege Nyege festival is back for its fifth edition from 5-8 September in Jinja.
This year’s Nyege Nyege is endorsed by the Ministry of Tourism and the town of Njeru, Jinja, making it a joint effort to showcase the beauty and hospitality of Uganda to all foreign visitors, and natives.
The 5th edition aims to bring forth the full force of the Ugandan and East African creative spirit. Performances, happenings, situations and art installations featuring dancers, acrobats, graffiti artists, fortune tellers, musicians, inventors and rainmakers will all come together to create one grand adventure that lasts for four days, right at the source of the Nile.
This year Nyege Nyege will also put renewed emphasis on the food experience, combining the best of East African cuisine with classic Ugandan street food and delicacies from all over the world, as well as a showcase of unique Boutique brands from the region.
A glamping option on the Nile will also be available this year. Even more so than previous years, this year’s edition will be highly participatory and interactive, with a special emphasis on building community and spaces that are safe and fun with care for the forest that hosts the event.
This year the festival will feature five stages, as well as roving traditional bands and a few dancehall disco shacks outside the festival grounds where surprise acts from the official line up will perform.
Acts
Music is once again the main topic on the Nyege Nyege program,with over 300
performers coming from over 30 countries, in essence a true celebration of
music.
This year Nyege Nyege will also explore the spectrum of alternative pop sounds from a new generation of African producers, including Ethiopian EDM sensation Rophnan and Ugandan dancehall artist, Sheebah.
Headlining the festival will be FuluMziki the legendary eight piece band from Kinshasa who will make their first appearance outside of the Democratic Republic of Congo, they will be in Kampala for a month building instruments, costumes and recording an album in the Nyege Nyege Studio, ahead of one of the most anticipated performances of the festival.
Dj Diaki, the Balani king of Bamako will bang out his showcase of Mali’s unique sound system culture, Mauritanian synth freak-out masters WZN will perform for the first time outside their country. Menzi and Phelimuncasi will bring the hard Gqom and Sgubhu sound of Durban, while Yugen Blak rock will represent the burgeoning South African hip-hop scene. WZN will make their first trip outside of Mauritania with their psychedelic desert synthesis. Infrapa will breathe new life in his twisted kalindula soukous hiphop from Kisangani.
Jako Maron from Reunion Island and Afro Rack from Uganda, two of the continents Modular Synth pioneers will also perform live at the festival.
This year Nyege Nyege builds on its growing links with South East Asia bringing DJ and label boss of Chinese label Genome 666, Kilo Vee as well as Chinese Underground producers Hyph11e, Gooooose and 33EMYBW. Japanese alternative hip-hop and break-core artists, Dj Scoth Egg and DJ Die Soon and very hopefully a big surprise from Indonesia.
This year Nyege Nyege continues to build on afford jasper an link at America and Europe. From America the festival showcases for the first time on the continent the legendary sound of Detroit’s historical techno scene with scene linchpin Juan Atkins African debut.
In conversation with fast paced polyrhythmic music from East Africa like electro-Acholi and Singeli is prolific Chicago based Footwork and Juke producer EQ Why’s who takes his first journey outside the USA. He will be accompanied by New York based producer Suzi Analgoue and DJ Shyboi. From Europe, Moesha13, Marseille born with Malian roots, and scene innovator of the citiesinnovative Frap-Core scene will be joining Congolese Swiss Bonaventure, UK based Josey Rebelle and Belgiums DTM Funk and Zulu Shoko.
Also Joining from Europe is Nyege Nyege resident DJ Marcelle, UK cultstar Elvin Brandy and London bad boy weirdo Lord Tusk. This year will also feature a showcase from the Milan based Saturnalia collective, highlighting the growing linkages between the Milan based Experimental music festival where Nyege Nyege Artists who have performed for the past two years.
The extensive line up will feature some of the continent’s most cutting edge musicians, DJs and producers, including artists under Nyege Nyege Tapes & Hakuna Kulala, the festival’s critically acclaimed associated labels. The Kampala based arts incubator has been actively working to develop the Regional music scene holding workshops, residencies, and supporting two community studios.
Artists
from the growing roster embarked on a Four Month Summer tour that includes
Kenyan producer Slikback, Otim Alpha & Leo Palayeng, Singeli Artists Bamba
Pana and Makavelli, MCZO & Duke, Jay Mitta, as well as Nihiloxica, DJ
Kampire, Catudiosis, DJ Po, Hibotep, Decay and authentically Plastic, as well
as an African premier for Jako Maron recently returning from his performance at
Venice Biennale.
This year the festival will also highlight the burgeoning Metal scene in East Africa with Kenyans band Seeds of Datura and Kenyan Grindcore project DUMMA. Also Debuting at the festival this yearis Afro- Rack, the Uganda sound engineer Bamanya Brian who has constructed from scratch his own modular synth.
This year the festival again partners with Boiler Room to stream DJ sets from East African producers and DJs across the world.
Many of the international acts will be in Kampala for a month ahead of the festival to collaborate with Ugandan musicians and prepare special performances at this year’s edition. These include; Bonaventure Mbote, Dj Scotch Egg & Dj Die Soon, Portuguese percussionist Joao Pais Filipe, Chicago based Footwork producer EQ Why, Malian producer Dj Diaki, South African GQOM pioneers Phelimuncasi and Marseilles based producer and rapper Moesha13.
The 2019 edition once again places special emphasis on the rich diversity of East African traditional music, with 15 different traditional troupes from all corners of the region performing, including a 40 pieces Agwara troupe from the West Nile region of Uganda and a Congolese Amadinda troupe that plays a 14 foot long xylophone.
