Nyege Nyege

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Logo for Nyege Nyege 2025, the 10th anniversary. Nyegenyege10x-cropped.svg
Logo for Nyege Nyege 2025, the 10th anniversary.

Nyege Nyege is an annual festival held in Jinja, Uganda, celebrating African underground music and the cultural diversity within. [1] Founded in 2014 in Uganda, Nyege Nyege Festival was set up as an incubator to develop emerging talents from the East African region. [2] It promotes outsider music, primarily electronic, [3] by African artists. It was founded in 2013 by immigrants Arlen Dilsizian and Derek Debru. In addition to organizing ongoing parties and an artist residency, [4] the collective runs two record labels and a multi-day annual festival.

Contents

Etymology

The word Nyege Nyege is coined from the Luganda word ekinyegenyege, meaning “irresistible urge to dance.” [5] [6] The name is also a homophone of the Swahili slang nyege nyege, whose literal translation is "horny horny". [7]

Background

The collective stems from the partnership between founders and Derek Debru and Arlen Dilsivian. Both moved to Kampala in 2010: Debru (b. 1981, Burundi) was a Belgian film teacher at the Kampala Film School of Kampala University; [8] Dilsivian (b. 1978or1979) was a Greco-Armenian ethnomusicologist. [9] [10] The two met through the film school by 2011, and began organizing community film screenings and afterparties. [11]

In 2013, the two began a club night called Boutiq Electroniq at Kampala nightclub Tilapia. Unlike mainstream Kampala parties, Boutiq platformed local artists and African ethnic electronica such as balani, coupé-décalé, kuduro, soukous and tarraxinha. [9]

Festival

Since 2015, the collective has organized the Nyege Nyege Festival, a multi-day, multi-stage event at a riverfront resort on the banks of the Nile River. South African telecom company MTN sponsored the festival from 2017 to 2019, with the name changing officially to MTN Nyege Nyege. [12] At 9,000 attendees, it is the biggest electronic music festival in East Africa. [9] [13] In 2018, Uganda's main tourism trade group named the festival the best overall tourism event of the year, repeating the award in 2019. [14] [15] Resident Advisor and FACT have named it one of the world's best electronic festivals. [16] [17] [18]

The lineup focuses on East African artists, many affiliated with Nyege Nyege Tapes like Kampire, Otim Alpha and the Singeli crew. It also includes performers and DJs from outside the continent, including Juan Atkins, Suzi Analogue, and DJ Scotch Egg, whose music is influenced by African sounds. [19] British online radio station NTS brought a contingent of DJs to the 2017 festival, [20] and streaming platform Boiler Room hosted a stage in 2018 and 2019 [21]

Controversies

The festival has received backlash from Uganda's religious right over its affiliation with the LGBT community and attraction of tourists. Locals distributed pamphlets condemning the event in 2016, [9] and in 2018, Uganda's minister of ethics attempted to cancel that year's edition, claiming the event would "compromise national integrity" and put citizens "at risk of deviant sexual immorality," but was overruled by the minister of the interior. [22] [23] [24] The event has continued to grow, and the latest edition sponsored by Uganda Waragi is the biggest it has ever been. With over 60,000 attendees, Nyege Nyege is now evidently the biggest regional dance festival. For 2022, Nyege Nyege changed venue to Itanda Falls while 2023 and 2024 happened around the Jinja Golf Course and Source of the Nile. [25] [26]

References

  1. "ABOUT". Nyege Nyege Bookings. Retrieved 2025-02-27.
  2. "Signal clear for Nyege Nyege festival". The EastAfrican. 2024-11-12. Retrieved 2025-02-27.
  3. "9 Must-Hear Albums from Nyege Nyege Tapes, the Label Putting Africa's Electronic Underground on the Map". Pitchfork. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  4. "Uganda's Nyege Nyege Tapes are blazing trails for East African outsider music". FACT. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  5. henry (2024-11-01). "Nyege Nyege Festival in Uganda". Abunda Discoveries Uganda. Retrieved 2025-02-27.
  6. Kisakye, Frank (2022-09-20). "Nyege Nyege – The myths, misconceptions, good & bad". The Observer. Retrieved 2025-02-27.
  7. Faber, Tom (2022-10-20), Nyege Nyege, A Cutting-Edge Music Festival in Uganda Keeps the Beat, New York Times
  8. "Derek Debru". Institut français. Archived from the original on 2023-11-14. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Nyege Nyege: East Africa's new wave". Resident Advisor. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  10. Wei, Whitney (2022-11-02), How One Man Scammed Nyege Nyege Festival, Resident Advisor
  11. Cartledge, Luke (2023-09-25), Nyege Nyege: ten years of DIY experimental music in Uganda, Loud and Quiet
  12. "Nyege Nyege: an uncontrollable urge to dance". BOILER ROOM. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  13. "Nyege Nyege is a genuine, experimental African utopia at the source of the Nile". Mixmag. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  14. "MTN Nyege Nyege Wins Best Overall Tourism Event Of The Year 2018" . Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  15. "FULL LIST: Ekkula Tourism Awards 2019 Winners". TowerPostNews. 2019-04-01. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  16. "Top 10 September 2017 Festivals". Resident Advisor. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  17. "Top 10 September 2019 Festivals". Resident Advisor. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  18. "Nyege Nyege 2018: The world's best electronic music festival is in Uganda". FACT Magazine. 2018-09-21. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  19. "Nyege Nyege Tapes Spotlight Uganda's Burgeoning Electronic Music Scene". Bandcamp Daily. 2017-04-06. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  20. "NTS X Nyege Nyege Festival 2017 | NTS". NTS Radio. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  21. "Nyege Nyege Festival Day One". BOILER ROOM. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  22. Lee, Steph (16 July 2019). "Uganda's Nyege Nyege Festival reveals 2019 lineup". Resident Advisor. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  23. "A trap nomad finds a home". africasacountry.com. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  24. "Uganda ethics minister 'loses to the devil'". The East African. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  25. Ruby, Josh (2024-11-13). "Nyege Nyege Festival: Excitement builds as countdown ends, gates open tomorrow". MBU. Retrieved 2025-02-27.
  26. "Nyege Nyege festival 2024 highlights". Monitor. 2024-11-18. Retrieved 2025-02-27.