To understand the situation of Nyege Nyege 2022, you need to go back to the night of October 16, 2015, the first day of the first edition of the event. A little known group of people who loved electronic dance music (EDM) came together to throw a celebration at a little-known venue – Nile Discovery Resort in Njeru, Buikwe District.
For many in the public, they may not have known about the festival, yet in the background, the festival was only happening by grace. For instance, in the initial planning of the festival, they had approached possible sponsors and none could see the idea grow and thus said no.
Even many of the people who came for that edition showed up because they either knew one of the DJs performing or they knew a person who was going to be at the festival.
Some even dismissed the festival as chaotic and disorganised.
They were right; the first edition of Nyege Nyege remains the most disorganised festival showcase that a few Ugandans who were there had seen; the sound was as moody as the weather, sometimes it worked but most of the times it did not.
But one thing that was constant was the rain. It rained through Friday night, Saturday and Sunday, although this did not stop the party.
For the venue, Nile Discovery Resort was a little known place in Njeru and because of its proximity to Jinja, many of the people had travelled directly to Jinja and started looking for the place from there.
Seven years later, the festival no longer needs introduction, it is thought to be one of the biggest music festivals in Africa and the biggest electronic music festival in East and Central Africa.
Yet with such a legacy, the festival has never stopped attracting detractors.
This year, there was a lot the festival was dealing with for nearly two weeks; a section of politicians thought the festival brings nothing to the national table but immorality, sections of people in the Parliament had even sworn the festival was never happening under their watch.
Even when the festival got a green light, many things seemed to work against it.
At a new venue, this year’s edition felt so much like the debut in 2015; it had been raining for at least three days at Itanda Falls and just like at Nile Discovery, very many people had never been to the location.
However, unlike the first year where no one, not even the locals knew the venue, this time round, they were aware. Some probably did not really understand what the festival was all about but were happy it was happening.
“Some of these places do not see a car for months, and today, they are seeing so many of them,” the driver told us while we approached the venue on Thursday.
The festival was coming back after a two-year absence because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and a lot had happened in between, but the major one was a change in venue.
The new venue at Itanda Falls is one that had worried revellers, some had noted it was too far while others had said it was a dangerous place because of the falls, especially for people who get high and happy.
The festival organisers had taken care of many of these by erecting a fence they knew revellers could hardly climb over, but above it all, they had facilities such as a pharmacy, clinic and Red Cross centre just in case.
New venue vs old
There was a lot the new venue offered. It was closer to the river and thus gave an assurance of a sunrise and sunset views. But that was not all. Unlike the past festivals where only a few people swam in the river, this time round, the presence of an established river bank made it easy for many people to safely access it.
Because of the size, the festival managed to cater for their always growing numbers by enlarging the camping space, increasing the number of vendors and widening the art exhibition space. Considering the fact that Itanda is a distance away from Jinja City, there was even a provision for a telecom mast to ease communication among people at the venue.
However, even when all these things were good for the festival, something was greatly missing – the intimacy and mystery that the Nile Discovery brought to the table. Nile Discovery had been an abandoned resort with a few facilities and shelters. This was supposed to be a bad thing but worked for it. It was like the festival was taking place in an old castle; just like the Old Fort in Zanzibar.
“The old place was intimate, you easily walked from one stage to the next,” noted one of the festival goers.
And her pain was understandable as Itanda Falls is spacious and it was clear the festival organisers somehow got carried away by the space and tried to maximise it. Stages were scattered and walking through them took a lot of time that some believe they spent close to an hour walking through stages on a daily basis.
“I feel like I have been walking from the City Square to Wandegeya twice on each day of Nyege Nyege. You technically get more tired from walking than dancing,” said another.
But it was not just the walking, the positioning of the stages at the venue did not work for some people. For others, the programming did not cut it as much as they thought.
On Friday, for example, one of the heated days of the festival, for nearly three hours, the main stage was taken over by a TV show that on top of always screaming the fact that we were live, added nothing to the experience altogether.
The ugly
During the preparation stage, a number of pictures of what was thought to be the cottages for accommodation were shared. Of course, they were impressive and expensive as well.
Very many people paid for these cottages, yet by day two of the festival, it was clear the service people paid for was not up to the expected standard. The festival has since managed to put out a statement but may be hard to dent the damage.
“Nyege Nyege Festival apologises for any shortcomings in regards to on-site accomodation at the festival. We genuinely regret any inconveniences caused and we will make sure we improve future editions,” said part of their tweet.
Then there were situations that were beyond the organisers. The security of both the people and their property.
When Nyege Nyege came to Itanda Falls, the towns surrounding the venue were definitely disrupted. For instance, most locals stayed up late for the duration of the celebrations.
Much as some were looking for opportunities, others had bad motives.
Between Thursday and Sunday, there were many cases of assault on revellers that took place outside the festival grounds. This mostly involved those that chose to sleep in Jinja as opposed to camping.
Most of the people targeted were photographers, journalists and people who mostly had gadgets on them.
Ordinary people too lost phones after being attacked by thieves on their way to hotels.
Dr Patrick Wabuteya of Quick Care Clinic and Wellness Centre, who alongside Goodlife Pharmacy were running the clinic, told this newspaper that they received a number of patients brought in by other revellers and the Red Cross.
“Most of the cases were petty thief victims. These were people beaten by those trying to steal from them,” he said, adding that there was even a case of a local who attacked revellers with a panga (machete).
But inside the festival grounds, there were still petty thieves walking around pickpocketing and once lucky, even taking things such as cameras, lenses, recorders and phones.
He also noted that this being a party, there were a few cases of revellers who fought among themselves after consuming more alcohol than they could hold.
“We received people who were highly intoxicated and needed fluid resuscitation but only four cases were severe acute intoxication,” he says.
In fact, he notes that even the acute cases happened because people tried to take advantage of them. For instance, some people had their drinks spiked and other intoxicated people were assaulted by people trying to rob them.
The doctor also noted that only two cases were referred; a young lady who suffered a miscarriage without knowing she was pregnant prior and a lady who needed a head scan after being attacked.
By the time the last camper was undoing their tent on Monday afternoon, there was a lot that could be said; good, bad and the ugly. Many people attending for the first time had gotten a chance to understand the festival for what it is.
“When I meet the members of Cabinet, I will speak with experience. Thanks very much for choosing Jinja to host Nyege Nyege,” former Speaker and deputy Prime Minister Rebecca Kadaga said during her visit.
Others though took to their social media to wonder why the event is highly misunderstood and swore to show up next year.
This year, the festival programmed more than 300 artistes and DJs, created business for restaurants and food chains that descended on Itanda Falls to serve those hungry stomachs, created business vendors but above it all, changed lives for 40 local women who were part of the 62 people working for Rhino Wastes Cleaning crew which was in charge of waste management at the venue.
The crew reportedly cleared Itanda Falls of 12 tonnes of waste by Monday evening.
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