Illustration of the Ugandan festival Nyege Nyege on the banks of the River Nile in November 2022. PHOTO/FILE/AFP
From November 9th to the 12th of this year, Jinja is going to be a hub of entertainment as the 8th edition of the annual Nyege Nyege will be happening at the source of the nile.
Known to take its audiences on a musical journey through contemporary and traditional East African music, in addition to inviting artists from all over Africa and beyond, Nyege Nyege presents an all star cast for this edition, spread across 9 stages.
In 2018 Sho Madjozi premiered at Nyege Nyege Festival and left audiences in awe just as her career was about to takeoff , this year, she will be returning to the stage alongside the legendary rock band BLK JKS known for their afropunk rock sonic activism that inspired millions since they first took the stage in the early 2000’s.
Uganda is this time round going to be represented by Eddy Kenzo, Apass, Janzi band and Karole Kasita on the main stage and Kenya will come to match that energy, with genge superstar Mejja headlining the Kenyan delegation, alongside Trio Mio who just released a viral hit collaborating with Ugandan rapper Mudra on Balo Balo.
This year Nyege Nyege will host two of East African trap’s most important representatives, Swahili Trap known as SHRAP will be represented by the Shrap God himself, Boutross known for his global hit Angela, matching up with Kigali’s finest, Kinyatrap king Bushali.
Nyege Nyege is also known to give the spotlight to lesser known talents such as Jemaima Sanyu (Uganda), Olith Ratego (Kenya), Ratigan Era (Uganda) and Aunty Rayzor (Nigeria) to be the next superstars to erupt from the Nyege Nyege main stage to the global spotlight.
This year again, the festival will take its audiences through a wide variety of electronic music genres, with artists from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Mali, Malawi, Cameroon, Ghana, Rwanda, Algeria, South Sudan, Angola, Mauritius, Saint Lucia, Congo DRC, spanning a continuum of unique African electronic music sounds including singeli, electro Acholi, amapiano, cruisebeat, afrohouse, gqom, gengetone, kuduro, dennery segment, bubbling, balani show, congotekno, naijapiano, afrotech and more.
Highlights include East African premieres of kuduro pioneer DJ Znobia from Angola, DJ Tobzy the cruise beat pioneer from Nigeria, DJ Top Klas the worldwide ambassador of dennery segment bringing Saint Lucian carnival vibes to the festival, DJ Travella the singeli wonderchild from Tanzania who’s been electrifying audiences all around the world. Special guests include Mexican Colombian Reggeaton Queen Rosa Pistola, South Korean Club alchemist Net Gala , Mauritius’s premiere DJ Greg as well as the return of Nyege favorites DJ Marcelle, Moesha13, Tash LC and Mika Oki. Nyege Nyege co-founder, OG and Queen Kampire will make it back from touring the world just on time to close the festival this year.
Every year the festival also showcases traditional Ugandan music from all corners of the country, inviting living Masters to deliver very rare performances along the Nile for a one of a kind experience that has made the reputation of the festival. For the first time the festival has also invited a group from Comoros islands.
Like every year, Nyege Nyege has also invited very few carefully selected non African acts, including experimental hiphop outfit Muovipussi from Finland and Model Home from Washington DC, Judgiztu from France who has his debut LP out on NNT in late october, Yuri from Japan – part of the TYO Gqom collective, as well as Berlin underground outliers Operant who will all take part in collaborative residencies in the Nyege Nyege studios.
This year the festival will also introduce the HAKUNA KULALA stage, the BUSOGA stage and the Sudanese Pavillion and see the return of campus favorite Nyegeversity.