Nyege Nyege Festival, Uganda, 202430 Images
Fusing traditional African sonics with experimental electronic genres from other parts of the world, and delivering them to a 50,000-strong audience on the shores of Uganda’s Lake Victoria, Nyege Nyege is one of a kind on the festival circuit. Through its label and venue offshoots, the festival has evolved into somewhat of a bastion for marginalised artists from the African diaspora both domestically and abroad. But, as Nyege Nyege headed into its ninth edition earlier this month (November 15-18), it was precisely these international encounters that gave rise to calls for the festival to be cancelled.
Nyege nyege. “It’s the feeling you get when you hear music and want to dance, that sudden physical urge to let go and join in,” the festival’s co-founder Derek Debru tells Dazed. “I love the idea that there’s a word for it. It has become a sort of spirit that awakens and embodies the experience of the festival.”
And, true to its name, Nyege Nyege Festival began rather organically. Himself of Belgo-Burundian heritage, Debru moved from Belgium to Uganda to teach at a film school in 2011 and soon found himself submerged in the country’s nascent hip-hop scene. “I was involved in doing a news and rap TV show called Newzbeat, and [fellow co-founder] Arlen Dilsizian was teaching at Kampala Film School,” Debru explains. “We ended up running the film school together with a very DIY approach – every Wednesday there was an African cinema club that would morph into parties, cyphers, jams, and attract the community from which everything else blossomed, including Nyege Nyege Festival.”
Nine years later, Nyege Nyege describes itself as an ‘Afrogalactic festival’, becoming somewhat of a cultural movement that operates on the margins of the African musical mainstream. With performances ranging from Togolese rap legend Yao Bobby and Swiss producer Simon Grab’s dizzying mix of African hip-hop and headbanging techno, to the 24-hour Hakuna Kuala stage which showcases South African gqom and bacardi house through to Kenyan gengetone and Tanzanian singeli, the festival bridges the thriving yet underrepresented local scenes with the canon of global music.
Through this crucial positioning, Nyege Nyege has arrived at a role that goes beyond solely music. “Before being a festival, Nyege Nyege is a space, a home for alternative scenes and forms of expression,” Debru explains, “It’s a moment where artists from all over the continent meet and get inspired from each other.” And, indeed, while the large stages and liquor sponsors might feel reminiscent of the Glastonbury’s and Coachella’s of this world, in many ways, Nyege Nyege is a different beast entirely.
With a jam-packed cultural schedule that included live welding, film screenings, and even traditional wrestling, the festival is staunchly dedicated to a celebration of African cultural heritage in its diversity – something that is woven through the colourful threads of its attendees, too. In shots of party-goers in traditional dress, wielding staffs and smartphones alike, and one mysterious speaker-headed figure draped in a robe of local newspaper clippings, the optics of Nyege Nyege powerfully manifest the cultural junction it straddles.
“Most artists stay for four days and get to see so many others perform – that common experience is foundational to the wider community the festival connects,” Debru says of the festival-turned-cultural movement. “Despite the growing pains, that’s really the fuel that keeps it going.”
And, while these growing pains have historically been limited to finding a sustainable economic model for the celebrations, in recent weeks controversy threatened to overcome the festival entirely. Just days before Nyege Nyege was set to commence this year, local mega church Phaneroo Ministries described the festival’s associations with queer and tribal communities as “ungodly” and issued a call for it to be banned. Responding with a statement on Instagram, Nyege Nyege wrote: “After all, ‘Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.’ (2 Corinthians, 3:17) – and we hope that includes the freedom to dance a little!”
Today, Nyege Nyege has become about so much more than music, it’s about freedom, self expression and the right to be different.
– Derek Debru, co-founder
“Anything alternative is often labelled as foreign by its detractors, and, ultimately, it’s for Ugandans to decide what is right and what is not,” says Debru. “But every time someone tries to shut it down, people stand up for the festival. Today it has become about so much more than music, it’s about freedom, self-expression and the right to be different, specifically in light of the current trend of new churches who have a very narrow view of morality.”
Buoyed by this outpouring of support, Debru is focused on making Nyege Nyege’s tenth birthday as big as possible, and views these growing pains as just part of the wider role the movement has found itself in. “The last one was a great success but there are still many aspects to improve on and the festival is yet to find a workable economic model,” he sums up. “In the end, it’s great that the festival occupies this place, it manages to ignite so many important debates around culture, morality and identity.”
Jump inside the gallery above for a closer look at the ‘Afrogalactic festival’
