For the collective behind the festival, supporting artistic expression is more than just an annual event. Nyege Nyege also runs a record label, a booking agency and a music studio, helping fledgling local musicians achieve success both in Uganda and globally. In a country where there are few opportunities for aspiring artists, especially those whose activities differ from mainstream interests, his work has had a tremendous impact.
The collective refers to its home base as “Villa”. It’s his two-story brick building, surrounded by avocado and jackfruit trees, in the quiet Kampala neighborhood of Bunga. A week before the festival, the solemn electronic beats of South African gqom music wafted from the balcony of the building, and musicians rushed in and out of the gates to keep a pack of sleepy stray dogs from raising their eyelids.
A tour of the space saw a recording studio adorned with colorful kitenge fabrics, a bedroom for musicians in paid residency, and an ashtray-filled balcony where musicians hang out at night. Their socializing often leads to artistic collaborations.
The group first formed when Dilsisian, who grew up in Greece and is of Lebanese and Armenian descent, met Derek Debr, 41, a Belgian with a grandmother from Burundi and of mixed European descent. I was. Working at a film school in Kampala, the two were fascinated by the diversity of Ugandan music. Uganda is a small country by African standards, but it is home to over 50 tribal groups, many with their own languages and associated musical traditions.
Dilsizian and Debru started organizing club nights in 2014 and were among the first promoters to offer opportunities to non-profit musicians in Kampala. “They brought a lot of attention to the East African music scene,” said local event promoter Linda Lillian his Kanshime. “Many of these artists had very little opportunity to start in the ghetto, and most of them had never been heard before.”
The label Nyege Nyege Tapes began releasing music in 2016, identifying resonances between contemporary East African music and experimental European club sounds, resonating with electronic music tastemakers. . Nyege Nyege rejected the mainstream Western music industry’s presentation of “African music”, which tends to be neatly divided between sophisticated modern pop and more traditional sounds relegated to the “world music” section.