Nyege Nyege
Nyege Nyege is an annual festival held in Jinja, Uganda, celebrating African underground music and the cultural diversity within. Founded in 2014 in Uganda, Nyege Nyege Festival was set up as an incubator to develop emerging talents from the East African region. It promotes outsider music, primarily electronic, 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, the collective runs two record labels and a multi-day annual festival.
Etymology
The word Nyege Nyege is coined from the Luganda word ekinyegenyege, meaning “irresistible urge to dance.” The name is also a homophone of the Swahili slang nyege nyege, whose literal translation is "horny horny".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. At 9,000 attendees, it is the biggest electronic music festival in East Africa. In 2018, Uganda's main tourism trade group named the festival the best overall tourism event of the year, repeating the award in 2019. Resident Advisor and FACT have named it one of the world's best electronic festivals.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. British online radio station NTS brought a contingent of DJs to the 2017 festival, and streaming platform Boiler Room hosted a stage in 2018 and 2019