Nyege Nyege Festival, a multi-day, multi-stage event, established way back in 2015 by Derek Debru(a Belgian) and Arlen Dilsizian(Greco-Armenian) is part of a record label, Nyege Nyege Tapes, a studio and has since registered huge success.
The festival has since changed its venues from the very first one- abandoned riverfront resort known as Nile Discovery Resort Beach in Njeru, Buikwe District in October 15 which was later on crowned as the festival’s ‘HOME’ to now another venue.
According to the organizers, the 1st edition of the Nyege Nyege festival was a flop with low attendance, a disorganized setting, no sponsors, and a whole lot of three days of rain.
The Festival would later on scoop sponsorship from MTN in 2017 and as time went on, the sponsorship would magnify all the way to title sponsorship (MTN Nyege Nyege) and registered a turn up of over 9,000 attendees, becoming the biggest electronic music festival in East Africa.
At first, every edition of the festival would feature more than 30 of the best and most promising DJs and producers of electronic music. And in 2016, the number increased to over 200 musicians from over 30 nations, great growth, right?
After moving out from the Nile Discovery Beach Resort, the festival shifted to Itanda Falls and later on in 2023, the festival would announce that it would host its 8th edition at a combined space of about 50 acres covering the Source of the Nile; Jinja Showgrounds; Jinja Golf Course and; Source Gardens – in what was termed the ‘Nyege Wonderland.’ And in 2024, the festival was held only at the Jinja Golf Course, a thing that sparked off talk of town!
The 2024 edition of the festival got people talking as to why such a big festival would be merged to just one venue (small) when according to them; the festival has been hosted in wider and very spacious venues before.
Our writer, Emuk Benjamen who was at the festival, decided to act upon it and know first-hand information from Talent Africa CEO Aly Alibhai, main organizers of the festival on why such a decision was made and whether the next edition (s) would be hosted on the same venue after all and here is what they discussed below;
Hello my Man, Aly, how be you?
Ohhh! Benjamen, I am doing great, and I hope you are, too and are you having fun, bro? And I quickly nodded. I was on top of it but there was something disturbing my mind. He (Aly) before I could even tell it all said whatever was disturbing me was indeed something big as I had never complained besides asking for more extra tickets or even blinked throughout the previous editions.
About the Change of venue, do you think we are at liberty to talk about it?
Ohhh! Yes Benjie, tell me, what about it? I would later on bring the aspect of Nile Discovery Beach to the 7th edition of the festival where the changes came to light as seen from the 15th-18th of September 2022.
Aly, when you were leaving the Nile Discovery Beach to Itanda Falls, you mentioned that upgrading to a brand new site, the festival would be confident it would offer revelers a more comfortable and safe experience while putting Itanda on the map as one of East Africa’s most exciting tourism destinations and yet it only featured the mighty venue once, relocating to yet another venue, a year after, why?
Benjamen, first of all, our decision to relocate from the Nile Discovery Resort to Itanda was informed by the partnership we had with the Busoga Kingdom and specifically suggested by His Highness the Kyabazinga (King) Wilberforce III of Busoga and the Busoga Ministry of Tourism who suggested that the festival be moved to one of Busoga’s main cultural hotspots: the Itanda Falls to explore the region and market it the more among others and just so you know, Itanda is home of the majestic waterfalls, which are known for their grade 6 rapids, and if my memory serves right, I recall you once told me the waterfalls were indeed the highlight of the festival.
Of course I can proudly say we nailed it and with the strict security precautions underway in partnership with relevant authorities which included blocking off the falls so that only adventure activities such as a brand-new bungee jump, Nile rafting, paddling, sunset cruises, and waterparks in collaboration with ADRIFT, would have access to them and yes, we did it!
“Aly Tu es le putain de meilleur, gracias por asegurarse de que estemos disfrutando del cielo en la tierra aquí en este festival,” said one of the overly excited attendee, mixing French with Spanish which loosely translates to Aly, you guys are the fucking best, thanks for making sure we are enjoying heaven on earth here at this festival…. And Benjamen, like I said before we got interrupted, moving into a site 5 times the size of the Nile Discovery Beach greatly gave this festival a unique opportunity to further expand on art installations, mind blowing stage design and visual shows and you clearly noticed that we were able to bring both the forest, the Nile and the falls to life at night which I must say was of great significance and kudos to the team.
And also, don’t forget the fact that the 4-day festival, which ran from Thursday, September 15, to Sunday, September 18, featured over 300 performers on 7 stages, ranging from marching bands to hip-hop gangs, rising stars to living legends and you as well remember that we treated revelers to on-site camping experience as we ushered in Nyegeville, a city within the festival where revelers were to experience a 5-star great camping and glamping facilities, including small lodges overlooking the Nile, experiential camping with everything from hot showers to morning yoga classes, safe lockers and even a private beach but we were shocked with bad news by the contractor whom we trusted to do the job which he failed to deliver.
And we later on explained to the revelers that if we had achieved our original plan with Nyegeville, the festival would have been not far away from world’s biggest renowned festivals, giving people an on-site accommodation experience that would allow them to live the experience to the fullest. Trust me, we have always listened to all stakeholders including the revelers and the relevant authorities before we go on to effect any plan or change to the festival’s plan. So, everything you see at Nyege Nyege is collective effort and not just a one-man decision.
Incredible! But I still think that doesn’t explain the reason for this venue, call it ‘small’
So, and to respond to your question, I need to correct you, this venue is not small and as you can see, all the stages we wanted to feature, are all here and none of them is affecting the other and it makes people to choose what they want, they can easily access a place of their choice without taking long on the way to any stage. Also, I want to encourage you Benjamen to take a walk from stage to stage and report back to me if you won’t sweat. This venue is as good as the rest of the venues we have had and by the way, this is even better as it keeps partiers, families and friends even closer to each other which vividly defines and is in line with the festival goals.
Loud and clear, so, what’s next for Nyege Nyege, should we expect the same venue in the next edition to come?
Brilliant! Benjamen, Nyege Nyege is full of surprises and all I can say to you is that, expect yet more surprises, positively and yes, we can change a venue or not and how about you see us head to yet a new destination next year say for example, Arua?
It should be noted that the revelers complained of the distance following the 2022 edition which was held at Itanda Falls but to answer to that, Aly responded saying, “the festival was able to partner with TREEPZ to offer affordable and convenient transportation options from the airport, Kampala and Jinja to Itanda falls.” And who knows what will happen next with the upcoming editions?
A one Fredrick told Emuk that it was a well thought idea to minimize the venue as possible so as to keep the revelers together and near each other as compared to the last two editions where one could spend an hour for the lucky ones for those who don’t have luck on their side, one could spend 2 or even 3 hours trying to find a friend, partner or their relative because the stages were another village away from each other.
Another reveler only identified as Flavia, mentioned that despite the distance, the idea of having Nyege Nyege festival in different regions, would be an ideal one as it would explore Uganda the more and let it sell what it has to the world.
Nyege Nyege festival has won several awards in the past and still continues to grow year after year. 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 among others. The festival has since as well contributed to the growth of Uganda’s GDP and generated billions of income to the different vendors at the festival.
The festival has in the past got backlash from Uganda’s religious leaders for its affiliation with the LGBT community and attraction of tourists. In 2018, Uganda’s minister of ethics attempted to cancel the festival, claiming that the event would “compromise national integrity” and put citizens “at risk of deviant sexual immorality,” but was overruled by the minister of the interior.
The event has continued to grow and the latest edition attracted over 40,000 attendees both from Uganda and world over. Nyege Nyege still remains the biggest regional music, dance, food and fashion festival.
