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The Nyege Nyege music and arts festival, which is held annually in Uganda and is the East African state’s biggest tourism event, has announced it will be holding its 9th annual festival on November 14–17, 2024, at the Source of the Nile by Jinja.
The event is to be a celebration of pan-African diversity under the theme ‘Afrogalactic Carnival’ that will aim to combine future-forward music with ancestral traditions, highlighting Uganda’s natural beauty and rich tapestry of cultures. The festival will also once again showcase the diversity of Ugandan traditional music, with traditional acts coming from all over the country.
According to the organizers, the 2024 event will feature a special showcase of Sudanese artists-in-exile that is being curated in partnership with Kampala-based Sudanese artists.
Uganda is known worldwide for being a host to refugee communities from across the East African region, and this year Nyege Nyege will showcase the many talents in exile in Uganda, including Sudanese, Congolese, Eritrean, Burundian, and Ethiopian artists.
It will also feature a series of cultural pavilions and stages that showcase music, fashion, food, and culture from different parts of East Africa and the continent, echoing Uganda’s global reputation as one of the world’s most hospitable countries. Festival organizer Derek Debru said he is delighted that the event will be returning for a ninth year and encouraged people to book tickets early while they remain on sale at a discounted price.
“Nyege Nyege aims to reflect Uganda’s hospitality and cultural diversity, advocating for peace and an insatiable thirst for a good time, which is the exact definition of Nyege Nyege in Uganda,” he said.
Currently, representation at the event will include curated showcases from Sudan, South Africa, Ivory Coast, the DRC, India, and Brazil, as well as all East African countries and special partnerships with cultural organizations representing all parts of Uganda.Thanks to their governments’s support, Brazil and the UK will also be heavily featured in this year’s program. In 2023, the festival was a success in production and in providing a safe environment for its revelers, and this year, Nyege Nyege will again be working with all security stakeholders to ensure it is a resounding success.
Long-term sponsor Uganda Breweries will host three distinct experiences at the event, in addition to a new Hakuna Kulala stage that will deliver a 96-hour music and performance marathon consisting of live acts, DJs, and dance and theater performances.
Nyege Nyege’s long-term partner, Talent Africa, is known for being Uganda’s number one event production company, and in 2024, the festival will be staged at a brand new site: twelve acres at the Source of the Nile in Jinja, Njeru. It is the opposite of last year’s location, which saw more than 20,000 people from across Uganda, Africa, and the globe gather for the four-day event to hear some of Africa’s most exciting acts.
The new site features a brand new aquapark, ample parking, camping infrastructure, and is naturally secured, making it the perfect home for Nyege Nyege to stage this year’s event. The organizers have partnered with neighboring lands to establish and run this year’s campsite, which will be directly connected to the festival site.
Nyege Nyege will also have a special partnership with Kingfisher Resort, which will offer accommodations 5 minutes away from the site. This year, Nyege Nyege is furthermore partnering with Platinum Tours and Travels to create a series of tourism packages that will enable festival-goers to discover the Pearl of Africa before and after the festival.
This includes opportunities to go on safari and to visit local cultural sites. The 2024 line-up will be announced on July 1st and will include the announcement of guest curators from Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania. Last year’s festival included the BET award-winning South African superstar Sho Madjozi; Vigro Deep, who brought the best of the signature South African house music genre Amapiano; Grammy-nominated and BET-winning Ugandan singer Eddy Kenzo; Nigerian hip-hop singer and songwriter Aunty Rayzor; and the acclaimed African DJ Kampire, who has played festivals across the world.
The new dates were formally announced on Friday, May 24, at the Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo staged by the Uganda Tourism Board in Munyonyo. Nyege Nyege is Uganda’s biggest tourism event, and this year’s festival is expected to provide a $10 million boost to the country’s economy.
It will create 2,000 jobs directly through the festival and another 2,000 jobs through the springing up of businesses to help facilitate visitors. Further economic benefits arising from the event include vendors being selected to sell goods and services, support services for the visiting artists, professional service companies’s support, accommodation, and travel bookings.