The Nyege Nyege festival, spearhead of electronic music and visual arts in Africa, is it “sexually immoral” et “satanic” ? It is for these reasons that the Ugandan Parliament decided on Tuesday to ban its next edition, scheduled for September 15 to 18. After twenty-four hours of protests and mobilization on social networks, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja has decided: the prestigious meeting will take place.
Parliament has stopped the ‘Nyege Nyege’ festival, an annual social event scheduled to take place next week in Jinja. Tororo Woman MP Hon Sarah Opendi says the event is a breeding ground for sexual immorality. #PlenaryUg pic.twitter.com/qVbazJvlO0
— Parliament of Uganda (@Parliament_Ug) September 6, 2022
Nyege Nyege, which in Luganda designs “a sudden and frantic need to dance”, has long been the target of moral and religious circles. Its fourth edition, in 2018, had already been nearly banned, on the initiative of the Reverend Simon Lokodo, former Minister of Ethics and Integrity, who saw it as an enterprise to promote homosexuality, subject to “the mighty hand of the devil”. A travers of Nyege Nyege, “our brothers and sisters in the West want to bring us a culture and behavior foreign to our laws and our religion”, fumed the minister. The festival was saved in extremis by a commitment from the organization to ban the use of drugs and any sexual act on the site.
“Carnal relations against nature”
A Catholic priest, Simon Lokodo was a figurehead of homophobic discourse, in a country where “carnal relations against nature” are liable to life imprisonment, under a text passed in 2013. He was also the promoter of a law still in force which criminalizes “indecent outfits” women: miniskirts, necklines… In January, Simon Lokoto died suddenly, while he was in Geneva to take part in the United Nations Human Rights Council. His death, «suites de complications»according to the Ugandan press, remained mysterious.
His replacement, Rose Lilly Akello, seems to want to take up the mantle of the churchman. On Tuesday, she applauded Parliament’s decision to ban a demonstration which “promotes immorality. And we don’t want this immorality in our country.” Finally, the Nyege Nyege will resume after two years of shutdown due to a pandemic. This Wednesday, the festival website continues to sell tickets, at 44 euros for four days for residents of East Africa, and 135 euros for residents of other countries. Under the very beautiful Afro-futurist poster are lined up dozens of names of artists, musicians or visual artists, from all over Africa but also from Europe or the United States. The concerts must take place on the banks of the White Nile, facing the majestic Itanda Falls.
Very diverse influences
Before becoming a festival in 2015, Nyege Nyege was first a collective wishing to make known new trends in African music, in a country exposed to very diverse influences due to the many refugees it welcomes. A recording studio was created to produce the collective’s discoveries, released around the world by two labels, Nyege Nyege Tapes and Hakuna Kulala. Nyege Nyege also travels to international meetings. At the end of the week, the Parisian festival Peacock Society will offer carte blanche to the collective, which will present six of its artists. And in July, the Les Escales de Saint-Nazaire festival programmed the DJ and producer Turkana, an artist from South Sudan, stamped Nyege Nyege.
Before the Prime Minister rescued it, another voice rose in Kampala in defense of the festival: Tourism Minister Martin Mugarura argued that the cancellation would have a negative impact on an economy struggling to recover of Covid-19. “More than 8,000 foreign tourists have already bought their tickets and were to stay in the country during the festival, and even after,” he said, saying he hoped the authorities would reverse their decision. Outraged reaction of the Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, reported by the local media Monitor : “We talk about the morality of this country, we talk about our children. And you dare to promote tourism to the detriment of our children?
Ruled since 1986 by the irremovable and authoritarian President Yoweri Museveni, 77, Uganda has a disastrous record in terms of civil liberties and human rights. Against the background of the development of evangelical churches very vehement towards the LGBTQ movement, the main organization for the defense of the rights of homosexuals, SMUG (Sexual minorities Uganda) was suspended at the beginning of August by the government which accuses it of not being registered. officially. And Reporters Without Borders ranks Uganda 132nd (out of 180) in its press freedom barometer. “Journalists face almost daily intimidation and violence, writes the NGO. They are regularly targeted by the security services, the first perpetrators of attacks against reporters in the country.”