After much controversy online, the Nyege Nyege Kenyan Edition organizers have come out to clear the air and set the record straight on the confusion surrounding the upcoming Kenyan leg of the famous festival.
Nyege Nyege, a renowned arts and music festival with Ugandan roots, trended early last month after the Kenyan organizers went to Twitter to distance themselves from their Kampala counterparts.
The statement created a lengthy debate online as Kenyans and Ugandans went at each other over the authenticity of the Kenyan festival and the legality of it’s name.
While addressing members of the press, the Kenyan Nyege Nyege Festival’s head of public relations Mariita Mairura said that the event is still on and that, despite earlier confusion, the Kenyan version is not affiliated with the Ugandan team.
“After we made our earlier statement, there was alot of confusion regarding the event’s name. We wish to state that we are still on and that we reached an agreement with the Ugandan team who gave us their blessings and have allowed us to go ahead with our version, ” he said.
While acknowledging the similarities in the name, Mariita said that the team chose name ‘Nyege Nyege’ in the East African spirit of bringing countries together and that, unlike the Ugandan one, the Kenyan version would steer clear from negative publicity, raunchiness and runaway immorality.
“Our theme is – music and mental wellness. We want to incorporate art, East African culture and cuisine and fuse it with mental wellness. We’ve also introduced East African fashion and wish to use the event to showcase the better side of each of our countries and show young people that they can have fun without excessive drinking and sexual debauchery, ” he said.
The organisers also took time to explain that, while the name ‘Nyege Nyege’ may have negative connotations in various sections of Uganda, they were basically using the festival’s brand name for continutiy of the East African vibe and not to attract crowds while riding on the already-popular name.
The event, to be held from 1st to 3rd September, is slated to go down at the expansive Savannah Park Grounds in Naivasha and will feature exhilarating performances from some of the biggest names in music across East Africa.
“We have Kenyan superstars as well as big names from Congo, Uganda, South Sudan and Tanzania,” Mariita said.
Ugandan and South Sudan teams also made a brief appearance, as if to give credence to the event and to shore up support.
“As the South Sudanese, we’re excited to be part of the Kenyan team behind Nyege Nyege and wish to state that we’re fully behind the people behind it and can’t wait to bring all our people and communities together,” Bhakita Deng said.
