Nyege Nyege x CTM

Uganda’s largest music festival, Nyege Nyege not only hosts groundbreaking performances but also runs year-round residencies in Kampala, Gulu, and Dar Es Salaam, providing creative spaces for artists to develop new work. Many of these projects find a home on Nyege Nyege’s labels Nyege Nyege Tapes and Hakuna Kulala, fostering an ecosystem of sonic exploration.

After CTM initially reached-out to Nyege Nyege in 2028 and 2019 to invite Nihiloxica, MCZO & Duke, and Slikback for live performances at the Berlin festival, a lasting relationship developed, that to this day manifests in variious collaborations and ongoing exchanges.

In 2019, DJ Scotch Egg’s residency in Kampala, supportd by CTM Festival and the Berlin Musicboard, led to a collaboration with Khanja and MC Yallah, later documented on his album Tewari. The same year, a Goethe-Institut-supported project centered on the rare Ugandan embaire xylophone brought together Gabber Modus Operandi with the Nakibembe Xylophone Troupe, and Jakarta based composer Wahono. Their collabortive work premiered at CTM 2020 in Berlin, followed by a short European tour in the summer of 2022, that brough the artists to Paris, and Amsterdam. CTM 2020 also saw the premiere of DJ Scotch Egg with Khanja and MC Yallah, and featured performances from Nyege Nyege related artists Catu Diosis, Debmaster & MC Yallah, DJ Diaki, Don Zilla, Duma, and Hibotep.

CTM's 2021 edition took place online due to the pandemic. We continued the collaboration with a streaming programme of live videos and short documentaries from Nyege Nyege festival. Highlighted artists were Don Zilla, Nakibembe Xylophone Troupe, Mata Group, Phelimunicasi, Ecko Bazz, Suzi Analogue, Duma, and Turkana.

Later in 2021, Ale Hop took up residency, diving into the intersections of Afro-Peruvian and Ugandan rhythmic traditions. Her work reflected the residency’s ethos — unearthing new rhythmic languages and blending distant musical traditions into something entirely original in collaboration with fellow African artists, such as Congolese guitarist Titi Bakorta. Their joint time in Kamapala ultimatley resulted in the album Mapambazuko, released on Nyege Nyege Tapes in 2025.

For CTM 2022, Nyege Nyege and CTM teamed up once again to present artists De Schuurman, Turkana, DJ Chrisman, and Duma in Berlin.

From 2022 to 2023 Nyege Nyege Festival, and CTM Festival joint forces with Piranha Arts and Boutique Foundation, MS Stubnitz, Festsaal Kreuzberg, and WDR Cosmo Radio to create the exchange project Afropollination, supported by the programme TURN of the Federal Cultural Foundation of Germany. The first phase of the project took place in Uganda around the Nyege Nyege Festival 2022, with residencies before and after the festival as well as artists’ shows and debates at the festival. A second phase took place at CTM 2023 in Berlin, and at MS Stubnitz in Hamburg. A thrid phase closed the Afropollination project with an event in June 2023 at Festsaal Kreuzberg in Berlin, and with a partnership with Cosmo Radio in Cologne.

Since, both partners continued to collaborate to present East-African Artists in Berlin, and elsewhere, and also stimulated connections between Nyege Nyege and artists in Indonesia, such as Raja Kirik and Gabber Modus Operandi. Through years of exchange, CTM and Nyege Nyege fostered a lasting platform for artistic cross-pollination, yielding projects that resonate beyond their origins.

Co-produced with Nyege Nyege. The residencies in Kampala were supported by the Berlin Musicboard. Many of the performances of Nyege Nyege related artists at CTM Festival have been supported by Goethe-Institut, as was the collaboration between Gabber Modus Operandi, Nakibembe Xylophone Troupe and Wahono. The Afropollination programme was supported by the programme TURN of the Federal Cultural Foundation of Germany.