#ea wave

This weekend sees the third annual Nyege Nyege Festival take place in Jinja, Uganda, and the line-up is likely to immediately have you searching for last-minute flights. Hosting key players in Durban’s Gqom scene and Kenya’s EA Wave collective, as well as MusicMap favourites such as Disco Vumbi (who releases on the festival’s label Nyege Nyege Tapes), the bill also boasts a huge amount of Ugandan talent both established and emerging.

Faizal Ddamba Mostrixx belongs to the latter camp, although there’s no doubt that he has the talent to transfer to the former. A breakdancer, choreographer and social worker as well as a music producer, his recent album Tribal Match takes samples of traditional African music and places them in a powerful electronic context. “The motivation behind my work is to preserve and develop African cultural heritage”, Faizal Ddamba Mostrixx states, and his Nyege Nyege set will surely show he is succeeding.