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The East African festival culture is slowly but surely picking up. The massive potential of festival culture is evident in local festivals going global like the Nyege Nyege festival, Zanzibar full moon party, JAMAFEST and the Mararal Derby.

The Post Covid-19 freedom fever is on an all-time high with East Africans ready to dive into the next road trip or festival in a heartbeat. The aspect of travel, exploration and fun has ignited the market for the revival of festivals across the region and even on a global scale.

While these festivals and the culture behind them continue to gain popularity across the continent and beyond borders, a few factors are holding back their exponential growth. First off and most important are finances. It is a well-known fact that advertisers follow the masses, however, this fact has not held true in most festivals across Africa in comparison to other continents. Promoters are heavily burdened by the hefty costs of putting together larger events with better amenities and killer musical lineups.

This year, I attended the Nyege Nyege festival and it was apparent that the organisers were not as financially prepared as they had intended to be, if the promotional videos and pictures were anything to go by. The event attracted large crowds from across the world. 

In betting, there is that one bet that disqualifies you from the jackpot and that was accommodation for Nyege Nyege. I personally arrived on Thursday evening after travelling by bus for hours only to arrive at the venue and the toilets had not been set up. There we no bathrooms in sight either. I thought to myself, maybe I arrived a day earlir and that the organisers may just catch up but. Iwas wrong. That was not the case.

I am not going to lie to you, everything else was well done! The different musical stages with different activities, art exhibitions, vendors selling super cool merchandise, drip and accessories!! For a second you would forget that you were sleeping in a leaking tent and have to go go for shortcall in makeshift toilets, a kilometre away.  The bash bashed as Generation Z would say. I danced my feet numb, lost my voice, at some point I was juggling close to five romantic interests (Kenyan, Ugandan, Italian, West African and American) because the vibe is right for meeting and interacting with new people. But I might not attend another Nyege Nyege festival if they do not provide better accommodation. The grants and loans that would usually cushion promoters in the initial stages of establishing large festivals are not as common and available in East Africa, forcing organisers to engage self-regulating measures just to avoid incidences likely to adversely affect the festival. It is not all gloom in the festival space, cross-border festivals without a doubt come with a number of benefits, tourism being at the heart of it. Cultural festivals already attract quite a number of curious Europeans into the continent. If done right, it has the potential of bringing in thrice the number of tourists ready to explore the region.

Cross-border festivals also provide platforms for local culture to spread and move forward. To best leverage our diversity as East Africans, we first need to realise the power we hold as a people. It is important that we love and appreciate ourselves for us to come together and work as one. 

— The writer is a Digital      Manager, Trace