Uganda: Young Artists Exchange Project turns five

Since its debut in 2013, the Young Artists Exchange Project (YAEP) has provided a roving laboratory for emerging musicians in Uganda to develop unique performances and collaborations. The project celebrated this musical milestone with a big concert at the Big Kafunda in Kampala last Friday.

The night saw previously featured artists reunite on stage alongside other Ugandan musicians. The line-up included Uganda’s Giovanni Kremer Kiyingi, Sandra Nankoma, beatboxer Erick Sama, Amaru, Niina, Tayem, Spyder, Lebon (DRC), DJ Maintain (UK) and Gaston (Switzerland), among others.

So far, the programme has recorded two albums: the Borda to Borda EP(2014) and Echoes (2017). “It’s a step beyond the zone of comfort," Gaston says. "It inspires me. I’m impressed by how many people are interested in the project,”

Music In Africa spoke to YEAP project coordinator Jocelyn Daloz to find out more about this exciting project.

MUSIC IN AFRICA: How has the YEAP project evolved in the past five years?

JOCELYN DALOZ: YAEP is all about connecting people, sharing experiences and telling stories. First of all, the journey has been fun. We made music together and connected with different people, hence building bridges between cultures.

When we started, it was just seven artists meeting to create music in a bedroom studio. With time we decided that it should become something more significant, so we started hosting concerts as well as dance and music workshops in Uganda, Switzerland, Germany and the US.

How did you manage to facilitate the music exchange programme?

There are both local and international organisations that we collaborate with regularly. One of them is Breakdance Project Uganda because we met in the context of their work and we owe a lot to them. We also we work regularly with Verein für Jugend und Freizeit, an association based in Switzerland that runs many youth centres and with whom we have organised many workshops. We also apply for funds at foundations on a project-to-project basis.

How has the project made an impact on the musicians involved?

The main idea was not to promote artists as such but to connect them with other people and to inspire them artistically, and we have managed to do just that. In the past five years, Swiss and Ugandan artists have travelled to one another’s countries, discovered new music such as folk music and experienced the challenges of working with artists who come from different backgrounds: some are self-taught hip hop artists, others are musicians who studied music at universities.

How do you decide which artists to engage in the project? Are there auditions?

It all happens very organically. We choose artists according to their willingness to exchange and work with us. Most of the time, they are friends of people who were already involved in earlier projects, or people who we felt are likely to share our philosophy of exchanging and creating together. We may even stumble upon someone’s music on social media and ask him or her to collaborate.

How are the two albums performing on the market? Do the artists get any benefits?

Generally, we received positive reviews from the people who listened to our albums. We sold a good number of them, and they are still available for sale on Bandcamp as an online download and streaming on our Soundcloud page.

During each project, we pay the artists a reasonable fee, and this is something that we discuss openly with people before they engage in the project. The money from the album sales is usually directed to new recordings and productions or is donated. For example, we gave the benefits we made from the Echoes album release party to Breakdance Project Uganda.

What is the highlight of YAEP's 2019 programme?

I think what we are most looking forward to is the workshops, which we've planned to conduct in primary and secondary schools as part of a series of workshops that we have been doing with artists. The workshops carry themes such as culture, diversity, self-worth, and respect. Breakdance, rap, music production, graffiti and visual arts are used as tools to promote the chosen theme.