YAAM Berlin to host East African musicians

Eric Wainaina (Kenya) will take the stage at 8pm while Nyege Nyege Tapes acts Otim Alpha (Uganda) and Bamba Pana & Makaveli (Uganda) will headline the second concert of the evening at 10pm. Both concerts will be supported by DJ Nomad, MC Daimondog and Florian Sievers.

“Music In Africa introduced the artists to us,” the events' organiser, Philip Leisenberg, said. “We were very excited because we hardly had any networks linking the East African music scene and the German club or music scene until now.

"There's already a huge demand for these types of music in the UK, which has to be built step by step in Germany. However, there are some collaborations between African and German artists already happening at the moment."

Asked which African region's music is well known to German listeners, Leisenberg said “there is a market developing for West African music" but that music from the east of the continent "is quite unknown”.

Otim Alpha, a pioneer of electronic music in Uganda, said talent and music of excellent quality were prerequisites in order to penetrate new music scenes and markets.

“Electronic music is not the only solution but a better means to make the world know about our traditional musical creations,” he said. “A traditional band is made up of a huge number of people, which can make planning a hustle. However, with electronic music, we ensure that we take our traditional music wherever we go because we use the recordings.”

For more information about tonight's concerts, visit the YAAM official website.