_mwl. Gregg Tendwa is a multimedia artist, freethinker, and afrofuturist questioning the future of the African identities in the face of the next industrial revolution. He explores deeply complex and uncomfortable conversations of social reality through music, writing, photography, fashion, food, stories and games.

He is a keen music collector, selector and director with an amazing attention to taste. His direction of producing, remixing and playing music can be described as Afro – eclectic with an element of experimentation drawn from the diversity of African guitars and percussion. 

His DJ sets are full of afrogoodness, – dropping rare grooves – from Afrohouse to Afrofunk to Afropop, Afrojazz, Afrosoul, Afrobeat, Highlife, experimental Electronica and everything in between. His style of “digging” has sometimes been described as afrocosmic archeology – unearthing the forgotten, the nostalgic and the futuristic.

_mwl GT. Is hugely influential to the Afro + Electro + House movement across East Africa. As the architect of Santuri Safari, he engineered a project that is famed for disrupting the underground electronic dance music culture of East Africa. He is the pioneer of Bengatronics, a sound that blends sweet as sugarcane rhythms of the traditional Benga style of music with the cutting edge of electronic dance music. Benga Music evolved between the late 1940s and late 1960s, in Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi and is currently interpreted as Kanindo/Sungura music in Zimbabwe. 

Since 2014, he has performed widely across the East and West of Africa and Europe. He is familiar face in Arusha, Jinja, Kampala, Dar e Salaam, Nairobi and Amsterdam. He has shared stage with Umoja, a dutch Dj duo that is heavinly influenced by African sounds, the German DJ Duo schlachthofbronx and the Jimmy Hendrix of Kora, Sekou Kouyate from Guinea, and Berlin based DJ Zhao also known and the ambassador of rhythm. He has spoken at major music conferences including Buzz Meets Biz – (Accra, 2017) and Music in Africa ACCESS conference (Nairobi, 2018). 

Beyond curating amazing DJ set, _mwl GT. finds a calling in bringing to the world a finely crafted Benga Music experience. He grew up listening to Katitu Boys Band, Kimagu and Newtown Karish of Kangara Boys Band. Since childhood, he picked an interest in the soulful harmony of Benga Rhythms and Patterns, and is currently setting up a record label to work with various artists to discover, rework, and publish a retrofuturist sound direction of Benga Music. 

About the Legacy Tour 2019 

Since 2014, _mwl Gregg Tendwa (_mwl GT.) has made a considerable investment in researching and developing Bengatronics, a retrofuturist sound direction of Benga Music.  Mwalimu is known for initiating and overseeing disruptive projects such as the Benga Reprise Project in collaboration with the Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands here in Kenya, Tuongee Wakenya project in partnership with Hivos and enabling the publishing books such as Shades of Benga in partnership with Ketebul Music and Benga Kaleidoscope in partnership with the Flee Project. 

Between 2018/19, _mwl. Gregg Tendwa worked on a full-length studio album together with Umoja DJs from Amsterdam and various artists from across the Benga Belt of Kenya. This album brings forth extremely nuanced cross generational and inter-tribal conversation from Kisumu to Kilifi, featuring original compositions by Boaz Otieno, Missing Rotich, Msupa S, John ‘Kakee’ Kithikii, Musyoki Mutua and Abaki Simba Troupe. The album is grounded by the prowess of Udulele John and Michel Ongaro on the guitars, and Oduor Bernard “Kidum” on the drums.   

“I want to bring to life a new sound direction of Benga music, I want to see young Kenyans embrace Benga music as their authentic culture, and not to be ashamed of it. I want to see a massive Benga movement grow through our Benga Fest series. I want to elevate Benga to become a cultural export from Kenya. I want to travel internationally and play Benga at major festivals across the world, and the world to recognize Benga music as the official Kenyan Dance Music!”_ Mwl Gregg Tendwa (June, 2019). 

Starting July 2019, Mwalimu is going on Legacy Tour 2019, showcasing the body of work produced under both the Santuri Safari & Bengatronics projects over the past 5 years at major festivals and venues across East Africa. 

Tour Dates 2019 

• July 26 Benga Belt Vol 1 Album Launch – Alliance Francaise Nairobi 
• July 27 MUZE Club Westlands Nairobi, Kenya 
• Aug 04 Bayimba Festival Lunkuluku, Kampala Uganda
• Aug 23 Ongala Music Fest – Banamoyo, Tanzania  
• Aug 31 Benga Fest Machakos , Kenya 
• Sep 06 Nyege Nyege Fest – Jinja, Kampala 
• Oct 05 Kuona 1st Sato – Nairobi, Kenya 
• Oct 19 Kigali, Rwanda – confirmed 
• Nov 23 Africa Cross Roads, Mombasa Kenya 
• Dec 14 Benga Fest Kisumu
• Dec 19 Rusinga Festival Kisumu, Kenya 
• Dec 27 Mdundiko at Backpackers Kilifi, Kenya 
• Dec 31 Kilifi New Year, Kenya.

“It’s never a dull party when Fya LeBoof is in your area code! She has made her mark with her unique sounds ranging from Afro, Tribal and Latin House and has cracked the juju to making people dance whether they want to or not. 

Her infectious music and relentless energy make every event she plays at bound to be a jump. She has blessed decks at Nyege Nyege, Kalabash, Blankets & Wine, as well as Bayimba, so rest assured that the Fya will be brought

Be a part of this feminist, healing space at Bayimba featuring free Afrikan yoga in the mornings, and physical self-defense sessions for women and children in the evenings, starting Friday!

Additionally, uplifting products shall be available for exchange and purchase in this space such as delicious kombucha, assorted herbal teas, bug repellent butters, self-defense products, feminist fashion items and more! Need to re-energize in a safe, intersectional, comfortable and fabulous environment?

Don’t miss out on the FitcliqueAfrica Healing Hub at Bayimba International Festival of the Arts 2019! 

ACTIVITY SCHEDULE:

Friday 2^nd   August

• 5:00 pm -6:00 pm: Children’s Personal Safety and Self-Defense class

Saturday 3^rd  August

• 10:00 am – 11 am: Afrikan Yoga & Meditation Class for all
• 5:00 pm- 6:00 pm: Women’s Self-Defense Class

Sunday 4^th August

• 10:00 am- 11:00 am: Morning Afrikan Yoga & Meditation Class for all

Who we are

Famous Friends Acrobatics is a registered Firm in the Republic of Uganda( REG: No 174251) as an establishment among acrobats, artists and several youth of different talents and abilities. The firm was was founded by Olango Patrick and Sempa Henry with an aim of proffesionalising and promoting acrobatics activities in Uganda

What is Acrobatics

Acrobatics (from Greek ἀ akrobateō, “walk on tiptoe, strut” is the performance of extraordinary feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination.It can be found in many of the performing arts as well as in many sports (sporting) events, and martial arts. Acrobatics is most often associated with activities that make extensive use of gymnastic elements, such as acro dance,circus, and gymnastics, but many other athletic activities— such as ballet and diving — may also employ acrobatics. Although acrobatics is most commonly associated with human body performance,it may also apply to other types of performance, such as aerobatics.

Our mission

To use acrobatics as a platform of entertainment, marketing, sensitisation and education among the community and the business world at large

What we do

We use acrobatics to take the adventure further, step beyond its dreams and, above all, use it for entertainment to relax and rejuvenate your minds with our mind blowing stunts crafted with time by our professional performers

We use acrobatics as a humanitarian and sensitisation platform to educate and fight stigma through rise of self esteem and actualisation within our community in partnership with different NGOs with a positive motive to development

We at Famous friends , use acrobatics as a marketing platform to curb a wide market base for our clients, if hired for promotional purposes due to our catchy and mind blowing stunts that pull a big crowd and this serves as an advantage to our clients

We train children and adults with various stunts under our training programme at our firm, i.e. come and find us at S.t Janan Luwum SS, Kabalagala Campus for further details.

Download profile “Famous Friends Acrobatics” as PDF

Faizal Ddamba Mostrixx is undoubtedly one of the most original talents to emerge from the new East African electronica scene. He is now a regular feature on the Ugandan festival and club scene, managing his own night – Kalabash – and headlining at esteemed festivals such as Bayimba and Nyege Nyege. 

Faizal is a professional and extremely versatile dancer, embracing breakdance, body-popping, traditional African and experimental contemporary forms. He was active in the development of the Batalo East dance festival and the nationwide Ugandan Break dance Jams. Besides mentoring the new wave of Ugandan dancers, he is much in demand as a performer, with tours of his dance/music performance incorporating dates in Canada, UK, Germany and even South America. 

Faizal’s full stage show is an intense, multi-media Afro-futurist experience, blending historical references (Ancient Egypt, central African kingdoms) with a science fiction vision of the future as daring and original as anything produced by Sun Ra or the imagineers of Black Panther. 

Unlike many of his contemporary African electronic producers, Faizal draws more from his native Ugandan music tradition, than from international influences. Faizal does not simply transpose African sounds into a ‘house’ or ‘electro’ template; he makes a radically new form of African dance music. The rhythms, chord sequences and patterns are combined with heavily-processed sounds of Ugandan singers and traditional instruments. It is unmistakably Ugandan, yet like no other Ugandan music ever made before. Faizal uses electronica as a way of channeling his cultural heritage, not the other way around. 

In his own words: “I am a performing artist, versatile in dance, choreography, social work and music production. My music production interest is to give African traditional instruments and organic rhythms a poetic electronic instrumentalism and to tell stories to the world that have never been told before. The motivation behind my work is to preserve and develop African cultural heritage.”

DJ Shiru, real names Kiberu Shiru is a top professional and dedicated African Disc Jockey from Uganda popularly known as 256 Spin Doctor.

He is one of the first Disc Jockeys to play Music for international Artists in Uganda. He is also one of the most popular Ugandan DJs of the 21st century in the East Africa, Africa and the UK. That’s why he has been able to receive not only local but also global recognition. He will be showcasing his skills at this year’s Edition.

 

With no recorded date of birth Cheek-O Dread was born to a duck and a stainless steel spanner, perhaps you can understand why he has a chip on his shoulder.

This forever changed his life and drove him to music, but the deep tumult inside him manifested itself sporadically by causing his hands to heat up uncontrollably and warp his vinyl at the occasional gig leaving a trail of chaos and melted wax in his wake; other DJs “dreaded” playing with him and drove his motivation to move from the land of his birth; he chose to roam the earth like Kung Fu’s Cain from the Middle East, to Europe, to the US, to Asia and across Africa, eventually learning to control his warring emotions enough to get through a night with the only sign of destruction being the blood on the dance floor. Thank God for the digital age, without the need to be in control at all times, his inner beast was unleashed, making his sets at wherever he played simply legendary.

Why not share this phenomenon with the unsuspecting public? He DID! Having played on every continent (save for Australia) wasn’t enough for him so in early 2010 he began to create hour long podcasts of mix sets he deemed worthy of his name and listeners’ ear, and publishing them on Mixcloud, Podomatic, Soundcloud, and iTunes Store garnering him an even wider international audience {if you haven’t heard of him, you certainly would hear of him now}. There was nowhere with an internet connection you could safely hide.

In the meantime he continues his roaming his ways, playing his house sets and producing & remixing the same wherever he lays his head only to move onto the next gig down the road.

 

At the centre of the documentary ‘Bwana Jogoo: The Ballad of Jessy Gitta’ is a love triangle between the 1970’s Cranes band bass player Jessy Gitta Kasirivu, President Idi Amin Dada and Sarah ‘Suicide’ Kyolaba, a then 17 year old go-go dancer. Jessy Gitta is Sarah’s lover when Amin also starts dating her, with dire consequences for Jessy.