Partygoers rave to techno music at a recent Underground Kampala event.
Kampala-based DJMasaka Masaka admits that he bombed his first-ever techno DJ gig. It was 2022, and he was performing in a random basement in Kampala’s Kabalagala neighborhood. “It was rough,” he recalls with a chuckle to OkayAfrica. But the gig’s epic fail didn’t dissuade him. In fact, it made him want to immerse himself into the music even more: “I really like techno… I like playing it and hearing it. It has its own kind of energy, and it just gets you moving.”
Despite the rocky start — and his history of playing more mainstream music — Masaka was hooked on techno. He was captivated by the new wave that was taking over the city and the growing community around it. Today, he's one of the four resident DJs of Underground Kampala, the event he initially bombed.
Underground Kampala is a techno music collective in Uganda’s capital that hosts a monthly rave night to unite devoted listeners and practitioners of techno music. Alongside collectives like Malkia Collective and Midnight Tsunami— which also offer broader underground music like EDM, disco and hard house — the collective is gradually transforming Uganda into a techno music enclave.
A night out at an Underground Kampala event.
Photo courtesy of Underground Kampala.
The young scene is a post-pandemic product. It is tight-knit and highly community-driven, with partygoers united in their search for a place to organically meet people beyond the limitations of gender, sexuality, class, race and tribe.
“For us, techno is a lifestyle. It’s rebelling with freedom. It’s fashion. It’s breaking boundaries and allowing ourselves to experiment and experience art however we like,” ITSMDNYT, the DJ/producer who created the Midnight Tsunami events, tells OkayAfrica.
Ultimately, these parties and the community around them have consistently provided a unique form of enjoyment that's hard to find elsewhere in the city. Many people are frustrated with the monotony of Kampala’s nightlife, where bars and clubs stick to the same Top 40 hits, hip-hop, Afrobeats, and Afrohouse music.
“Techno for me came with a sense of rage that I needed to survive the highly commercialized music industry in our region,” says ITSMDNYT. She tells OkayAfrica that she initially started Midnight Tsunami to quell her own thirst for something different, pointing out the likes of DJ Anitraxx, DJ M4ryLand and The Dark Empress as key tastemakers.
Through her Midnight Tsunami events, ITSMDNYT is a key tastemaker and influencer of the underground electronic music scene in Kampala.
Photo courtesy of ITSMDNYT.
Others grumble about the growing see-and-be-seen atmosphere in Kampala clubs. “Kampala people really know how to party. We like raw energy. But we want more than just showing off with expensive bottles,” says Richard O'doi, the founder of Underground Kampala. “We needed a space where people would come and express themselves, free of social judgments and politics. Just be yourself; nothing else.”
Underground Kampala grew as a response to that need. The collective began almost four years ago when O'doi's friends threw him a (very illegal) birthday party on an island during the COVID-19 lockdown.
That rebellious, counterculture energy is embedded into the brand, which has now expanded into monthly techno events. What was once an intimate event for 50 people has since grown to host gatherings with over 800 attendees. In September, they are throwing their first 24-hour rave along the beach of Lake Victoria.
Techno is freedom
But a few good nights and some excellent DJs are not enough to call what is bubbling in Kampala a techno scene, says Dave Cecil, the Managing Director of East African Records. He tells OkayAfrica that what is missing is Kampala’s own distinct culture.
Though he eschews the title, many see Cecil as a pioneer in bringing techno and underground electronic music to Kampala in the early 2010s under the DJ name SkaFace. “What's most distinctive about the Ugandan scene is people aren't as fussy about genre…They just go out and dance without policing the styles so much. Which I prefer.”
Ultimately these techno events, and the larger underground scene, are offering young Kampalans something they are hungry for: freedom. “People really became interested in what we do because of how much freedom we offer,” says Masaka, pointing to the diversity in choice and thinking — as well as safety — that is offered within these spaces. “There are no restrictions.”
This has also opened room for more female tastemakers like ITSMDNYT to thrive. “The scene has been more open and supportive of female DJs because we have had more females in positions of influence lately,” she says. “It's only natural for us to share space and skills with whomever has interest. This has helped grow a supportive and inclusive community.”
A night out at an Underground Kampala event.
Photo courtesy of Underground Kampala.
O’doi adds that his parties also allow an escape from the politics and news of the day. In July, protestors were arrested after attempting to demonstrate against alleged corruption by top government officials.
“In Uganda, we are very political. We're not supposed to openly be anti this or anti that,” O’doi explains. “But we try to be anti as much as we can. We express it as we dance and release. It's a form of rebellion that is safer.”
“I think that's why we have the raw energy. We're just letting it out. All the anger, the frustration, the potholes, the doubt, the corruption,” he adds. “We come together, we experience it and then we get back to our normal lives after.”
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