By Our Reporter
Doa Doa, an East African performing arts market, returns for its 7th edition this month.
The platform, which brings together different stakeholders in the music industry like artistes, producers, booking agents and festival organisers among others to network, spot talent and share ideas, will be held at the Uganda Museum from Wednesday, 9th May to Saturday, 12th May.
According to the programme coordinator, Herman Kabubi, the market is for the first time being opened up to content from outside the East African region. He explained that this is aimed at booting the complacency that had grown among the East African artistes and also open up opportunities for more collaborations with artistes from outside the region.
“For the past six years, we have only showcased content from East Africa. But we are now opening up the market to more content from outside the region.” Herman Kabubi revealed. “And for the first time this year, we will have a South African artiste showcasing.”
“We have discovered that East African artistes need something more that is from outside the region from which they can learn in terms of skills, sets and composition among other things and at the same time foster collaboration.” Kabubi added.
This year’s program features artiste showcases, workshops, and panel discussions where stakeholders will tackle different issues surrounding the music industry. There will also be a fully installed studio at the venue to facilitate collaborations between artistes that will attend the event, which will be free of charge.
Some of the artistes who will showcase at this year’s 4-day event include; Uganda’s Afrigo Band, Afrosimba band from Kenya, Mapanya band from Tanzania, and South Africa’s Berita among others.
The event will be free for all.