Early this month, the fifth edition of DOADOA festival was concluded in Kampala. DOADOA is the East African Performing Arts Market that was held from May 4th to 7th at the Uganda National Museum.

The event brought together various stakeholders in the creative sector across the region.

Eric Soul - real name Eric Karengera Kirenga - was the only Rwandan music personality invited to participate in the festival. He represented the country at the event which had gathered stake holders from East Africa’s Performing Arts Industry like; musicians, music producers, dancers, theatre producers, promoters and managers, to share experiences and how they can develop the East African music industry.

"DOODOA was a great experience; I was invited to be part of the panel discussing experiences as a live music promoter. I was together with Jibril Rashid of Roots International and Elijah Kitaka from Uganda- these people have great and unique experiences in the industry. We talked about how we can foster the music industry in the region,” he said.

According to the famous professional disc jockey and a music promoter, the 4-day event also gave insights on different issues the regional music industries face, and what countries need to do to take it to another level.

"When we were there, we discussed a number of topics ranging from songwriting, women in music, digitization of folk heritage, to name but a few. The three-day festival helped us to sit and learn how to discover and explore the opportunities in the sector,” he said.

Some of the biggest challenges facing Africa’s creative economy like Intellectual property and copyright infringement were other issues that were discussed during the meeting.

Soul, a son of Rwanda’s legendary traditional singer Cecile Kayirebwa, noted that Rwanda has to imitate such initiatives to better support the local creative industry. He added that it was also a platform for him to showcase Rwanda at the regional level.

"One of the challenges that I have realized we have in Rwanda is the space. Other countries have vibrant cultural centres, a number of recording and dancing studios are in place, and also innovative spaces where artistes can meet, rehearse, and discuss a number of projects. If we manage to have at least these spaces, we will be able to do things professionally,” he said.

He added that these spaces help them to talk about the administrative part of the work people in the creative industry do, the legal and economic work, and all the professions around the music.

Soul noted that research is very critical towards the development of artistes just like in any other sectors of economy.

DOADOA provides a platform for professional networking and joint learning, bringing together various stakeholders and linking people, organisations, businesses, knowledge and technology with a view to creating demand and developing a market for the performing arts.

This will unlock the potential of the East African creative industry, making it an important factor of economic, social and cultural development throughout the region.

Other performers at the fifth edition of DOADOA included Dbass Ganun, Ze Spirit Band and Cultural Arts Centre (Tanzania), Babishai Niwe Poets, Kenneth Mugabi and Apollo Kagimu (Uganda), Lulu and Zakaleo Band and Gravitti Band (Kenya), among others.

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