Nyege Nyege Music Festival in Uganda: A Growing Leisure Activity with a Moral Dilemma

Launched in December 2015, the Nyege Nyege musical festival has become a popular leisure tourism activity in Uganda attracting national and international participants. The festival involves an all-night event characterized by wild partying and diverse leisure activities usually lasting four days. De...

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Main Authors: Amos, Ochieng, Brenda, Bonabaana, Francis Akena, Adyanga
Format: Article
Published: INTERNATIONAL LEISURE REVIEW 2021
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Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12493/506
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author Amos, Ochieng
Brenda, Bonabaana
Francis Akena, Adyanga
author_facet Amos, Ochieng
Brenda, Bonabaana
Francis Akena, Adyanga
author_sort Amos, Ochieng
collection KAB-DR
description Launched in December 2015, the Nyege Nyege musical festival has become a popular leisure tourism activity in Uganda attracting national and international participants. The festival involves an all-night event characterized by wild partying and diverse leisure activities usually lasting four days. Despite its growing popularity, the festival has received sharp criticisms in the national media and other public forums across the country. The barrage of attacks against the festival are premised on cultural, moral, and religious ground. Critics argue that Uganda being a strong cultural and religious conservative society should regulate (and restrict) leisure activities that deviate from the culturally and religiously acceptable moral behaviors and expectations. In this paper, we analyze the paradox of promoting Nyege Nyege music festival – a post-modern leisure practice within a morally sensitive environment. We argue that unregulated embracement of festivals expose society to foreign cultural influences of the so-called progressive contemporary neoliberal post-colonial leisure economy. This paper contributes to the body of knowledge on leisure and tourism with implications for unraveling its potential for diversification of tourism products in Uganda and the moral dilemmas that come with it.
format Article
id oai:idr.kab.ac.ug:20.500.12493-506
institution KAB-DR
publishDate 2021
publisher INTERNATIONAL LEISURE REVIEW
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spelling oai:idr.kab.ac.ug:20.500.12493-5062024-01-17T04:48:38Z Nyege Nyege Music Festival in Uganda: A Growing Leisure Activity with a Moral Dilemma Amos, Ochieng Brenda, Bonabaana Francis Akena, Adyanga COVID-19, Leisure, Nyege Nyege, Music Festival, Moral Dilemma, Tourism, Uganda Launched in December 2015, the Nyege Nyege musical festival has become a popular leisure tourism activity in Uganda attracting national and international participants. The festival involves an all-night event characterized by wild partying and diverse leisure activities usually lasting four days. Despite its growing popularity, the festival has received sharp criticisms in the national media and other public forums across the country. The barrage of attacks against the festival are premised on cultural, moral, and religious ground. Critics argue that Uganda being a strong cultural and religious conservative society should regulate (and restrict) leisure activities that deviate from the culturally and religiously acceptable moral behaviors and expectations. In this paper, we analyze the paradox of promoting Nyege Nyege music festival – a post-modern leisure practice within a morally sensitive environment. We argue that unregulated embracement of festivals expose society to foreign cultural influences of the so-called progressive contemporary neoliberal post-colonial leisure economy. This paper contributes to the body of knowledge on leisure and tourism with implications for unraveling its potential for diversification of tourism products in Uganda and the moral dilemmas that come with it. Kabale University 2021-07-01T17:29:23Z 2021-07-01T17:29:23Z 2021 Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12493/506 application/pdf INTERNATIONAL LEISURE REVIEW
spellingShingle COVID-19, Leisure, Nyege Nyege, Music Festival, Moral Dilemma, Tourism, Uganda
Amos, Ochieng
Brenda, Bonabaana
Francis Akena, Adyanga
Nyege Nyege Music Festival in Uganda: A Growing Leisure Activity with a Moral Dilemma
title Nyege Nyege Music Festival in Uganda: A Growing Leisure Activity with a Moral Dilemma
title_full Nyege Nyege Music Festival in Uganda: A Growing Leisure Activity with a Moral Dilemma
title_fullStr Nyege Nyege Music Festival in Uganda: A Growing Leisure Activity with a Moral Dilemma
title_full_unstemmed Nyege Nyege Music Festival in Uganda: A Growing Leisure Activity with a Moral Dilemma
title_short Nyege Nyege Music Festival in Uganda: A Growing Leisure Activity with a Moral Dilemma
title_sort nyege nyege music festival in uganda a growing leisure activity with a moral dilemma
topic COVID-19, Leisure, Nyege Nyege, Music Festival, Moral Dilemma, Tourism, Uganda
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12493/506
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