Unmissable sets
“An uncontrollable urge to dance” has always been Nyege Nyege’s promise — and one they deliver on every time. From Kampala to dancefloors across the globe, Nyege Nyege has become synonymous with a strain of club music where folk regional traditional, DIY electronics and blown-out soundsystems collapse time and space. Next week, it returns to Amsterdam with a yearly takeover of Garage Noord. While familiar faces like Bahati, amz, Sarkawt Hamad, Nèna and T.NO keep the local flame burning, we took the chance to dive into some of the artists we didn’t know yet, some travelling from far, some comfortably close. Safe to say, we’re converts. Come to GarageFest ready to relearn what dance music can be.
Azzi on the beat
You know it’s going to be a good set when it begins with a chorus of spiritual affirmations. For Azzi On The Beat, the dancefloor is haunted, in the best possible way, by the generations of rhythmic traditions that came before. A dancer, producer and live beat performer, he channels Yoruba epistemologies into a practice that draws equally from ritual and the pulse of Lagos’ electronic underground. Mara and other emerging strains of Afrobeats are warped into exhilarating new forms while remaining tethered to the traditions they spring from. The result is ecstatic in its possession over your body. Consider it spiritual cleansing, but expect to leave drenched in sweat.
Suzi Analogue
Suzi Analogue blessed GarageFest with an explosive set back in 2024, and we’ve been waiting ever since for her return. A true veteran of the global electronic underground, the Miami-based producer, DJ and founder of Never Normal Records has spent over a decade carving out space for herself and other artists outside the usual industry structures. We can always get down with a bit of footwork and juke, and her energy-first blends with soul, hip-hop and techno remind us that genres are just play-doh: meant to be pulled apart, mixed together and made a little weird.
Pili Pili Girls
Pili Pili Girls are bringing the hottest energy from the heart of Tanzanian singeli — a hyperkinetic sound born in the streets of Dar es Salaam, where breakneck tempos, electronic chaos and East African folk rhythm patterns melt together. Harnessing the spirit of street rave culture, Pili Pili Girls’ performances are a full-body takeover: otherworldly stage gymnastics, twerking on the mic, rallying crowds into mosh pits and pulling audiences into spontaneous choreographies. Their energy captures everything that makes singeli so addictive — the feeling that the party could spiral somewhere completely unexpected at any second, and you really have to lock in to keep up.
Hibotep
Described as a “sonic warrior” by the Nyege Nyege team, Hibotep is a spell-casting DJ, producer, rapper and filmmaker. Her sets contain whole worlds within them as she traverses techno, gqom, grime, hip-hop, and industrial in never-seen-before configurations. Somalia-born, Uganda-based, she draws from the fertile grounds of East African underground honouring genres like taarab and gnawa while happily throwing in a few guilty-pleasure club bangers for good measure. Sonically nomadic and mischievous, we can’t wait what her set will bring.
Amara
Amara, the Netherlands-based selector, has a knack for threading together batida, kuduro, singeli and other strains of forward-facing electronic music into sets that feel both effortless and relentlessly propulsive. Rooted in underground club culture but always looking outward, she draws on African rhythmic traditions without treating them as museum pieces, instead letting them collide with contemporary club sounds in ways that feel fresh and instinctive. Every transition balances hypnotic grooves with bursts of high-energy percussion. It’s the kind of set that expands your musical vocabulary while making sure you never stop dancing.
Words by Evita Shrestha
Images courtesy of the artists
