From the bedroom of one of its founding members, Mukalazi Moze, and the comfy corners of the almost legendary Ethiopian restaurant ‘Dukem’ in Kabalagala, Kampala, Uganda, Young Artists Exchange Project, or YAEP!, has stretched itself into an organization bordering a global art exchange movement. What started off as a music collaboration project between five Ugandan hip hop artists and members of Breakdance Project Uganda and two hip hop artists from Switzerland, leading into a ‘Borda to Borda’ EP in 2013, has already paved way for multiple artists in and out Uganda to let their art be heard and seen – certainly to the surprise of many doubters, but even more, YAEP! members themselves.
It was in the summer of 2013 that Johannes Kung, a carpenter, community development student and a music producer from Switzerland, found himself in Uganda for the third time, this time with a fellow hip hop artist, writer and student of International Relations, Jocelyn Daloz, also from Switzerland. Having seen members of Breakdance Project Uganda, or BPU, host a series of dance classes at the Kids of Africa orphanage Johannes was volunteering in his previous visits, the idea of working with Ugandan hip hop artists grew as he remained connected with some of them through facebook. Ugandan hip hop scene left an impact, much thanks to the very work of BPU, a local non-profit organization founded in 2006 by Abramz Tekya, using hip hop and breakdance to empower and uplift Ugandan youth and communities. “I remember watching a lot of beatboxing videos of Moze, I explored BPU through facebook and watched Bouncing cats [a documentary about Breakdance Project Uganda] maybe ten times. I was fascinated. I asked Moze if he knows any Ugandan emcees that would be willing to work on a song or two and he connected me with Jora.” While the Luganda lyrics of the raps of Joram Ssekitoleko, a Ugandan rapper, MC, events organizer and a bboy, couldn’t open up to Johannes, something else in Joram’s music left an impression that got him thinking of traveling back to Kampala to work with him, given that his personality would match the great spirit of his songs. As it turned out “Jora was the coolest guy ever”. The somewhat spontaneous idea was upgraded as Johannes and Jocelyn arrived to Kampala and were introduced to the other artists that alongside the three came to be the backbone of the organization, in a manner very descriptive of YAEP’s code of conduct – it was a freestyle session at a farewell party that brought the seven founders of YAEP together for the first time.
The idea and the foundations of ‘YAEP! Young Artists Exchange Project’ were created in the summer of 2013 in Kampala, Uganda and founded in the fall of the same year as an NGO is Wohlen, Switzerland. Felix Lutakome, a Ugandan bboy, beatboxer, and a writer, was one of the seven people bringing YAEP to reality, and first to make the suggestion and a concept write-up to build what was initially meant to be a one off music project, into something more long-term and influential. YAEP describes itself as a ‘worldwide society of young artists promoting cultural diversity and exchange’. While it is strongly rooted in Uganda, East Africa and Switzerland, Europe, it is in constant process of building its network and reaching out to numerous organizations and people worldwide. Lessons and inspirations gained from following and being part of the hip hop scene in Uganda have continued to shape the ways in which YAEP organizes itself, closely following the idea of ‘positive social change through art’ rooted in the Ugandan hip hop culture by Abramz Tekya. As Kibuuka Mukisa Oscar, founding member of YAEP and a self-taught photographer and a bboy from Uganda explains “[Abramz] brought the sense of what bboying is and the essence of breaking used as an element to change people’s lives and to create a community where people can share without any social boundaries, come together and have fun. Other communities I’ve experienced it’s very much about me, myself and I, me trying to be the best in a battle or trying to work hard so that my dance school is the best in town… Here the whole breaking scene is spread all around the country on the same premise that everyone is a teacher and everyone is a student. And all the big things in the breaking community have been done by the youth, showing that however uneducated we may be, we are bringing positive social change into our communities ourselves.”
Joram further adds how through the concept of ‘Each one teach one’ the scene in Uganda has developed very fast from a very small scene to a very big one: “People always come together to learn, but they don’t stop when they learn, they also give back. People have started creating initiatives, still based on that same principle, which has helped the scene develop. From what I hear and witnessed when I travelled to Europe, in most places you pay to learn dance. In Uganda everywhere you go you can learn for free, that is another thing that has made our scene grow. Here you always have a chance, unless you don’t want to use it.” For Jocelyn, the manifestation of hip hop in Uganda gave him a feeling of experiencing hip hop at his most fundamental roots. “In Switzerland, everything seems organized, structured, embedded in our lifestyle – battles are being held in big venues, with professional sound systems, concerts are huge. Most of the mainstream is only about entertainment, only a few people know what hip hop is all about.” Indeed, in Uganda it is how hip hop is used that matters more than the art form in itself, and that is why the country has seen many professional and known international hip hop artists make their way to Uganda. Breakdance Project Uganda has been leading the way in teaching Ugandan youth how to become the solution to their own problems, how to empower themselves and through that, their communities. As Oscar says, “we are using [hip hop] community to reach others, to have dialogue that goes beyond the beats and the breaking moves. Every day you see how much power it has and how broad it can get – things like BPU taking kids back to school through their school sponsorship program, and organizing self-defence classes bringing together bboys with martial artists. “People get employed not because they are the best hip hop artists, but because of how they use their skills”, Joram adds.
The impact YAEP has had on its members’ lives naturally goes beyond what can be explained in words. To some of its members, including Oscar, Joram and Taye Mugizi-Atayebwa, a rapper and YAEP’s founding member also from Uganda, it gave an opportunity to travel to Europe for the first time, in Oscar’s words “looking like chickens in the plane” in their excitement. But outside the more countable blessings, YAEP has given its members a sense of belonging, a community and indeed a family. As Oscar puts it “We’ve had a lot of good moments, drinking beer together as a family. You know it’s not the kind of super serious organization coming together to save the world, no. For us, it’s about understanding each other. There’s a lot to learn through this community of people that connects by soul, and at the same time works on serious and impactful projects. No matter if our people are in Switzerland or here, our organization still runs according to the same idea of friends coming together. And I think that is our power.” Alongside entertaining the crowds, today YAEP hosts a variety of activities from fundraising jams and community outreach events to producing music and planning upcoming exchange projects both within and out Uganda. Being part of such processes has given YAEP! members many opportunities to not only pass their knowledge and skills on, but enhance their own level of professionalism as well. Moze Mukalazi, YAEP’s founding member and a beatboxer and a dancer from Uganda, explains how it has made it easier for him to handle himself as an artists and in relation to other artists: “With YAEP we work with lot of different artists, but since we are the founders, we always need to know better. It has helped me as a solo artist – writing proposals, approaching different platforms in terms of teaching and performing. Artistically I’m better now.”
It has been a learning curve for all the artists, learning to navigate as a group and learning to trust their vision in order to find others to trust in it too. Putting together YAEP’s first international tour ‘Borda to Borda’ in Switzerland and Germany in 2014 took much preparation and had even more challenges, but for Jocelyn seeing how much energy and work Johannes put into something as risky and seemingly impossible as making five Ugandan artists come to Switzerland not only impressed him, but assured him: “I realized how strong the idea was, and that sometimes, you just have to do things, instead of being scared of it.” Joram has been lucky to connect with likeminded people from around the world, now feeling like he has a global support system of artists, “friends that care about you and want to know how you’re progressing with your work, offering to accommodate you when you’re travelling abroad”. Furthermore, as the main coordinator of YAEP’s Ugandan branch, Joram is grateful for having gained the trust from his fellow colleagues to direct them, something that does not lack challenges: “These guys are so stubborn, it’s not easy to control them. But they always have my back”.
Rather than orienting our thoughts towards the disparities and shortcomings, YAEP! stands strong to remind us to first and foremost respect and appreciate. This was indeed a very empowering and revealing thought process to go through for young Johannes visiting Uganda in person after having relied on “the media and the lion king” for information on Africa. “I started to understand that I shouldn’t help people but trust them, work together with people, learn from people, listen to people, scrutinize my interpretations. I started to understand that everybody has a story to tell, has resources, has something to give and feels good about giving, but everybody has something he or she needs and is grateful for receiving.” Lived life experiences of the founding members of YAEP are strongly reflected in the organization’s practical work and ideology. What the Ugandan members lack in education they have gained through years of volunteering with various youth organizations and initiatives in Uganda, most strikingly Breakdance Project Uganda and Break Fast Jam. Regardless of their very young age, they have all worked as administrative members of BPU and Joram and Oscar are directors/founders of Break Fast Jam alongside Mark Kaweesi – an event founded in 2012 that has grown from a backyard jam into the biggest annual breaking competition in East Africa. Rather than looking at Africa as an object of pity, YAEP – simply by existing – challenges us to consider all that can be learned through knowledge encounters, so long as we are willing to step down from our high horse. By highlighting the work actively done in Ugandan hip hop community to use hip hop as a tool for positive social change, it reminds us of the possibilities always available to us, no matter how dire our circumstances may be in the get go. In Jocelyn’s words: “Hell, if somebody like Abramz, who had the possibly worst starting point in life – orphan, uneducated, living in a violent slum – can start a movement that empowers hundreds of people, what are each and everyone of us waiting for?”
- Abramz Tekya, a bboy, rapper and founder/director of Breakdance Project Uganda, leading a workshop during YAEP!’s exchange with Breakthrough Festival in Switzerland in 2015.
The successes as well as shortcomings of their previous/other ongoing projects are evidently taken to heart in order to build a strong organizational structure and foundation for YAEP. In all its activities, ‘YAEP! aims to decrease prejudice and fears to support a new understanding of each other. As an international and intercultural organization, it consciously works with the differences, similarities and areas of conflict found’. It is key for the organization to establish a mutual respect among the fellow artists and workmates, to approach each other “on an eye-to-eye level with an open-minded attitude, willingness to learn from each other and to share their own knowledge”. Although currently limited and challenged by time and resources, YAEP does not see limits to its membership neither geographically nor in terms of numbers and artforms. As Johannes puts it “YAEP! can become and will become whatever people involved in YAEP! push for. In that sense, YAEP! will grow naturally as long as the people involved want to grow with YAEP!”. Moze adds that with opportunity comes responsibility – once you become part of the YAEP movement, you are expected to also offer something back to the organization. However as a member of YAEP, you will also have a guarantee to be considered to any opportunities that may come within your line of work, before moving to look “outside the box”. “‘Young’ stands for a young idea, new idea. Anyone who shares our values and objectives are welcome to come on board”, Oscar concludes.
As a fresh organization working simultaneously from two headquarters, YAEP is still , as Jocelyn says when asked where YAEP will be in 10 years, “finding it out”. On its ‘to do’-list is an impressive list of activities and dreams, from organizing festivals and more extensive international tours to building a local arts centre in Uganda, “a place for local and international artists to meet and share”. However, while reaching for new depths, YAEP continues to keep one eye on the shore, currently working on gaining sustainability and structure as an organization, with plans of official NGO registration in Uganda, and merchandise marketing on the way – in addition to finalizing the recently recorded album ‘Echoes’ featuring a number of new Ugandan artists in addition to YAEP’s original artists. As Johannes explains the process, “creating more structure than we have right now will change the organization, and I think we’ll have to do this very carefully to not lose the spirit and vibe we do have right now. Gaining sustainability means to gain a stable income as an organization because doing good things for free and donating all the money you have is not sustainable. So we are talking about how to sell our products without selling ourselves.” In ten years Oscar hopes to see the ideas and models of YAEP spreading beyond the local communities in Uganda, to tackle issues such as unemployment. As much as YAEP aspires to go more and more global, Moze reminds how simultaneously he hopes to find YAEP settling more in Uganda, as a registered, legal entity, with dreams of having a centre dedicated for arts education and events from festivals to theatre and exhibitions. “I would like to see us pull off a nice hip hop festival and arts exhibition on our own soil”.
No matter what the future holds for YAEP! its impact has already outlived its presence. The evident passion, dedication and humility of all its founding members shines a hopeful light in a world too often controlled by misunderstandings, prejudice and disrespect. YAEP in its very existence is a proof of the richness that can come out when people decide to work together to understand and learn from each other rather than judge and degrade each other. As Oscar puts it “the very first challenge for YAEP was us working together as artists, learning why people do different things at different times. One of our ultimate goal is creating an understanding between people from different places. In that sense we ourselves working together are a learning subject of what we’re bringing to the table as an organization and what we stand for.” YAEP has built a bridge where some have only been able to find fences, teaching everyone and anyone who is willing to listen and see, how to work together with celebration of difference over establishment of fear. Its founders may be too humble to admit it, but as much as it never set out to “save the world”, it may have just already offered an enormous contribution to some of its most pressing global issues. That’s the thing with home-grown art initiatives – you set out to make entertainment whilst enjoying a good time with your friends, but it’s that authenticity, honesty and passion inevitably part of the process that is prone to have an impact way beyond your home corners.
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// Peace, Love and Light,
Aino
Hip Hop Storybook 
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