The 2nd edition of ONGEA! Is going down as from tomorrow 16th to Sunday 19th from 12.00 pm to 10.00 pm daily at the Sarit Centre Expo Hall. ONGEA! Started out as Kenya Music Week back in 2004 and used to run every December. However, when the organizers PHAT! Music & Entertainment felt that they had achieved their objectives for the Kenyan music industry they decided to change their scope to the East African region. Even with a wider scope, the annual event has retained the three pillars that were part of the Music Week which are Trade, Learn, Showcase.
Attendees will be able to meet industry professional at the 57 trade exhibition stands over the course of the 4 days. The professionals will include artists, associations, bands, booking agents, collective management organisations, digital distributors, educational institutions, media houses, record labels, regulators, technical suppliers and many more from Cameroon, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.
There will also be a Networking Lounge whereby business to business deals will be struck, this will be courtesy of Extra Dimensions. In case you feel that you have some musical genes there will be Studio Transparent run by PHAT! Intellectual Propoerty where anyone will be able to record their demo with Artville Music for free.
As from 12.30 pm to 2.00pm on a daily basis, there will be an open mic session for upcoming musicians. Auditions for the Sauti Academy will be held on Saturday and Sunday where 2 fully paid one year scholarships will be up for grabs.
From 2.30pm-4.00pm and 4.00pm-5.30pm everyday there will be Industry Panels whereby thought leaders of the Eastern Africa Music Industry will discuss broadcast, digital distribution, festival bookings, live sound, monetizing compositions, music & culture, music education and rights compliance.
Every evening as from 6.00pm-10.00pm, there’ll be showcase performances from a total of 29 musicians. The musicians will be drawn from Cameroon, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda with support from Protel Studios, MOB Entertainment, Artville Music and PHAT! Productions. All these showcase performances shall be keenly observed by Festival Bookers from Mozambique (Jess White of AKUM Agency, AZGO festival and IGODA festival circuit), Rwanda (Eric Karengera of AFROGROOV, Isaano festival, Kigali!Up festival and I am Kigali festival), South Africa (Tshepo Nzimande of Moshito) and Uganda (Herman Kabubi of Bayimba Festival and DOADOA) who have all Committed to Booking at least one Act from ONGEA! 2017, to Perform commercially at their Festivals this Year.
Additional features this year at ONGEA!, include the Hosting of the 3 rd Mdundo Awards, on Thursday 16 th February (6.00pm-7.30pm); as well as a World Record attempt to Record the Longest Song with the most Artists, by Mdundo and Artville Music, in Studio Transparent with PHAT! Intellectual Property. Also PHAT Productions has partnered with Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE) whereby BAKE will be carrying out training on social media use on the 17th of Febraury from 9 am to 11 pm.
The entire Event shall be Streamed Live, from HD Cameras by Protel Studios via Highway Audiovisual, to YouTube , Facebook and Instagram accounts of ONGEA! from 12.00pm to 10.00pm on Thursday 16 th to Sunday 19 th February.