DOADOA: East African Professional Market for Performing Arts. Topic: Artist promoters network meeting – meet the promoters Venue: Uganda Museum Time: 12hrs Speakers: Jibril Rashid (KE) – Roots International, Elijah Kitaka (UG) – FEZAH, Karengera Kirenga Eric Soul (RWA) – AFROGROOV/Kigali Up Festival As a working artist, it’s not enough to produce art: you need to promote your art as well. While your path to becoming an artist may be more about your inherent need to create, communicate your ideas, and leave your mark on the world, this won’t help introduce your work to the art community. Making sure that your work reaches the right audience, and continuing to expand that circle of potential buyers, is crucial to achieving success as a professional artist. If you don’t make an effort to get your work out there, no one will be able to tell you how much they love it – or purchase a piece. Make it a point to join Jibril Rashid (KE) – Roots International, Elijah Kitaka (UG) – FEZAH, Karengera Kirenga Eric Soul (RWA) – AFROGROOV/

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Eric Soul on promoting regional
music industry
By: JULIUS BIZIMUNGU
PUBLISHED: May 18, 2016 Entertainment  Print  Email
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Eric Soul is a cultural activist/DJ, who is also among people playing a leading role in the country's
creative industry. (File)

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Early this month, the fth 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 di erent 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.

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Kenyan instrumentalist Christine Kamau performs during the just concluded ‘DOADOA 2016’ in Kampala,
Uganda. (Net photo)
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 fth edition of DOADOA included Dbass Ganun, Ze

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