Nyege Nyege’s Duke and MCZO denied entry into US
Nyege Nyege’s Duke and MCZO lost out on a major event with major pay.
Tanzanian artists Duke and MCZO, who are part of the Ugandan collective Nyege Nyege, were scheduled to play a Nyege Nyege-related event at the Red Bull Music Festival in New York over the weekend.
They took to Facebook to explain how they were forced to retract their appearance after being denied entry into the US despite backing from multiple (and prominent) sources including their label, agent and lawyer, Red Bull and New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
If the Senator can’t get you in, who can?
Their statement explains the show in New York would garner them “a fee that is more than our combined families make in a year”.
The real shithole country
The statement reads:
“NOTHING could prove that we did not intend to run away illegally once checked in at our Holiday Inn… The consular authorities seemed to sincerely think that there was a ‘better life’ available for us there, that we would not resist to chase.
“The current situation in America does not indicate any sign that we would find more freedom, happiness and success there, or does it? The fact that we fill stadiums in Dar Es Salaam and are loved by millions in our country, that we have a tour schedule that has us play everywhere in the world, despite being featured in the Guardian, the Economist, FACT magazine, it wasn’t enough to portray ourselves as Cultural Ambassadors. They saw us as Ambassadors who would abandon their post as soon as landed, leaving our national duty to present our culture behind and, instead, hide. That’s what they saw.”
Making the most out of a unfortunate situation, they released The No Visa Mix for fans that were unable to see them perform in New York.
Nyege Nyege’s Duke and MCZO also extended an invitation for people to visit them at their home base in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
Sourced
