When you think of the cultural scene of East Africa, you will not fail to notice the lack of thriving and professionalism in film, fine art and music industries and the infrastructure needed to support them.

This scenario is what gave rise to Culture & Development East Africa (CDEA), an organisation established in 2011 to mobilise and support civil society in East Africa to advocate for putting culture at the centre of human development.

One of their initiatives is a Pan African Film Critique Club, which has been running since 2012. On June 26, the Club screened the documentary 4 Cities 1 Network by Santuri Safari at their Mikocheni B premises in Dar es Salaam.

In the documentary, Sam Jones of Soundthread — an organisation for culture and development with clients like Alliance Francais, Goethe Institut, Music Mayday, CDEA and Hivos (main sponsors of Santuri Safari) — says that most African music consumed outside the continent is really just West African and South African music, and that if somebody were to ask what the East African sound was, nobody could put a finger to it.

Soundthread’s services include training in music production and the installation of music studios.

Naamala Samson, the head of civic leadership, arts and media at CDEA said, “In our film club we showcase films from innovative filmmakers across Africa that otherwise would not feature in the mainstream media, hoping to educate our audience and foster more growth in the film scene in Tanzania.”

The documentary 4 Cities 1 Network was presented by Rebecca Yeong Ae Corey and Haji Said, co-founder and country co-ordinator respectively in Tanzania for Santuri Safari.

The documentary features a musica experiment with DJs, producers, vocalists and sound engineers from all over East Africa and parts of Europe to converge on the four East African cities of Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Kampala and Zanzibar.

DJ Rachael from Uganda, producer Ambrose Akula “Dunga” from Kenya, DJs Dread Steppa & Surah Mandava, Steve Kitubia of Ketebul Music, Tody Mwachukwu of CDR UK among other music stakeholders work on different sounds under Sam Jones of Soundthread.

Santuri Safari consider DJs in East Africa as the broadcasters and cultural connectors, acting as curators of culture, particularly the youth culture which currently is dominated by Nigerian music and the Kwaito and house vibes of South Africa.

It is this success that Santuri Safari looks to tap into for the East African music scene, by experimenting with DJs and musicians via pop up studios, which they have been putting up at odd locations close to music festivals. They have already been to the Sauti za Busara (Zanzibar), Bayimba (Kampala), Doadoa (Dar es Salaam) and Jambo festivals across East Africa.

The collaboration work culminated in an album on Sound Cloud featuring various musicians and DJs from all over East Africa.

Also screened was a documentary featuring Mimi Suleiman, a musician from Zanzibar working under Santuri Safari. Santuri DJs and musicians reinterpreted one of Mimi’s tracks into a disco track. When she later performed it on stage with live instruments it was a completely new sound.

Santuri and CDEA officials said they were working on getting unique East African music into the mainstream media, and that was why they choose to work with popular DJs to expand the reach of the music.