Addis Ababa Gets New Electronic Music Club Katanga

Estimated reading time: 2 min

Hierarchy-Free Basement Launches in Addis Ababa

Katanga Dance Music Club opened in December 2025 in a renovated basement next to Addis Ababa's Ambassador Theatre, occupying the former Club Illusion space. (Original source) Founder Guta Wakuma Chimsa positions the venture as a response to the city's "golden era of sonic experimentation" and a "massive youth movement that's hungry for new sounds." The single-room layout seats the DJ booth at its centre, flanked by two bars, with audio and lighting systems anchoring what Chimsa describes as a space "where the hierarchy dissolves the moment you step inside."

Weekly programming divides along genre lines: Thursdays host open-deck sessions for aspiring selectors, Fridays lean into house and techno, and Saturdays showcase pan-African electronic work. (Original source) Early bookings—Ghedi, Adrasha, Alewya, Call Me Diggy, Just Ken—signal intent to bridge local talent and diasporic networks, establishing the club as both incubator and touring destination.

Centred Booth, Twin Bars and Genre Nights

The centred booth eliminates performer elevation, forcing DJ and crowd into a shared acoustic plane—a spatial choice that reinforces Chimsa's stated intent to dissolve hierarchy. Twin bars bracket the single room without fragmenting sightlines or fracturing the sound field, preserving coherence across the basement.

Weekly genre nights carve distinct tributaries into Addis Ababa's nascent calendar. Thursday's open deck lowers the access barrier for untested selectors, building a bench of local talent rather than relying solely on fly-ins. (Original source) Friday anchors the programme in house and techno's global lexicon, while Saturday's African electronic remit—spanning Ethio-jazz edits, amapiano hybrids and gqom experiments—stakes a claim for regional sounds as headlining fare rather than opener material. Early bookings reflect this duality: Alewya and Call Me Diggy bridge diaspora networks, while Adrasha and Just Ken represent homegrown experimentalism.

Incubator Model Targets Youth Electronic Movement

Founder Guta Wakuma Chimsa frames Katanga as a response to a city "experiencing a golden era of sonic experimentation" propelled by "a massive youth movement that's hungry for new sounds." The club's stated mission—to provide a space where "the hierarchy dissolves the moment you step inside"—translates into structural choices designed to flatten access rather than segment it. The open-deck format on Thursdays offers aspiring selectors a public apprenticeship, building a pool of resident talent in a market where mentorship infrastructure remains scarce. (Original source)

Sources

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How we reported this

We reviewed multiple independent sources (listed above) and cross-checked key details across them. When sources disagree or a claim is only supported once, we make that uncertainty explicit.

About the author

Tom Rander — is a journalist and electronic music specialist who has spent years documenting the intersection of club culture and technical innovation. With a background rooted in both the booth and the press room, Tom founded Rander.io to provide a more rigorous, expertise-driven alternative to mainstream music blogs.