Before The Last Gal became a name associated with Kampala’s electronic music scene, there was Rachel Heyzo Kanyunyuzi, a young woman learning to make sense of music from behind the decks.
Her journey began in 2022 at Gong Academy, where she started learning the art of DJing under Derrick Files. There was no dramatic battle or overnight competition to announce her arrival. Instead, November 2022 marked the point at which she decided to step forward, unveil herself and take the craft seriously.
The Last Gal had already been moving within the industry and around some influential circles, and for a while, there was speculation that she and fellow media personality Etania could make a formidable duo, largely because of their similar energy and presence.
But as their careers developed, the two women took different musical paths.
Etania found her space in Amapiano and became one of the genre’s recognisable faces in Uganda. The Last Gal, meanwhile, gravitated towards electronic music, exploring sounds such as house and garage while gradually developing an identity that was distinctly her own.
That separation became an important part of The Last Gal’s story.
It gave her the room to build without constantly being defined through an association with someone else.
After unveiling herself in 2022, she deliberately stepped back in 2023 to concentrate on her studies and improve her craft. In March that year, she left Uganda to pursue further education, using her time away to deepen her understanding of DJing and music.
When she returned in February 2024, things began to move.
She considers that return her breakthrough moment—the point at which the work she had done away from the spotlight began translating into a more defined presence on Kampala’s nightlife circuit.
Her approach to DJing is also deliberately unconventional.
The Last Gal says what sets her apart is her ability to “think out of the box” and play in a manner she describes as being “like a man.”
For her, it is less about conforming to established expectations of what a female DJ should sound like and more about asserting herself through music selection, transitions and her ability to control a room.
Her choice of electronic sounds has helped her carve out that space.
In a nightlife scene where Afrobeats, Amapiano, dancehall and Ugandan pop often dominate, house and garage offer her a different musical palette. They allow her to create sets built around rhythm, movement and atmosphere rather than simply following the most popular sounds of the moment.
Even her stage name has a personal story.
The Last Gal comes from the fact that she is the last-born in her family. What began as a simple description has since grown into a recognisable identity within Kampala’s electronic music community.
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Today, The Last Gal is no longer simply a name appearing alongside someone else’s.
It is an identity Kanyunyuzi Rachel Heyzo has built through study, experimentation and a willingness to explore a sound that is not necessarily the most obvious route for a DJ trying to establish herself in Kampala.
Her next step could be her clearest statement yet that she has become her own act.
On October 2, she is set to headline her first solo rave at Guvnor Street, bringing together electronic music, audiovisual production, lighting and performance in a show designed to showcase the world she has been building behind the decks.
For an artist whose journey has been less about an instant breakthrough and more about finding her sound, the rave represents another stage in that evolution.
The story of The Last Gal is therefore not simply about a DJ who chose electronic music.
It is about an artist who took time to figure out who she wanted to be, stepped away when she needed to grow, returned with greater clarity and began building an identity that could stand on its own.
The Last Gal did not need a duo to define her.
She needed time to find her sound.
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