Cosmas Butunyi
22 March 2008
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Nairobi — When he first set foot on the Kenyan soil in 2004, Rwandan musician Beligne Bizimana did not expect to stay in the country for long. But impressed by the giant strides the local music scene had made as compared to his homeland, he decided to stay on - at least for a while.
Four years down the line, R&B singer Bizimana is not about to pack his bags. "I only travel to Rwanda when I'm invited to perform there," he says.
And when he lands such invitations, the musician adds, it is usually a tough job as he has to tread on what is increasingly becoming an unfamiliar ground - live shows.
His prolonged stay and the habit of doing playbacks are putting paid to Bizimana efforts to stage live shows. "In Rwanda, we mostly use live bands for shows, but my stay here has made me more used to playback," he explains.
This notwithstanding, he has accomplished much in Kenya. He reckons that had he remained in his motherland, it would have taken twice as much effort to do half of what he has achieved here. He released his debut album in 2006.
The seven-track collection, titled God is My Number One, earned him great acclaim. It is done in French, Kinyarwanda and English. He did a video for one of the songs, Ratwa Rwanda.
Album's success
Buoyed by the album's success, Bizimana is keen on making a follow-up later this year, a plan that he says is being held back by lack of funds.
But when it finally comes out, he promises that it will be much more appealing than his first.
"My first album was primarily for my Rwandese fans, but my next album targets the East African market," he says.
Already, he has recorded a few songs for the upcoming album at different studios in Nairobi and Kisumu.
They include Crazy and Vitendo, which features Kenyan musicians such as Slim Killer and Nida. The two songs were recorded at Kisumu's Sterling Studios.
More joint projects with local artistes are in the works, he reveals. Towards this end, Bizimana has begun discussions with genge bigwig Jua Cali to do a song planned for release soon.
He has shelved plans to release a song he was doing with Lady S when she passed on recently. "Part of the song was ready and what remained was for Lady S to record her bit," he says.
Soon after the release of his first album, he headlined as the Rwandan representative in a series of performances at the Nairobi international cultural festival.
"We held several shows at the Kenya National Theatre, Kibera, Mathare and many other places in Nairobi," he recalls.
For the 29-year-old crooner, it has been a long and arduous journey that sometimes called for bold moves.
A couple of years ago, while still in Rwanda, and against family wishes, he opted out of Kiste University in Kigali after the first year to concentrate on music. He was then pursuing a degree course in mechanical engineering.
He decided that studies were getting in his way as he composed, recorded and prepared for performances.
Many years later, this time in Kenya, he made the equally tough choice of ditching gospel for secular music. "Secular music has more opportunities than gospel music," he defends the decision.
He, however, disputes the notion that quitting the gospel music scene means that he has renounced his Christian faith. "There is no relationship between me as a person and the kind of music I play as a musician because, after all, I pray to God and he hears my prayers," he says.
Secular music
Besides, Bizimana adds, he needs to pay bills, which is much easier to do by way of secular music. "In gospel music, one rarely gets one's returns from investments in recordings due to the limited opportunities," he says.
But not all has been a bed of roses - not even after making the switch. He depends wholly on music as he has been unable to find an alternative job as a motor vehicle mechanic, which he is adept at.
"I have some skill in motor vehicle repairs, but being a foreigner, no-one wants to consider me for employment," he rues.
Music remains his mainstay, but he says the earnings from shows he stages in Kenya cannot match what he would earn in his motherland.
"There are much fewer artistes in my country who are highly in demand, hence the increased pay," he explains.
Bizimana has not been spared by piracy, which ails the Kenyan music industry, and blames the vice for his inability to make enough money from album sales. "Sometimes I hear on matatus and other public places songs that I have recorded even before I release them," he says.
The artiste says his love affair with music dates back to his childhood.
"I was raised in Kigali where we lived near the city centre, and whenever there was a show in town, I would sit outside the house and listen since I could not get permission from my parents to go there," he says.
And when he sat out to listen, he lost track of time and it would only take his stern father to force him to go to bed.
His future plans include starting a family, and after hogging attention from female fans, he believes it is time to settle down.
Musically, he wants to go international "in the real sense of the word". And he is eyeing the European market.
His role models include Senegalese-born American Akon and R&B diva Beyonce.
And he says many African artistes are not up to scratch. "They just write lyrics without a message," he says.
Love is among the Rwandan musician's pet themes. In the song, Machungu, which is in the yet-to-be-released album, he reminisces of his time with his beloved back in Rwanda.
Bizimana, despite being miles away, remains very much in touch with his family and friends back home.
During the recent chaos in Kenya that followed the announcement of the presidential election results, he was inundated with calls from them urging him to return home.
But he has stayed put as he finalises a series of recordings that were put on hold due to the violence.
In spite of the many setbacks that he encounters, Bizimana looks on the bright side of things about the future and does not stop searching for opportunities.
Last weekend, he was one of the many artistes who thronged the Nu Metro cinema in Kisumu for the regional auditions of the Tusker Project Fame talent search.
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