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Rwanda: A Car Mechanic With a Message
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Focus Media (Kigali)
26 March 2008
Posted to the web 26 March 2008
Timothy Kisambira
Some car mechanics will tell you how a motor 'sings'. Joseph Bowazi has taken that assertion a step further: he is a car mechanic, and a singer. "I am trying to make my dream come true, and need nothing more." Joseph Bowazi, an energetic musician and a mechanic, believes that so far combining the two has brought him fulfillment, because through music he has been able to convey his message to the public.
He will sing a song while fixing your car.
Talking to Bowazi is surprisingly easy, as he is one of those people who is so laid back that talking to him is more like catching up with an old friend. Also, the singer comes across as a timid and soft-spoken person.
Bowazi is the son of a Ugandan father and Rwandan mother, the youngest of eight children. His childhood dream was to become a singer, and he says that when he was still a kid he looked up to a man his mother used to invite to come and play the guitar.
"I really admired this guy because of the way he played, and this really made me to like music," says Joseph Bowazi.
His singing dates back to his schooldays in Uganda, when he used to take part in the school competition. His obvious talent meant that his fellow students knew that they could always count on him to represent them.
"After our Dad had left us, I began making my dream come true because it looked like this was the end of my studies," Bowazi says with a big grin on his face.
His first recorded song was Mukundwa, which praises his girlfriend. "I loved her so much, and sang the song to her on Valentines Day of 2006," he remembers.
He has so far written three other songs, which are Bakunzi b'Amahoro, Kirere and Pawenda. Among the four, he thinks Bakunzi b'Amahoro is the best, because it tells people to have few children so that they can look after them, and it exhorts youth not to take drugs but to be creative and get things to do. Also, it talks about prostitutes, asking them to stop their trade because it spoils the Rwandan culture.
Bowazi is now about to release Pawenda, which gives him a lot of satisfaction because, he says, it has not been easy for him, as he is doing everything himself.
"My mum has greatly inspired me to make my dream come true, because she never stops encouraging me to sing. I spend at least two hours every day in my room singing before I go to work in Gatsata; I do this because I want to perfect my singing."
Inspirational people
Music is what this upcoming artist loves most in life, yet according to him Rwandan music is still crawling. "We need to grow quickly if we want to be up to the competition in neighboring countries," Joseph Bowazi thinks. "When you look at Uganda, for instance, there are many people that support the music industry, which is not the case in Rwanda."
He says that most Rwandans fancy foreign music, which is very discouraging for local artists. "Rwandans should love their music, and it is up to us, the musicians, to make them love it. Some artists are only interested in making money, so they end up singing things that don't convey a message."
He points out that there are many extremely talented musicians that have nothing to envy from foreign singers, but the problem is lack of investors and promoters in the music industry.
"People like Dr Claude and Miss Jojo are very good. Or Kambale Salam, who has some new stuff and is bound to make it out there," Bowazi says.
According to him, they need inspirational people in order to make the music industry competitive - producers, writers and sponsors.
"My advice to other upcoming artists is never to rush and not to do things in a fake style because they want to rock the scene. They should take their time and compose things that are real; there are so many issues in our society that we can sing about," the singer remarks. "I believe that as singers, we can help the government to develop this nation."
"What the upcoming artists should also know is that the music industry is a real jungle where you have to learn things as you go along, and I think it is the established musicians' role to act as models," Bowazi says.
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As for life in general, the singer-mechanic thinks that we should give more value to time, saying that the best expression of love is time. "The importance of things can be measured by how much time we are willing to invest in them. The more time you give to something, the more you show its importance and value to you."
"If you want to know a person's priorities, just look at how they use their time. Time is your most precious gift, because you only have a limited amount of it - you can make more money but you cannot make more time," Bowazi elaborates his philosophy.
"When you give someone your time, you are giving them a portion of your life that you will never get back; your time is your life, therefore it is the greatest gift you can give."
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