Can you be inspired by the likes of Kofi Olomide and Elvis Presley, yet at the same time be a traditional Rwandan musician? As singer and poly-instrumentalist Patrick Gihana explained to The Rwanda Focus, it is no  problem.

What is your background?

I was born in Goma in the DRC. I play traditional music, but at the same time I am a polyvalent musician because I sing, dance, and play the drums, trumpet, guitar and keyboards.

What drove you to music?

When I was in Goma, I wasn't into traditional Rwandan music; I was doing modern music, singing at school, doing karaoke and playback. I was constantly listening to music, and people who saw me always with my earphones warned me that one day I would be deaf.

Initially, I was not confident in my talent, yet people kept on encouraging me, saying that I had a good voice. The big boost came when I was serving in the RPF army in the 90s, where I found myself surrounded by Rwandan musicians like Minani Rwema, Intore Massamba, Aimable Twahirwa, Cecile Kayirebwa and others. This led to the formation of the cultural troop Indahemuka, with which we performed in Uganda, Kenya and South Africa. We continued with the troop after the victory in 1994, and everybody continued to hone their talents.

How did your career evolve?

As I said, it seems I always had the talent but I didn't know it. So I had to be in the right environment to discover it and that, strangely enough, was the warfront. Yet I think my music has had various influences, such as my childhood in Congo and later the traditional music of Indahemuka.

But today my music is not limited to the local traditional style, I also play rock, techno, reggae and slows. For me, music has no limits, as long as you are inspired and use that inspiration to come up with something that touches people.

So in short, even though I am best known for my traditional songs such as Kiberinka, my music is a melting pot of different styles. What drives me in the first place are my feelings, rather than any professional ambition; apparently people sense that, so I got fans to share feelings with, and that in turn convinced me to approach music in a more professional way.

What are the themes of your songs?

My songs can be about anything, but I mostly sing about love, peace and reconciliation. These are things that people need every day, and as artists we want to deal with things that the public can relate to and can help them to bring harmony in their life.

Have you released any albums?

So far, I have made two albums, but I never released them as such; I did produce singles, though, which are played on televisions and radios, so sometime soon I will certainly bring out an album.

What are the main difficulties you have encountered in your career?

Just like other Rwandan singers, I find it difficult to live off my music. But I think that we musicians are very much responsible for that problem, because often we don't approach the music industry professionally.

I also think we should have more respect for ourselves and our products; for example, you will find people making a song just to have it played on the radio, but at the end of the day they go to bed with an empty stomach. So what do you gain from that?

That brings me to another thing, which is the problem of piracy. I find it very frustrating to spend money and time in the studio, only to see unknown vendors making money out of it without giving me anything. So I would suggest the police deals with these bloodsuckers, because piracy is really damaging our careers.

So how do you survive?

Well, I have a degree in marketing and management, so I am involved in some small businesses that help me to survive. Apart from that, I also teach children traditional dance and train young swimmers.