Rwanda's Young Artists Going Back to Their Roots

19 September 2024
Afropop Worldwide (New York)
By Giselle Musabimana

Banner image: Kenny Mirasano performing during his concert True Mutu at L'Espace on December 9. Photo from © The New Times Rwanda

Rwanda is not often mentioned among those countries currently driving the global momentum of pan-African musics, but the East African nation's contemporary music scene has been particularly vibrant in recent years. Rwanda is witnessing a growing emergence of young artists who are redefining modern music-making by drawing on their country's traditional music heritage.

The revival of traditional customs in Rwanda fits into an overarching process of re-appropriation of home-grown practices, repurposed for the nation's rebuilding efforts after the devastating 1994 genocide against the Tutsis.[1] The genocide also brought about significant cultural losses. Prior to that time, various music ensembles, known as orchestres, shaped what is now considered modern Rwandan folklore, commonly called Karahanyuze.[2] This genre is characterized by a blend of folk music, Kinyarwanda poetry, as well as influences from Congolese rumba and West African highlife. Many orchestres were torn apart by the genocide, which also claimed the lives of numerous musicians and artists. These included André Sebanani, frontman of the popular Orchestre Impala de Kigali; Cyprien Rugamba, leader of Amasimbi n'Amakombe; and one of Rwanda's most acclaimed artists of the time, and Rodrigue Karemera, whose song "Ubalijoro" continues to captivate multiple generations in Rwanda and its diaspora.

Michael Makembe, a 26-year-old sound archivist, artist and producer, had little interest in Rwandan folk traditions while growing up. Like many of his generation, he was more into hip-hop, R&B, and other foreign genres[3]. After studying at the renowned Nyundo Music School, the young producer began experimenting with sampling and combining gakondo traditional Rwandan music with modern beats. Back in 2018, he set out on a journey to retrieve and record chants, vocals and instruments from across Rwanda, traveling into the most remote rural areas, with the ambitious goal of creating an audio museum "to keep Rwandan music alive." This quest evolved into Sounds of Rwanda,[4 a project through which Makembe hopes to thoroughly archive this musical and vocal collection, empower local indigenous talents and inspire Rwandan generations to (re-)connect with and appreciate their own cultural heritage.

Makembe is one of the artists leading a true revolution in Rwanda's music industry, with more andmore musicians incorporating their musical heritage into modern creations. They fuse urban music, including Afrobeats, with traditional instruments like the inanga zither, the ikembe lamellophone, the ingoma drums or simply with hand-clapping and foot thumps for rhythmic emphasis. They often combine multiple languages - English, Kiswahili, French - while keeping Kinyarwanda at the core.

What is interesting in this growing movement is the mosaic of voices framing multi-facetted ways of making Rwandan music. Kaya Byinshii is among these up-and-coming artists, whose raspy, full-bodied voice truly marks her place. She debuted in 2020 with her first EP Nyabinshi, which she called a tribute to Rwandan spirituality. Kaya defines her music as a fusion of urban blues melodies, interwoven with traditional music instruments. In 2022, she released her first studio album, Ukwiyuburura, which translates as "the skin peeling off a snake," symbolizes a continuous process of rebirth.[5] Her powerful single "Be. Li. Eve" plays with biblical allegories to explore the theme of spiritual faith and belief in one's life path in the face of adversity.

There are some artists who advocate for a sort of "purity," like the young inanga player Deo Munyakazi, who advocates for preserving "the real roots" of Rwandan culture in spite of the pervasive popularity of genres hip-hop or trap music.[6] Since his debut album in 2019, Isoko Dusangyie, meaning "Our Common Source," he has gained worldwide popularity. While preferring to stick to a Rwandan flair, however, he does not shy away from engaging with modern instruments to accompany the inanga. He has recently collaborated in cross-cultural projects in Canada, blending Rwandan sounds with diverse global musical influences.

Another singer intertwining traditions within his music creations is Kenny Mirasano, a novelty in the Rwandan music scene and one that leaves a lasting impression. Mirasano won everyone over with his EP, Umuntu (Human), which he will release as his debut album in early 2025. His lyricism lets him delve into the intricate facets of life, including questions of spirituality, life and death, and celebrating music as a place of healing. Kenny's artistic vision embraces diverse musical styles, aiming to honor indigenous genres he believes have been long forgotten in Rwanda. In an interview with the New Times of Rwanda, he says, "Most people do not know that Rwandan culture houses many styles of music. My music aims to explore them."[7]

Boukuru is another exceptionally talented young voice from Rwanda. She discovered her love of singing when she was "wise enough to make a sentence."[8] Her soul-stirring vocals recall the elegant and immersive sounds of the umushagiriro repertoire, the traditional dance style hailing from the Rwandan royal court, characterized by a slow tempo and extremely refined movements. In 2020, she released her song Indamu, a Kinyarwanda ballad, and has since collaborated on various projects, including the Afropop/Afrobeats EP Flyest Vibes with music producer Eric Aimé Nsengumuremyi in 2022. In the summer of 2023, she released Silence, a soulful, jazzy ballad as her first single.

At the other side of the spectrum, a burgeoning trap wave has been brewing in Kigali, KinyaTrap. It merges trap, grime, drill and Afropop sounds and appears to also touch on kwivuga, Rwandan oral storytelling tradition performed at large gatherings.[9] Bushali, B-Threy and Ish Kevin are some of the names pioneering in this scene. But there are other projects seeking to boldly re-define and broaden the boundaries of Rwandan music.

One such project is ABUTAZI,[10] a collaboration between inanga player Nkubana J. Patient and rapper Makare Fox. The project title roughly translates as "the ones you don't know." This project brings together the traditional sound of the Rwandan inanga with hip-hop. Although the duo has just begun, Nkubana has carved out a significant space in Kigali's cultural scene, while Makare Fox has already gained popularity featuring with hip-hop artists, including Dany Beats on the song "WAPi." This collaboration is particularly intriguing because it represents a unique encounter between two seemingly opposing worlds, the legacy of a culture preserved primarily by older generations, and the contemporary world embraced by young people for its expressive possibilities that extend beyond conventional boundaries.

This revival of old cultural customs can be found among Kigali's urban youth, and it is spreading across various cultural circles. Visiting the capital's cultural and creative spaces, one notices a meticulous attention to detail in incorporating traditional Rwandan elements, from wearing Imigongo-patterned clothing to carrying Amasunzu hairstyles. The need to preserve old customs tends to encourage drawing from one's own roots rather than "copying from the outside." The emergence of this youthful, energetic and vibrant generation of Rwandan artists, briefly outlined here, deserves more attention to note the various impacts and trajectories this movement may follow.

Videos / Pictures References

  • Michael Makembe - Musical Performance: Bene Berhu © Sounds/Music Owned by Sounds of Rwanda
  • Kaya Byinshii - Be. Li. Eve Offcial Video © Kaya Byinshii
  • Deo Munyakazi - Les Coulisses de la Résidence Constellation De Cordes © Videomaker : Emma Bouchez, Mai 2023, Montréal, Centre des musiciens du Monde.
  • Boukuru Music - Indamu © Boukuru

References and further readings

  • Jean-Baptiste Nkulikiyinka Introduction à la danse rwandaise traditionnelle, Tervuren by Musée royal de l'Afrique Centrale (2002)

PAM (Rika Mpogazi) Kinyatrap: the gritty soundtrack of Kigali's new rap generation (2022, March 25) https://pan-african-music.com/en/kinyatrap-kigali-rap/

[1] These initiatives have been called Home Grown Solutions (HGS). Read more about HGS on rwandapedia.rw.

[2] Karahanyuze refers to Rwandan old-school/ folklore music that was popular between the 1970s and 1990s. Karahanyuze.com is a digital archive of Rwandan Karahanyuze. It assembles both popular modern music of the time made by Rwandan orchestres, as well as chants falling into the imbyino repertoire (genre of chants "that encourage dancing") made by Rwandan traditional dance groups (amatorero)

[3] The Guardian (Johnson, S) 'That's Africa, man': how a young musician captured the music of Rwanda (2023, January 27) http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/jan/20/how-michael-makembe-captured-the-music-of-rwanda

[4] More on Sounds of Rwanda Project by Michael Makembe https://www.michaelmakembe.com/copy-of-bio

[5] FRANCE 24 English. From Kigali to the world: Kaya Byinshii's regenerative sound · FRANCE 24 English (2022, October 27) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXYgbPrlkJs

[6] Bandcamp (Jared Proudfoot) Six Artists Bridging Past and Present in Rwandan Music (2020, March 02) https://daily.bandcamp.com/scene-report/rwanda-music-list

[7] Patrick Nzabonimpa, Rising artiste Kenny Mirasano on exploring cultural Rwandan music styles (Dec 12, 2022) https://www.newtimes.co.rw/article/3539/entertainment/music/rising-artiste-kenny-mirasano-on-exploring-cultural-rwandan-music-styles

[8] The New Times Rwanda, New Artiste Bukuru Christiane with her new song "Indamu" (2020, September 3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OMeZOLFuZw

[9] PAM (Rika Mpogazi) Kinyatrap: the gritty soundtrack of Kigali's new rap generation (2022, March 25) https://pan-african-music.com/en/kinyatrap-kigali-rap/

[10] On instagram - @abutaiduet;

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