KIGALI, 2022 BRING ON THE MUSIC minus the DRAMA!!
2021 was a great year despite the pandemic still lingering certain restricting activities, yet Concerts were the trending topic in Kigali in November & December – read the full scope here!
The death of one of the music legends, Jay Polly real name Joshua Tuyishime, motioned forth the Hip Hop Genre in Rwanda’s music industry. His death shocked the city as this was completely unexpected; the 33-year-old artist was rushed to hospital on 30 August 2021, where he departed this physical plane. Notable mentions of his songs are: ‘Deux fois deux’ “two times two”, ‘Ndacyariho’ “am still alive”, ‘Party hard’ and further titles.
New Year, New You and New Us seemed to be the motto until things turned sour for both Musical Artists Juno Kizigenza and Ariel Wayz. The two had been suggested to have gotten extremely close and may have been foreshadowed in their first collaboration, titled’ Away’ later releasing ‘Birenze’ loosely translated “extremely” stating in the lyrics. “Ndagukunda birenze” ‘I love you extremely’. The song can be seen as a declaration of Juno’s feelings towards Ariel. She is featured as his love interest in the video, sharing intimate moments. Soon after, images appeared across all socials showing the couple loved up.
Now the drama has kicked off, gloves are off, and nothing is left off the table between Ariel Wayz and Juno Kizigenza; they seem to have broken up, as Juno posted on his Instagram story “single again”, and Ariel also tweeted on her page “the disappointment never stops!! I thought this one was different, but I guess I was wrong”. These posts were followed by a series of dramatic acts like Juno publicly posting Ariel’s phone number, retaliating by Ariel’s exposed screenshots of their Whatsapp chats (See below). She reprimanded Juno for being in Gisenyi during festive seasons with his ex-girlfriend. Since then, they both deleted pictures of each other & together from their Instagram pages and unfollowed each other, indicating there is no reconciliation yet. Some people claim that all this was orchestrated set-up for the artists to remain a trending topic going into the year 2022.
IG: @ariel_wayz, @junokizigenza
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWGNHWRORX0
Apart from the romance disputes, many artists released their EPs for our ears to be massaged this 2022. Ariel Wayz released her first EP that she, named “Love & Lust”, which features six songs, including ’10 Days’ in which she is pursuing her love interest, a woman. Suggesting her dating preferences, some speculated that this was part of the reason the young couple broke it off.
IG: @ariel_wayz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ4icgrFHZ0
Papa cyangwe, the hip-pop artist, also released his first EP ‘Sitaki’ “I don’t want”, containing five songs featuring artists like Chriss Eazy, Bushali, Yannick MYK and others; two of his songs’ Kanjenje’ and ‘Aho’ were produced by a fresh producer Kozze who signed in the same studio ‘Country Records’ as the youngest and hottest trending producer in Rwanda’ Eleeeh’ Element.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYwaFn-Ziic
In late December, Nel Ngabo released his album ‘RnB 360’, which is packed with relatable songs such as ‘Mutuale’ meaning “take her”, featuring one and only Bruce Melody. This song depicts the concept of “Bro’s before…” you know the rest. Two male friends fight over a woman until one finally surrenders and states, ‘you are my brother; we shouldn’t be fighting over a girl. This song has various melodic flavours, sang in Lingala (Congolese), French and Kinyarwanda, giving us a Fally Ipupa vibe to which your hips start rotating in motion, like lotion.
This can be unanimously identified by the YouTube comments, with one, Patrick Mugisha commenting, “the only bad thing about this song is that it ends”, and it just hit 1.1 million views with the skit at the beginning serving as light-hearted entertainment.
IG: @nelngabo, @brucemelodie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVRuYBorq6A
The singles that have been buzzing in Kigali; include ‘Agafoto’ “a picture” aka ’a Lil picture’ by a multi-talented journalist, MC, DJ and artist Phil Peter. ‘Ese nyifate mpagaze? Ese nyifate nicaye? Ese nyifate nsutamye? Cg nunamye?’ “Do I have to take it while standing? Do I have to take it while sitting? Do I have to take while squatting? Or I bend over?” this song is a whole vibe, with all the club lighting and the flowing liquor bottles in the music video shot at one of the poshest areas in Kigali, known as Vision city residency, the affluent and wealthy. Phil Peter’s song features Fireman, P Fla, Aime Bluestone, and Marina, making this their second successful collab. Let’s trust a Juno & Ariel situation does not repeat itself! All jokes aside, their collab seems always an extreme hit, so we are indeed grateful to have this one serenading us into 2022. Also, on his track ‘Bimpame’, “let me be guilty”, the new dynamic duo set the Rwandan music scene ablaze.
IG: @philpeter250, @marinadeborah_official,
@pfla_official, @fireman_vayo, @aimebluestone_official
KIGALI, 2022 BRING ON THE MUSIC minus the DRAMA!!
Lastly, stay up to date with all you need to know about African music at SOA, right here.
