RAW Music hosts capacity-building seminar for women in Kigali

The three-day symposium was run under the theme, Creating Self-Sustained Music Careers for Women in Rwanda, and sought to strengthen the capacity of women in music. The project was led by RAW Music founder, singer and composer Teta Diana who has been based in Sweden. It was funded by the Swedish Institut as part of its Creative Force initiative, and featured presentations, discussions and knowledge exchange between the participants.

The seminar banded together more than 20 musicians at the venue, with their Swedish counterparts joining the session virtually. The participants included a diverse range of musicians from various genres across hip hop, R&B, reggaeton and gospel.

The sessions tackled issues such as challenges women face in the industry, freelancing, music distribution, gender equality, digital tools and music production, among others.

Teta Diana told Music In Africa that her experiences in the male-dominated music industry in both Rwanda and Sweden, had led to discussions between her artist organisation and Rwandan creative industry players, which resulted in the development of the seminar.

Speaking on her experiences from the seminar, DJ and journalist Anitha Pendo said: “I’ve learned a lot from different people; from Sweden and our local legends. Connecting with people, I've learnt that our challenges are the same. As a DJ and journalist, I’m still struggling to make people accept our talent in society without judging us.”

“The first thing we need to be able to do is to come together, and this seminar has proven that it’s possible,” singer Liza Kamikazi said. “We have learnt so much. We enjoyed each other’s company and I feel like not walking in that journey alone is one of the steps we can go forward with.”

Other participants such as Aline Gahongayire said the seminar was a demonstration that “it is possible to do something as women in this industry”.