Rwanda gets new monthly traditional music event

Event organiser and musician Victor Rukotana told a local publication that Gakondo Music Gala would be held at the end of every month to celebrate traditional musicians and raise awareness about cultural values through traditional music.

“Traditional music events are getting rarely organised these days,” he said. “But by organising this we think this would be a huge boost to our culture while we expect new talent to be discovered through this platform. We want to create a vibrant atmosphere among our audience and our aim is to showcase that traditional music is alive.”

Rukotana said the event would also provide a platform for secular musicians, comedians and poets to showcase their work.

The 22 June event will feature Rukotana, Audia Intore, Paccy Nyirantwari and R&B singer Peace Jolis.

Inanga player Deo Munyakazi told Music In Africa that the event would motivate young musicians such as himself to popularise Rwandan traditional music, which was not receiving enough support from the local media.

“The promotion of our music remains a difficult problem as the politics around it is not established,” he said. "If there is no platform to showcase our traditional culture then we will have no successors and will not be able to obtain cultural recognition from other countries. We need to save the music of our ancestors and I believe that with Gakondo Music Gala we're on the right track.”

Munyakazi said local musicians needed to take pride in Rwandan culture and traditional music.

“Our traditional music is very much loved abroad because of the inanga, which can be played alongside instruments like the saxophone to produce good music without adopting a totally new sound from another country,” he said.