On October 21, Rwanda hosted the Trace Awards at the BK Arena in a glamorous ceremony where the best musicians from Africa and the world were recognised for their outstanding work in music and art.

Some of Africa’s biggest stars, including Davido and Rema, scored big while Diamond Platnumz and 49 other artistes graced the stage of the awards that were watched by millions of people from across the world.

The Trace Awards and Music Festival were considered a huge success, with Rwanda taking credit for the annual showbiz event which was hosted on the African continent for the first time in history.

In an interview with The New Times in the aftermath of the awards, Olivier Laouchez, Co-founder and Chairman of Trace, praised Rwanda for hosting a successful edition of the awards, pointing out that the outcome exceeded their expectations, regardless of few glitches that surfaced.

Overall, Laouchez believes the ceremony in Rwanda impressed in many ways and left behind incredible memories not just for the organisers but also the participating artistes and viewers.

"We were incredibly happy with the outcome of the Trace Awards. It was an incredible event and truly demonstrated the artistry, talent and power of African and Afro-origin artistes around the globe,” Laouchez said.

The renowned entrepreneur and television mogul said hosting the global event in Kigali was an ambitious effort, given the logistical requirements, but thanks to partnerships with the Government of Rwanda, the event was delivered.

"It was an ambitious project to start with but over time it grew and grew. Our initial idea was a 2-2.5 hour show but it grew to be a 4-hour live show with nearly 50 artistes.

"We had a few minor technical issues during the live show, predominantly sound issues. We also had some logistical issues moving artistes around on the ground in Rwanda — but that is to be expected when you have 50+ artistes with big entourages,” he said, as he gave his take on how the event in Kigali went.

He pointed out that they would have loved to introduce more artistes to the tourism highlights of Rwanda, but that is something they will definitely integrate if the event comes back to Rwanda.

Regarding the music festival which was supposed to draw in many people, Laouchez said organising festival-like events for the general public did not happen but that was mainly because they focused on the awards.

"I think we were so concentrated on the Trace Awards that we didn’t have quite enough time to spend on the Trace Festival, and we are looking at ways to ensure that the Trace Festival has the same energy and impact as the Awards in future,” he observed.

Lessons learnt, a brighter future

Apart from the few glitches, Laouchez said some of these unforeseen challenges were expected, but in terms of takeaways, the event was generally successful and there is more to come for the future.

"Taken as a whole, the event went really well. I am a perfectionist and it’s rare that you are 100 per cent satisfied, but I think we came very close.

"Naturally, as our first event in Rwanda, we had a steep learning curve but Trace has experience of these kind of large-scale events, and we found able partners in Rwanda at RDB, RBA, BK Arena, RwandAir, Kiss FM, MTN, DStv, Canal+, VW Move and many others,” he pointed out.

Planning an event of that magnitude and size, the first of its kind on the continent, takes a bit of meticulous and early planning and that is one of the lessons Laouchez said they learned and will fix.

"I think we have learned to start planning and activation earlier, and to work even more closely with partners and local actors such as RDB to leverage their local expertise and networks,” he said.

Laouchez said that above all, Rwandan artistes benefited greatly from the platform the awards gave them, with the likes of Bruce Melodie winning an award as the best Rwandan artiste.

Artistes including Bwiza, Ish Kevin, Kivumbi King, Angell, Mike Makembe and others got their opportunity to shine on the stage during the pre-awards show as well as red carpet moments.

Laouchez said he hopes Rwandan artistes take advantage of the exposure and connections they got to advance their work.

"I hope that all the Rwandan artistes involved in the Trace Awards and Festival benefited from their association with the project, whether they were nominees, performers, or participants in the festival workshop events.

"We made every effort to create situations and scenarios to give the Rwandan music industry the opportunity to network and connect with the many artists who were here,” Laouchez told The New Times.

He said they deliberately created many different touch points — the Awards, Festival, and even a songwriting boot camp where Rwandan and international artistes could come together to collaborate, share experiences and build relationships.

"We hope that those relationships will continue to flourish and grow,” he said, adding that beyond that, Rwanda benefited in many ways — from inward investment thanks to the expenditure that Trace and its guests and stakeholders made.

From hotels, airlines, transport, venues, tourism experiences and so on, the host country benefited a great deal, including leveraging Trace’s global reach to share news of Rwandan creativity and music to 500 million people around the world via TV, and many more via social media, media coverage and more.

"Rwandan artistes have had the opportunity to perform alongside the biggest Africa and Afro-origin artistes in the world and opened the eyes of the world to Rwandan talent,” he said.

Laouchez said their ambition is to make the awards an annual event, which would make the next one due in 2024 but they are still working on the plans for the next awards soon.

"We hope to be able to reveal our plans about the 2024 event very shortly,” he said, without putting dates to the next edition or venue.

Meeting the President sealed it

Laouchez said the artistes and organisers meeting President Paul Kagame on October 22 capped what was a wonderful event in Rwanda and it affirmed the commitment of the Government of Rwanda to support the arts.

"It was a huge honour for Trace, the winners and myself personally to meet President Kagame.

"There can be no better endorsement that Rwanda felt the impact and value of the Trace Awards from the youngest music fans to the peak of government. It was the most amazing conclusion to an extraordinary week for Trace in Rwanda,” Laouchez said.

The awards in Kigali saw Davido take home the prizes for Best Male Artiste, and shared Best Collaboration with South Africa’s Musa Keys for "Unavailable” while Rema took home the Global African Artiste award, and Song of the Year with "Calm Down”.

"Love Damini” by Burna Boy emerged Best Album and Vivian Chidid received the award for Best Female Artiste. The Best Artiste – East Africa was carried home by Diamond Platnumz, among other winners.

Launched in 2003, Trace is the first multimedia and digital platform solely devoted to Afro-urban music and cultures, as well as the success of young people and artistes.

Trace’s mission is to "Entertain and Empower Our People”, and reaches more than 350 million people in 180 countries.