Veteran Afrobeat musician Mako Nikoshwa will soon release a single titled Melina which digs deep into what is ailing the modern institution of marriage.

In an exclusive interview with The New Times at his home in Kacyiru, Nikoshwa said that today’s generation is unwilling to spend more time on their spouses, but instead invest their emotions on outsiders.

"This song is urging people to rekindle the old-time norms and attitude where marriage was a very respected institution. It’s a song celebrating the value of love in marriage. Chivalry was synonymous with the knights of the old who could even lay their lives in battles to protect the women they loved. However, modern marriage has lost its value because people no longer value the institution, which they take as a status symbol rather than something they should defend to the hilt,” he says.

He says that the song, which was produced three weeks ago, reclaims the value of lost family love and real commitment in marriage.

"It was quite simple to love your wife by acknowledging her important position and value in a relationship, something the current generation are not doing because of changing circumstances in the world. Real love in marriage has taken a thorough beating from this highly commercialised world,” he laments.

Nikoshwa is popular for his hit songs like Bonne Anne, released in 2004, and Kunda Kuragira, Ngutegezaho and Gakoni k’Aabakobwa.

Nikoshwa, who has been ailing for a while, says that the song is also a tribute to his legions of fans who have stood by him throughout the period he has been sick, adding that the fans have given him strength to move on with what he knows best; music.

Nikoshwa was admitted to CHUK hospital last year for four months.