His father wanted him to become an electrical engineer, but from the tender age of five, music producer Mastola Kikene Jacques already exhibited the signs of walking a different career path – that of music production.

He learnt the craft through studio apprenticeship as a school boy growing up in Goma, in the eastern DRC, moving variously to Uganda, Dubai and Rwanda to hone his craft.

Inspired by a few Rwandan artistes and music producers, Mastola later opted for Rwanda as a base for his music production empire, writes Moses Opobo...

What were your earliest musical influences?

In the early 1990s, there came a Hip hop group called Krisss-Kross which was a big explosion on the American music scene. 

When I heard them the first time I was like wow...! This is it. My other musical influences at the time were Michael Jackson, MC Hammer, and Bobby Brown.

What did you start off doing?

I was five years old when I started to dance. All my primary school I was dancing. I was doing Hip Hop dance and some Congolese dances as well. When I was in Primary six I started to rap. When I joined secondary school we formed a music group with some friends as both rappers and dancers.

How did people at home react to this?

In S.3 I started to sing and play the guitar. That time my father used to be mad with me because he did not want me to go into music. Instead, he wanted me to study Electrical Engineering. Because it was my passion I continued to do it but also go to school.

Cracking the Rwandan market:

I first came to Rwanda in 2001 as a pianist doing mostly restaurant music in various entertainment places around Kigali. I played for one year and then went back to Goma to continue with my studio training. 

In 2003 I started to work in a studio and then briefly travelled to Kampala to further my training in music production and then returned to Congo to continue with studio work. I was working at a studio called Alpha Net and my boss was a man called Alphonse.

Then I came back to Kigali to work with my friend Sly, who is my real teacher. I came and worked with him at his studio, Kilulu 9 Production, until he left for Brussels and left the studio under my care. That was the first studio I worked for in Rwanda.

Meeting Mani Martin:

It’s at Kilulu 9 Production that I met Mani Martin as he was recording his gospel album. He had been working on the album with Aaron Tunga, but because it was taking too long to complete, I came and started working with Mani Martin on some of the projects. 

We have some chemistry between us. What I appreciate about him is his voice. He has all the emotions that I need from a singer, he has a good philosophy, and is not complicated. 

Other artistes are good as well, and I work with so many people, but from a long time ago I had special chemistry with Mani Martin.

When did you actually make a name as a producer?

It’s from Musanze, at Top 5 Sarl, a music studio based in Musanze town. I worked with Liza Kamikazi, Dr Claude, Kitoko, and several gospel artistes, including the Iriba Choir from Butare. 

When my contract with Top 5 ended I started to think big and decided to move back to Kigali. 

I worked with a friend in his studio but we soon parted ways because I felt that we were working without a vision. So I moved on and started my own studio called Vision Afro in Kacyiru. I worked with different artistes, but again the project that I feel I gave all my passion was Mani Martin’s album, My Destiny in 2012. 

After completing that album I went to Dubai to work with some Philipinos and people from the UK. 

Then I returned to Congo and begun to work with Tabu Ley’s son, Pegguy Tabu, and from him I met so many people. I worked with Koffi Olomide, and other big names like Cool Matope who is a big Congolese gospel musician. I produced six songs for Koffi Olomide, but the most popular here in Kigali is a song called Selfie. 

But when I was in Congo there was something I was missing here. Every time I travelled abroad, people always asked me if there were any musicians in Rwanda, and I always told them Rwanda has got so many talented artistes only that they are not known abroad.

I thought to myself why not come back and start my projects the way I was working before. Also, I have dreams of working with some big musicians from Tanzania and Uganda, and I feel that Rwanda is better located for that market.