Last Thursday saw Kigali social scene welcome another recreational spot when ‘The Art Masala’, opened shop in Kacyiru to offer classes in various arts including African contemporary dance and yoga. The house is run by locally based choreographer and dancer Alexandre Chito Lwambo and wife Nidhi Kapur.

The evening kicked off at 8 pm with Lwambo breaking into a contemporary dance routine to some African soul music after which, he gave a lecture about African contemporary dances from across Africa and some benefits of dancing as well as encouraging people to take up the art.

The crowd was a mix of people from the arts industry like contemporary dancer Wesley Ruzibiza, singers Mani Martin and Dominic Nic, models, fine artists and members of the expat community.

"As long as you can walk you can dance,” he said.

And then it was time to introduce Ezra Kwizera to perform.

Kwizera, who is a gospel dancehall artist and the man behind the ‘Narrow Road’ Enterprise, delivered a portion of Bob Marley inspired gospel music.

It took some time to set up the instruments but once he started singing, the audience was wowed. With the help of a piano and the services of a guitar, he performed Hold On, Don't Give Up and Mama Africa-songs from his album Freedom

He has a deep raspy voice associated with reggae act, and from the first song to the last he had the attention of the crowd. His sound is a mix of reggae, Soca, Afro-fusion with an influence of Bob Marley and Matisyahu, a Jewish reggae singer.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw