Producer Dany Beats is increasingly becoming a household name in Rwanda’s music industry as songs on which he had a touch continue to feature local media’s request lines.

The 24-year-old producer, real name Daniel Izere, may be a high school graduate in electricity, but his mind became fully focused on music production as a profession in 2014 shortly after he completed his studies at ADB Nyarutarama.

Born in Gatsata, Gasabo District, Dany Beats’ dream to become a producer came at a tender age when he was senior one student at Lycee de Kigali.

He told The New Times that he never imagined he would end up in music production, as a young boy who liked to discover many things through reading books, until a Canada-based cousin brought him a computer installed with a software used to make musical beats.

"Honestly, I was not sure of what to use the computer and I started to explore the software. The more I explored the software, the more I discovered something new that could help me improve the quality of the beats I used to produce. Since then, my mind was focussed on music production,” The producer said in an interview.

Dany Beats kept his hands on the computer keyboard learning different creative tips in music production from his fellow producers of his generation, including Made Beats and Chryso, among others, until he completed his high school studies in 2014, where he immediately ventured into music production as a profession.

Since he graduated from high school, Dany Beats started to produce songs from upcoming artistes. The majority of the songs ended up flopping until he made a song called ‘Empty House’ for Weya Viatora which went on to be played on Voice of America.

"I was so excited when I heard that Weya’s song on Voice of America because it was my production. It really boosted my confidence that I can do great things if I carry on,” he said.

Since he became a professional music producer, Dany Beats has been working with a number of upcoming artistes including K1vumbi K1ng, Rita Ange Kagaju, Amalon, Sintex, Kevin Skaa, Mike Kayihura, Bushali, Gisa cy’Inganzo and Angel Mutoni among others.

 According to the producer, Sintex’s song "Twifunze” as well as "Ku Gasima” and "Niyibizi” by Bushali are among the songs that pushed his name to another level.

The ‘Guma Mu Rugo Challenge’

Dany Beats is the man behind ‘Guma Mu Rugo Challenge’, the rap video challenge that has been trending on social media over the past week as a platform to raise awareness among Rwandans to stay home as one of efficient ways to prevent the spread of Coronavirus pandemic.

He said the idea to launch the challenge was intended to not only keep people stay entertained while at home but to also remind them stay home to efficiently stop the virus from spreading.

"As a producer, I realized bringing up the challenge would contribute to the government’s ongoing efforts to stop the virus from spreading among the communities,”

"I was so excited to see people supporting and contributing to the challenge which I think is playing a role in encouraging Rwandans to join the good cause and stick to the government’s rules so we can go back to our businesses,” he said.

The producer said the challenge was specifically initiated in a rap style to give a platform to young talents interested in Hip-hop music to show what they are capable of by expressing themselves through the campaign.

"The videos I received so far have proved to me how talented young Rwandans are in music, especially Hip-hop. I want, when the lockdown closes, to reach out the most outstanding talents and bring them together so we can do bigger thing together because I am a person who likes to nurture one’s talent to the best,” he said.

Rappers K8 Kavuyo, Prime Mazimpaka, Ama G The Black, Jay Pac and K1vumbi K1ng are among over 200 people who participated in the challenge.

Coping with lockdown

The music industry is among businesses which have been affected by the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic after the government suspended all concerts and other gatherings in March to stop the pandemic from spreading. Since then, the business has never been the same.

The nation has been on the lockdown for over the past month and artistes are unable to reach the studios to work on their music projects as usual.

Dany Beats during an interview with The New Times, at his home in Kacyiru.

Dany Beats says this has, as a result, affected his business as well because he can’t meet artistes so they can plan together on how best they can work on their projects.

"It’s a tough period for me because artistes can’t reach out to me so we can record music and the lockdown has put many of our projects on hold. What I do now when an artiste wants to record a song, I send him/her a beat so s/he record their song alongside the beat. After recording, they send me back a recorded song then I mix the record with the beat,” he said.

Through the new strategy, Izere has so far recorded two songs, including rapper Mike Kayihura’s ‘Ice V’, a rap tribute song to DJ Miller and ‘Sabrina’, a new song which singer K1vumbi K1ng is set to release on Friday.

Future plans

Dany Beats said he plans to venture into music management after years of helping young artistes in promoting and nurturing their talents in music and introducing them to the music industry.

"I want to establish a music label that helps artistes. Actually, I help young artistes but I want to do it in a well-structured manner,” he revealed.