He is one of the most outstanding videographers in Rwanda, with his name etched on most modern Rwandan music videos you can think of, alongside Bernard Bagenzi.

But Meddy Saleh cuts such a humble figure, you wouldn’t think he is the same person behind some of the most popular music videos we watch on a daily basis.

From the way he speaks to his meek demeanor, Meddy Saleh is the epitome of people who can be described as ‘calm and collected’.

One would imagine that his works, which have earned him celebrity status, have made him inaccessible, given his schedule, since he is one of the most sought-after videographers in Rwanda but from the look of things, the 41-year-old has not let it get to his head.

What is more fascinating about this is that he actually did not do any courses in videography -it is all in the love for video as a form of art.

"It is something I used to like since I was a child. I even used to lie that I'm sick so that I don't go to school so that we can stay home watching movies and stuff like that,” says Saleh in an interview with The New Times.

"I learned by myself. When I went to Tanzania, I met a friend who was from Burundi. He was living in Tanzania and he was filming at weddings and from there, I started to like videography,” Saleh recalls.

The filmmaker who was born in Gahini, Eastern Province, lived his life between Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Tanzania.

He spent his childhood studying in Goma, DRC during the day and returning to Gisenyi, where he lived in the evening. In 1994, his family moved to Kinshasa for three years, but later his mother moved to Tanzania and he also relocated to join her.

He returned to Rwanda in 2002 and met Eric Kabera, the organiser of Rwanda Film Festival and founder of Rwanda Cinema Centre. Kabera saw him show a friend something he shot in Tanzania, and it caught his eye.

"When he came into the cybercafe and he saw what I did, he just told me to come and so we could talk and see if we could do something together,” he recalls.

Driven by passion

For Meddy Saleh, videography is something you need to do as a passion if you want to do it well. It is much more than setting up a camera and shooting. One has to use their artistic skills to be successful at it.

"First of all, it has to be a passion. You have to love what you do. Sometimes people think that videography is all about knowing how to shoot, take a picture and you just get money,” says Saleh.

For him, it wasn’t even about the money. In fact, when he started off, he worked for free in cases where artistes he worked with didn’t have the money. He fell in love with the idea of art, and he would propose to work on their projects for free.

He also continued to improve his skills by watching what other professionals in the craft do on YouTube. His big break came in 2005 when he was selected to take part in the Maisha Film Festival in Uganda, a videographer or short film producer.

It was during the seminars at Maisha that he met the now globally famous Lupita Nyong’o and did a short film for her. Although she was yet to hit the big screen at the time. When he looks back, he thinks that was his biggest project.

His other big projects include film documentaries for the African Development Bank (AfDB) and for Transform Africa Summit, among others.

Challenging industry

Despite making a name as one of the biggest photographers, the journey has not been without any challenges.

"Sometimes people don't understand what we do and they think it's an easy job to do. They don't understand that we spend time filming, we spend time editing, we spend nights,” Saleh says, adding that it is for the same reason people don’t understand the value of what they do.

"I don’t think people give the real value of what we do,” Saleh says, adding, however, that the perception is improving because people now no longer go to South Africa or Kenya when they have big projects, as was the case before.

When it comes to working with artistes, Saleh says most times he has to come up with the whole idea or concept. If he is lucky, an artiste will come up with an idea and all he will need is to add value, but mostly he starts from scratch.

He enjoys working with artistes who are creative and can come up with ideas because it makes his work easier.

When an artiste comes with a storyline or storyboard, he will use a shorter time to get it done as opposed to when he has to improvise. He however believes that the future of videography in Rwanda is bright.

"The future is bright because for now there are many videographers and they're doing well,” Saleh observed, ably saying that currently, Rwanda ranks better among East African countries.

The filmmaker believes that if Rwandan videographers got the support they need from the government and the media, they would do even better and be recognised beyond Rwanda.

Saleh also said that the work of videographers directly promotes the image of the country, citing Tanzania as one of the countries where videographers are established and as a result their industry has grown.

Like many industries, Saleh said the visual industry, which is still growing, was hit hard by the Covid-19 outbreak.

"In the beginning, it was not easy, but now we have had to cope with the situation and we are now slowly picking up.

He has worked with several artistes including Yvan Buravan, who he used to manage, Knowless Butera, Bruce Melodie, Meddy, The Ben and many others. Among the popular songs he has worked on are ‘We don’t care’ by Meddy and Rayvanny and ‘Thank you’ by Tom Close and The Ben.

Outside Rwanda, he has worked with artistes in DR Congo including ‘Prix Decouvertes’ winner Celine Mbanza, Stino, Gaz Mawete and Cappuccino, among others.

He is currently working on a project (which he couldn’t name), for Bruce Melodie and another one for the Goma-based singer Stino.

Co-parenting

On social media platforms, he is known as a doting father, always involved in the raising of his two daughters who he co-parents with his ex-wife, popular socialite Shadia Mbabazi, commonly known as Shaddy Boo.

Despite parting ways, the couple continues to co-exist, at one point even appearing in Yvan Buravan’s video together, leading to speculation that they could get back together.

"Right now, I'm single. I have no issues with my children’s mother. We understand each other and yeah, it's very easy,” he says when asked about co-parenting, adding that he relates to his children in a manner that makes them ‘Daddy's girls’.

Meddy Saleh has six other siblings – three girls and four boys. He pursued his studies in Goma and Kinshasa before dropping out to focus on his passion.