In collaboration with The University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) and Hamwe Festival, Rwanda Cultural Heritage Academy has organised an exhibition that will allow Rwandans to listen and use the 4,000 sounds and songs recorded during the colonial period that were handed over by Belgium last year.

The archival exhibition launch, according to Rwanda Cultural Heritage Academy is scheduled to take place in November this year, where different Rwandans including musicians will be able to listen and sample some of the songs and sounds.

The sounds and songs were all recorded during the colonial period and taken between the 1950s and 2000’s. These archives were conserved by the Royal Museum of Central Africa before they were returned to Rwanda on a disc.

Talking to this publication, Vivaldi Ngenzi, Rwanda Art Museum manager, said that the decision to showcase the handed over songs and sounds is to help Rwandans access them and mainly help musicians by giving them ideas and introduction to the origins of their traditional music.

"We are collaborating with UGHE and Hamwe Festival to curate an exhibition about the songs. The exhibition launch is scheduled to happen in November,” he said.

Prior to the archival exhibition, Ngenzi noted that different workshops in collaboration with some experts will be held to discuss the importance of access to musical archives dating from pre-colonial times to the present day.

The first workshop is scheduled to take place this Thursday, May 5, at Institut Français with a panel discussion that will analyse and understand the Rwandan Music Archives.

Macheal Makembe, one of the best music producers who is best known for mixing traditional sounds with modern sounds will also be part of the discussions that will take place in the workshop.

The handover of the archives last year was welcomed by different Rwandan musicians who noted that it’s an addition that will uplift creativity in Rwanda.