ORGANISERS of the Rwanda Gospel Stars Live initiative admit they learned enough from mistakes that happened in the first edition and apologized for disappointing gospel music enthusiasts before they move on with the second edition.

Artistes were in the beginning impressed by the initiative when it was launched in May last year with hope that it not only empower them financially but to also promote and support the gospel music industry to the vast audience of the creative industry in general.

They were, however, the same artistes who criticized the organisers led by Aimbale Nzizera for disrespecting local artistes during the closing of the event’s inaugural edition in February in an event that was meant to celebrate them.

 Renowned local gospel musician Aline Gahongayire said the first edition failed to meet its purpose and was instead shaped by plenty of ‘unacceptable’ malpractices that left artistes who participated in the event disappointed.

Some of artistes that were nominated for the awards .  File photo

She, at the time, blamed organisers for the lack of respect and miscommunication towards artistes who were selected to be part of the initiative, prompting artistes and the whole panel of the jury to pull out of the contest before the D-day.

"Some artistes and members of the jury pulled out because the organisers did not do what they promised to do. The judges decided to quit after realising that what organisers were doing was not fair nor did they communicate with anyone about the changes that were going on,” Gahongayire said.

Through the initiative, organisers promised to reward cash prizes to artistes' best projects that can bring a positive impact to the community. Artistes with winning projects, including overall winner Israel Mbonyi, were announced but none of them received the cash prizes as promised.

It was also an edition that was shaped by another saga that saw gospel duo Vestine and Dorcas involved in a row with their manager Irene Mulindahabi in what was believed that the event organisers wanted to take over the duo’s management.

All these scenarios left artistes questioning the initiative which they welcomed in the first place, with many, if not all, saying that they would never be part of it in the future.

However, Aristide Gahunzire, the initiative’s event coordinator, said they need a second chance for them to succeed where they failed in the first edition.

"After looking back to where everything went wrong in the last edition, we realised that so many mistakes happened and mismanagement was at the centre of all the problems that happened. That is why we are apologizing to artistes and everyone who was affected by these mistakes,” Gahunzire said.

"But we deserve a second chance before we bring the second edition on. We really want to move on and make the second edition different. If given that chance, people will witness several positive changes. We don’t want to repeat the mistakes because we don’t want to let anyone down,” he added.

The second edition is expected in September and, before bringing it, Gahunzire said they made peace with all artistes who were involved in the first edition and agreed to afresh.

"We apologised to artists, and we are now back on good terms. We tried to sort everything before the second edition kicked off,” he said.

Some artistes who were part of the inaugural edition took the organisers’ apology as a sign of acceptance to change and are looking forward to a far better edition.

"Organisers said they deserve a second chance and we could not say ‘no’ since they admit that mistakes happened. I always believed this is a good initiative for us, artistes, and I am convinced the future is better if the initiative is well organized,” said Serge Iyamuremye.