Rwanda’s music industry is expected to reap big from the Trace Awards and Festival which will be hosted in Kigali in October at the BK Arena, with local artistes already looking to tap into the partnership.

On June 1, the global music powerhouse and Afro-music tastemaker, Trace, partnered with Visit Rwanda—the country’s marketing and tourism initiative—announced the first edition of the Trace Awards and Festival, celebrating the creativity of African and Afro-inspired music and culture around the world.

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The awards and festival, which will focus a global spotlight on musicians, creators, entrepreneurs, and achievers from across Africa and the African diaspora, will take place from October 20-21, organised by QA Venue Solutions Rwanda, the venue management company of BK Arena.

Stakeholders in the music industry have welcomed the partnership, saying that it will offer Rwandans an opportunity to take their music across the continent and provide them with a larger platform to perform and collaborate with other artistes.

Jacques ‘Mighty Popo’ Murigande, Principal Director at Rwanda School of Creative Arts and Music, and founder of KigaliUp Music Festival said that it is "a beautiful thing” to have the Trace Awards and Festival coming to Rwanda.

"If it is done well, we may see the fruits of its labour helping our local artistes significantly. In fact, it is not only the music scene that will benefit but we will also have tourists coming in.

"We are expecting many people coming from all places and amongst those, travellers, hopefully, we will have representatives of record labels and all kinds of people that can help the local music industry,” Mighty Popo told The New Times.

He pointed out that, in terms of Rwandan artistes collaborating with other artistes from around the world, such a platform would give local artistes an opportunity to meet their peers and work on collaborative projects.

He, however, said that what is needed more is not to see local artistes pushing for collaborations with established artistes, but rather for the local music industry to be grown to a level where international artistes can also seek collaborations with Rwandan musicians.

Mighty Popo hopes that the Trace Awards and Festival will give Rwandan artistes priority on the stage because they are ready and talented—all they need is a platform.

As hosts, Mighty Popo believes there should be more Rwandan artistes on stage than foreigners, as this is one of the few opportunities to give local artistes international exposure.

Singer Emerance Bwiza, known by her stage name Bwiza, said the Trace Awards and Festival will give artistes a huge platform to explore their potential and collaborate with others across the continent.

"It is a big thing for artistes. It’s a big platform. I was like I have to work hard so that I appear on this stage, maybe I will perform. This is the time for artistes from Rwanda to show people from around the world that we are able to do music and we have good music,” Bwiza said.

The event will consist of a three-hour live televised spectacular music ceremony on October 21, preceded by a two-day cultural festival (on October 19-20), designed to entertain and empower music creators and fans.

It will also feature performances from the biggest African and Afro-descent artistes in the world with about 7,500 music fans, musicians, opinion formers, style-setters and influencers from Africa and around the globe.

Bwiza, who attended the press conference said that she is more than ready to be part of the festival and awards and that she considers it an opportunity to showcase her capabilities.

"Previously we didn’t have these opportunities to perform on those big stages or even to attend big events but now they’ve brought it here.

"We are so ready and we can’t wait to show Africa and the whole world what we have for them,” Bwiza said, adding that it will be a good opportunity to meet and mingle with big artistes from across the continent.

She would love to meet her favourite artistes such as Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage, Yemi Alade and other big artistes from across Africa who inspire her.

Pressure to do more

Bwiza said that for Rwandan artists to take advantage of the opportunities they are being given, they need to work hard and meet the expectations of a larger market.

"Definitely, this will put us under pressure to do big things to be at that level, like the Nigerian artistes I have mentioned. We have to do songs that can go viral internationally,” she noted, adding that it is a good opportunity and challenge they have been given.

Bwiza also pointed out that the festival will also benefit others, beyond the music industry.

"It is a good opportunity for us as a country, not just our sector. For example, people who have hotels will host different people from different countries in Africa and beyond, including big stars.”

Without revealing names, Olivier Laouchez, co-founder and the executive chairman of Trace, told The New Times that the October event will bring together some of the best artistes from Africa and the African diaspora.

"This event will definitely benefit Rwandan artistes in different dimensions. First of all, we’re going to organise a lot of combinations between local and international artistes.

"Secondly, we are also investing in capacity-building. We are going to train a lot of people locally, using the skills and the expertise of our production and our artistic crews,” Laouchez said.

He pointed out that Rwanda too will amass economic benefits for the event, with thousands of people expected to travel to Rwanda to attend the awards.

"In addition to that, there will be a massive global impact, not just in Africa, but also in many other countries because we’re going to broadcast the live feed of the award ceremony in many countries. From Europe to Asia to the Middle East, the US, Brazil and of course in Africa,” Laouchez said, adding that they are looking to partner with RDB and Visit Rwanda to make it a multiyear deal.

Laouchez said the names of artistes and celebrities that will come will be revealed in June but the list includes artistes from South Africa, Rwanda, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, DR Congo and others.

The Awards will recognise a broad range of music genres from Afro-beat to Dancehall, Afro-pop, Mbalax, Amapiano, Zouk, Kizomba, Genge, Coupé Décalé, Bongo Flava, Soukous, Gospel, Rap, Kompa, R&B, and Rumba while saluting artistes in a number of cultural and lifestyle categories.