Alistede’s music comes of age

HE IS steadily gaining ground in Rwanda’s music industry as an RnB artiste. He recently released his latest song Ndashakagufa which features TBB’s MC Tino. The man who draws his music inspiration from renowned American artistes like R Kelly and Chris Brown, hopes to make it big someday. Alistede, born Gerald Kayitana, lost his dad during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide against the Tutsi but despite the tragedy, he had a good childhood with the support of his mother. Born in 1991 in Kicukiro to Mediatrice Mutesi and David Munyabugingo, the upcoming RnB artiste is the last born in a family of four. Known for songs like Come to Me and I am sorry, Alistede started singing in a church choir at the age of ten. “I enjoyed singing in church; it was a good experience because it was like I was working for God and getting blessings. There was no pressure or competition so you basically felt free,” the singer narrates. He sang in different church choirs depending on the schools he went to and his area of residence. In senior three, Alistede and his friends (Julies Sentore, his brother Frank and Théogène Ngabo), formed their own group called New Christian Boys. “We recorded two songs, it was my first time to record a song in a studio and it was fun. We used to do live performances at our school and neighbouring schools, essentially spreading the word of God.” “Our group didn’t last long because the members had to go to different schools after O’Level. In A’ Level I went solo and that is when I experimented with other music genres. I had my own compositions but I never recorded them and would also mime other people’s songs,” Alistede says. Alistede started his professional music journey in 2013 after the release of Ahora Aseka which didn’t receive massive airplay. He however didn’t give up and later released Ndagukumbuye but rose to fame after the release of Come to Me and I am Sorry. Like any other upcoming artiste, the Come to Me singer has encountered several challenges on his music journey. “When you are an upcoming artiste you don’t have many fans and this makes it hard to get a manager or promoter. You cannot even have a show of your own because you are not popular,” the singer says. Aiming for success, Alistede says that his challenges won’t hold him down but will instead motivate him to work harder to get to the top. His future plans include recording more songs, doing collabos with famous artistes and also looking for a manager. He also intends to work on his first music video in March this year. He called for continued support from his fans saying that it is them that give him the strength to go on. Currently, Alistede is working with the Rwanda Natural Resources Authority and is a second year student at Kicukiro College of Technology. He went to La Colombire for his primary and Urumuli College for his secondary education.

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Alistede’s music comes of age