Meet the man behind Rwanda's most popular music videos

Benjamin Gilbert Kwisanga is a self-made videographer with potential to push the Rwandan music industry to new heights. Yet few people know that he is the man behind the popular local music videos. Growing up in Musanze District in the Northern Province, Kwisanga always wanted to be a videographer. The 25-year-old does short movies, advertisements, documentaries and graphics design. Kwisanga, a resident of Nyamirambo, a Kigali suburb, is the last born in a family of 11 children. He grasped the art of video editing at a young age and cites one of his elder brothers as his mentor. “One of my elder brothers is a great videographer and I always spent a lot of time looking and learning from him. I never went to school to study, something that always bothered me, but my elder brother passed on enough of his skills to me,” says Kwisanga. In 2008, Kwisanga took advantage of free internet lessons in videography to boost the talent which he believed would be his life career. Kwisanga during the shooting of Sharly and Nina’s Bye Bye video At 19, the self-taught videographer embarked on his childhood trance and produced his first video for the KGB group. By then, he was working for Avi Production which was located in Kicukiro in 2009. He has also produced some local television shows, like the RDB which used to air on TV Rwanda back in 2012. However, Kwisanga says that his main passion is shooting music videos and he is described by many local musicians as a talented videographer. Kwisanga has produced impressive music videos, such as Ni Danger by Dan Vumbi, Niko nabaye by King James, Umugati by King James, Ikosora by Jay Polly, Tuzasana by Urban Boys, Bye Bye by Sharly and Nina, and Marry me by Urban Boys, among others. “This career is my life and I don’t ever see myself doing something else even when I am facing its worst seasons,” he said. Kwisanga is currently signed to Touch Videos, but he owns a studio called, The Benjamins. Having visited different websites and forums to hone his skills, Kwisanga believes he is on track to be one of the most celebrated videographers in the region. “I had the talent and it was massive, it enabled me grasp everything I learnt from every website, forum or studio I visited. I believe I would qualify for Hollywood too if I had gone to school and honed my talent. Of course I have the talent but I am not as good as someone who learned it in school and has the talent too,” adds Kwisanga. Kwisanga at work Like his colleagues in the music industry, Kwisanga has experienced personal and professional difficulties in his career. “We lack quality music studio equipments. What is available is old and poor quality. Basically, we can’t produce quality music videos with such machines,” said Kwisanga. He urges the government and the private sector to support the creative and entertainment industry.

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Meet the man behind Rwanda's most popular music videos