DEBATE: Who is to blame for our struggling entertainment industry?

Industry players killed it first This week, major online media outlets in Rwanda published various stories on musicians repeating the same old song on how they are frustrated by lack of support from the government (Minispoc) and the local population. They are not the only artistes complaining, movie players also echo the same sentiments. They blame free downloads, piracy, lack of financial support among others as reason for their failure to develop. Well, however much I would like to sympathize with them, I find it difficult because the players themselves are hugely to blame. Their work is done on a semi-professional level; it’s difficult to even comprehend what kind of support they deserve. These two industries have the capacity to have a positive influence on talent grooming but usually, after a few hypes, the whole idea dies out. Everyone remembers Salax Music awards; they only succeeded in bickering, poor organization, lack of accountability and putting on mediocre red carpet stunts. Although the movie awards took place, little was known about them and of course there were complaints. I think our entertainment industry is stunted on purpose. There is no real professionalism in the industry. Anyone with two eyes can instantly claim to be a director if they sit next to a cameraman and tell him where to point and shoot. Nobody seems to pay attention to the standard of scripts, lighting, sound production and relevance of a location to the script of the movie. To make it worse, both actors and directors don’t seem to know the difference between movies and theatre. Whatever happened to the director being a god; the overall benchmark of creativity hardly counts in our movie industry. And then the music industry has musicians that think everything and everyone should bow at their presence. It used to be a sector committed to the bleeding edge, the recorded music business has gone from an industry adept at incorporating the latest technology into its products to one that has become its own worst enemy by its refusal to adopt and adapt until it’s too late. Anyone with voice thinks they can sing (stuff like auto tune) which has inevitably put a lax in creativity and enough time to produce top quality songs. Even musicians of the 80s still manage to sell more album copies than the current ones. The reason is, they took time to do quality work, they had messages in their songs and worked smart. Now, people think that all they have to do is get a beat, throw a couple of meaningless words around and people will instantly sponsor their concerts or buy their albums. So, before our so-called movie stars and so called musicians start throwing around blame, can they give us good reasons to support them? Can they start by being professional? In my opinion, training and development of skilled manpower should be considered in order to stimulate the growth of intellectual capital of the industry and by extension the size of the industry. Artistes need to acknowledge that we are a developing economy and that in shaping the industry, they need to make significant advances to create the foundations of a future industry that is globally competitive and economically sustainable. After that, we can talk about how to support them too. editorial@newtimes.co.rw It’s up to us to support the entertainment industry Much as Rwanda has grown to be the symbol of growth and development among many African countries, its entertainment sector cannot say the same for itself. The music and movie industry are growing but not as fast as those of Rwanda’s neighbors and it’s our entire fault. To start with, parents today show very little appreciation for a child who is skilled in music or drama. “She can go ahead and sing but she has to finish her degree in engineering and get a good job,” the parents will say and the child’s talent is wasted by her sitting in front of some computer or construction site doing things that stress her until she is too old to boost and grow her talent. With this, we fail to nurture young talent and a talent that practiced at an old age is never as good. Let me give a simple scenario. When an artiste releases a song, they also have to go through the trouble of taking that song to a radio station for it to be played, and guess what? Some radio presenters ask for cash to offer this service to the artiste. The same thing goes for our movie industry: most of the movie CDs that are released are pirated. How is the industry supposed to develop with this level of piracy? While I was having lunch with friend, I took a simple survey and asked people what their best movie is and who their best musician is. Out of six people, not even one mentioned an African movie let alone a Rwandan movie or a local artiste. If someone took a general survey, most Rwandans would say the same. When a foreign artiste comes, billboards, adverts fill up the city but local artistes have to beg for people to promote the launch of their albums and beg for sponsors. Rwandans like free things and always claim they don’t have the money. An artiste or movie producer has to choose between having the crowd or the return on their investment. With shoestring budgets, the entertainment industry can only go so far. The role of religion has also played part in stalling the entertainment scene. Anything that doesn’t have the gospel in it is evil. Traditionally, movies get out of their comfort zone will cause uproar from cultural diehards. In this day and era where internet has made the world a global village, people have quick and easy access to music all over the world, teenagers think western language and culture is the best and this leaves them with hunger for foreign music, drama, movies and society has done very little to teach them about loving and promoting their own. Knowing we are lagging behind in the entertainment industry also hasn’t taught us to know that we need more music and art schools as opposed to the few expensive ones with limited entry. This has also contributed to the stagnant entertainment scene in Rwanda. At the end of the day, everyone has a huge part to play but artistes, movie producers and actors are there to please clients. It’s only fair to return the favor and show support. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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DEBATE: Who is to blame for our struggling entertainment industry?