VIDEO: Green Hills band trace Rwanda’s transformation through music

THEY are famed for staging thrilling Christmas carol concerts but the Green Hills Academy band over the weekend unveiled something unique. Through a musical tour dubbed ‘Blue, yellow and green’ the band traced the story of Rwanda through musical performances at three different venues over the weekend. Using music, drumming, narration and dance, the band of youngsters managed to tell the story of Rwanda from the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi to the country’s current transformation. The band performed at the Kigali Memorial Centre Amphitheatre, as well as the Car free zone in town on Friday afternoon. On Saturday afternoon, the band continued with a visit to Home of Hope and performed for children with special needs before concluding with a performance at the Kimihurura roundabout next to Kigali Heights. The Kigali Convention Centre’s ‘Blue, yellow and green’ lights beamed in the background as Lance Gaskill, a music instructor at the school and the conductor led the band to perform for the curious crowd. “It was a very good experience, through this music, we told the story of Rwanda and put great meaning and passion to it,” Gaskill said after the performance. Gaskill said the performance depicted the complete story of “how as a country, we have risen and the success achieved.” The band ended the story with dance songs and fun as the students and the crowd danced and mingled. Ian Rubimbura, Lina Mohammad, of grade 10 and Ishaan Trivedi of grade 11 contributed to the composition of the story. It took them four days to compose the narration and five months of practice for the band. Ishaan explained the process of the composition saying, “Rwanda’s history is very diverse which was difficult to put down on paper but we tried to give it the most believable to objectify Rwanda.” “It’s basically unity, and diversity and being music students we listened to the music, the rhythm and the humming and it just gave us ideas of what we should write. We also got inspiration from other places,” he noted. The student added that music was a huge inspiration as they played some sad and happy rhythms that portray Rwanda’s culture, then the history of the Genocide and then the rebuilding of the country. Green Hills Top band female students clad in Rwanda’s traditional dresses excited the crowd with their amazing drumming skills. Before concluding their two-day live concert, the students’ band visited Home of Hope in Kigali, where they performed for children with special needs. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

Entertainment

VIDEO: Green Hills band trace Rwanda’s transformation through music