Inanga Taxeem: A fusion of different cultures

She has made a name for herself as a professional Egyptian dancer— also known as belly dance, but Hilde Cannoodt has always had a love for different traditional dances around the world. Her life she says, is characterised with many travels to different places, learning different kinds of dances from Indian dance, to Afro-Brazilian, contemporary, Spanish flamenco and many others. However, after seeing the Rwandan traditional dance for the first time in 2016, she could see how special this dance was and that she knew that she had to move here. “When I first saw traditional Rwandan dancers and heard the sound of the Inanga I fell in love with the beauty that Rwanda has to offer and I decided to move to Rwanda to study the culture through the language, the music and the dance,” she says. When she met one of the country’s renowned traditional dance trainers, Aline Sangwa of Intayoberana dance troupe, she not only became a friend but also a student. “She is my singing and dancing teacher and my big inspiration. I love how she is open minded about different cultural dances so it felt natural to work together with her as part of Inanga Taxeem. I also joined her troupe Intayoberana, shortly after moving here and I have performed with them a number of times,” she shares. Their partnership resulted in the formation of Inanga Taxeem, a fusion of Rwanda’s traditional music and Taxeem, a piece of music, which usually precedes the performance of classical and traditional Middle Eastern, Arabic and Turkish compositions. Composed of five members, the project, Inanga Taxeem, according to Cannoodt encompasses three important elements: the celebration of different cultures, the celebration of music and dance and celebrating female artists. “Inanga Taxeem celebrates all that I believe in. I love how art from different cultures and traditions can be combined together and create a joyful celebration of music and dance on a global level,” she told The New Times. A few days ago they released the project’s debut song ‘Ntumwitiranye’ written by Sangwa, Cannoodt as the creative director, produced by Element, and video directed by Bob Chris Raheem. The song also features talented darbouka player (Egyptian drum) Regis Ndagijimana, guitarist Pappy Israel, who is strongly inspired by Spanish Flamenco, as well as Inanga player Esther Niyifasha. The song, Cannoodt explained, is about the fact that women are multidimensional. “So often around the world, women are valued for their beauty. But women are so much more than that. They have intelligence, charm, wit, humour, kindness, the list goes on. The song is saying...don’t think you know her just from her looks, she is special. She is different.”

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Inanga Taxeem: A fusion of different cultures