FINLAND-BASED RWANDAN gospel singer Eric Reagan Ngabo recently released his brand new song ‘My Lord’ as he seeks to redefine his music career in the diaspora. The song is part of his debut album ‘Wewe Ni Mungu’ which he plans to release in December, this year. It’s an album that means a lot to the musician who is investing so much effort to make it a success through collaborations with established gospel musicians in the region, including Ugandan Pastor Happy Alex who features in the singer’s new song. Reagan told The New Times that he recorded a song with Happy Alex as a means for him to be able to grow his fan base in Uganda. “I chose to record a song with Happy Alex because I love his music style besides spreading the word of God in churches. He has a church and I felt that the message of my song reaches the Christians who pray from his church,” the singer explained. Reagan is not new in the gospel music industry given a number of releases he has so far made including “Mube Maso”, “Imbere Ni Heza” and the brand new song “My Lord”, all of which he dropped this year as he runs against the clock to launch his album to his music supporters in Finland and the rest of Rwandan community in the world. The 38-year-old started music as a career in 2015 when he was still in Rwanda. He was at the time leading the worship performance at the Anglican Church of his birthplace at Nyagatare Parish in Eastern Province. He left for Finland in 2017, years after finishing his high school studies in Electronics which he studied at the former E.T.O Muhima (Kigali). He now studies Software programming, also known as Python and the skills he has acquired so far has seen him become a junior developer in Finland. He combines his academic studies with music studies which he has been pursuing at a music school located at River Bible Institute in Finland as part of the Praise and Worship and Theology studies. Headquartered in the United States, the school was founded by American Pastor Rodney Howard Brown. Reagan’s music studies have helped him grow musically, despite going through the hurdles that any other artiste doing music in the diaspora goes through. His first record ‘Ishimwe Ni Iryawe’ has played a big part in the singer’s growth given that it’s one of the releases that gathered gospel audience’s admiration. “Doing music in diaspora is not easy because there are not many people from our country. Here we don’t speak English and that is a big challenge for music to penetrate the Scandinavian countries,” he claimed. “But, the passion and the love we have for music motivate us to keep pushing over and over. That’s why I try to write songs in other languages like Swahili as in my new song My Lord By-Eric Reagan to promote my music not only in Rwanda but also in the region,” he added. In “My Lord”, Reagan encourages Christians to always worship God, dance for Him and praise what He does for the people. “As Christian it is good to praise and worship God with our knowledge, power and wisdom,” Reagan said of the song. The singer’s album is now taking shape as he prepares to drop another song ‘Impamvu” which features his Rwandan gospel counterpart Emmy Vox. The audio and the video, he said, will be out soon. What is special about the album? The singer prepares to release the album as an occasion to express what God has done for him, especially how He helped him grow musically and spiritually. His album is all about thankfulness, especially a celebration of what Reagan has achieved over the past five years that he has spent in Finland. “To be honest, financially speaking, nothing is special. But spiritually speaking, there is a lot that I achieved that I am thankful to God. My studies in school of Theology and Praise and worship is one crucial achievement that I thank God for,” he said of the album. His music is not yet where he would want it to be but Reagan’s ‘never give up’ character gives him strength that he could sooner or later become a gospel musician that Rwandans will celebrate for quite a long time.
