Rwandan artistes pay tribute to Lucky Dube

Holy Jah Doves, Super Music and Best Sound, last night, performed in Gikondo in a concert to remember the most successful African reggae artiste of his generation Lucky Philip Dube, who was killed in 2007 by thugs in a Johannesburg suburb. Today, Lucky Dube who pioneered a distinctively African variant of reggae, would have been 47-years-old. Michael Musengimana, the frontman of Holy Jah Doves said the concert was a tribute to Lucky Dube. “Lucky Dube was an extraordinary artiste who used his talent to create peace and love. He loved Rwanda and he had a huge fan base in our country,” Musengimana told The New Times. Natty Dread, a well-known Rwandan reggae musician, noted that October 18 reminds him of a great African artiste, who was killed before reaping the fruit of his labour. “Lucky Dube went too soon. I do not think there is any artiste who can replace him. He has been a frontline artiste in the reggae genre and, his creative prowess and inventiveness has no rival,” Natty said. Dube was killed by a team of gunmen, in a carjacking attempt, as he dropped off his teenage son at his brother’s house. Another child, a 16-year-old daughter, was in the car at the time he was shot. He used his music to unite the Whites and the Blacks in the then apartheid South Africa. South Africa became a democracy in 1994, and has reduced the murder rate by 41 percent, experts say. Dube, who began as a singer of traditional African songs, swept to international stardom in the 1980s when he began singing reggae. He recorded 22 albums during his career. The tragic passing of Dube devastated a lot of people, especially the staffs of Gallo Record Company. Some of his legendary pieces of reggae music ever recorded include the tracks ‘Prisoner’, ‘Taxman’, ‘Slave’, ‘Victims’, ‘Together As One’ and ‘Respect’. Ends

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Rwandan artistes pay tribute to Lucky Dube