The Brothers’ long trail in the music industry

FOR eight years now they have been in the industry, and their music has enjoyed massive airplay on Rwanda’s radio stations and television. A group that started doing music for fun - today has changed its course. Famous for their major hits such as ‘Bya bihe’ and ‘Ikirori’, Daniel Semivumbi, alias Dany, Victor Fidèle Gatsinzi, a.k.a Vicky and Fikiri Nshimiyimana, a.k.a Ziggy 55, are the members who make up ‘The Brothers’. They share with The New Times’ Entertainment contributor Andrew Israel Kazibwe their experience in the music industry.TNT: Who are ‘The Brothers’?A: The Brothers is a group of musicians which started in 2004; first with two members; Daniel and Victor, who were students at Kigali Institute of Education (KIE) then, later after two years, Ziggy also joined. We have been doing music up to now.TNT: How did you decide on the name of your group?A: There was a national music competition called ‘Never Again’, in which we took part – but we never had a name for our group. So we wanted a name that would reflect an image of what we do; it is then that we chose ‘The Brothers’ –with a motive of doing things in a brotherly way. TNT: What inspired you into doing music?A: First, we discovered that we had the love for music and, the talent because we were members of the KIE music band. It was then that we developed the desire to take our talent to another level and we realised that it could really work. TNT: What has made you stay long in this career?A: The only thing that has helped us stay and carry on is our fans. The songs we produce are being appreciated, so that motivates us to take the career seriously. TNT: What makes your music different from other musicians?A: The difference is because we sing about real things that happen in society, thus giving the real meaning of music – educating, while at the same time providing fun.We want our songs to be the top choice for music lovers, even after thirty years from now. If the song is in Kinyarwanda, it has to be in real and good Kinyarwanda because our music also promotes our culture. Some of our songs which have for long been major hits like ‘Bya bihe’ (Old times) and ‘Ikirori’ (Party) have touched many lives.TNT: What major challenges have you faced in this career?A: Majorly, we have all along been lacking a manager or sponsor but, early this year, we got a manager. Barick Music Creation Group (BMCG) will manage the group on a two year contract. We also want to improve on our production. And we welcome whoever wishes to work with us.TNT: How do you find ‘music’ as an industry in Rwanda today?A: In the beginning, Rwandan music was not profitable- that’s why we were doing it for fun but later we realised that it could be more than that, so we decided to take it to another level.The local music industry is now improving compared to the previous years. However, the only problem is that there are some people who call themselves artistes yet they don’t want to improve on their style of music. TNT: Have you made some collaboration with other artistes?A: Yes. For example, last year the group did collabos with artistes such as Frankie Joe in a song called ‘Nyamuneka’, ‘Nsubiza’ with Prince Kid and ‘Igihe Nyacyo’ with producer/singer Junior Kafi. We believe they are all good stuff.TNT: What should your fans expect from you this year?A: We have new songs; some are already out. We are working on a video for our new song dubbed ‘Igihe nyakyo’ (The Right Time) which will probably be out next month. We are also working on our second album which will be out soon.TNT: What other projects are you working on?A: Currently, we are taking part in the Primus Guma Guma Super Star season 2 and are very focused on this; and we would like to be among the top Ten because we believe that we have what it takes. Our fans should vote for us by texting the number 4 to 4343.

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The Brothers’ long trail in the music industry