ON THURSDAY, October 28, Rwanda received more than 4,000 sounds and songs from Belgium that were taken during the colonial period. The music community welcomed them with prompt, saying that it’s an addition that will uplift creativity in Rwanda. The New Time’s spoke to some artistes who shared their different views. Ibrahim Cyusa For me, the songs we received were composed by our great grandparents and I feel they are the knot of wealth in traditional music, because we also make traditional music by getting inspiration from our ancestors. This is going to uplift creativity in our music industry. There is no tradition without origin. Yvan Buravan Having our artistic sounds and songs back is something we should celebrate on a national level. As musicians, we are now able to trace our roots and know more about Rwandan music, without just getting it from elders. 4, 000 songs are coming as an answer to many questions we had. We have spent a long time trying to make our own identity music, something that these songs and sounds will accelerate. Bulldog These songs hold not only lyrics, but history that even the young ones could learn from. Through these sounds, we will be able to trace our real culture, and use it to create our own unique music. Riderman The step of handing over what used to be ours is good itself. If only we could receive even the remaining arts, the Rwandan creative industry would rise to the top. This is our history, which should be kept where Rwandans can access and learn from it. Ruti Joel I am extremely happy to get a chance to listen and watch each, and every song that was handed over. I grew up listening to my elder’s stories, which is why I decided to do music. They used to tell us, when we were kids, how Rwandans were the best at dancing and singing. We always wanted to experience the great things they always talked about. These 4, 000 songs will help us understand dances, lyrics, language, dressing codes and many other things that ancient Rwanda had. Those who didn’t get a chance to grow up with their grandparents are also going to benefit from these songs, by knowing what they have never heard or learnt. This is going to make our music stronger than ever. Mariya Yohana We have been teaching our grandchildren about Rwandan history, but had no visuals or sounds to help our teachings. These recordings will help the next generation understand more about ancient Rwanda, history and how arts united Rwandans. From that, our youth will understand our culture by just not listening, but also experiencing it. Ange and Pamela As artistes, the first benefit includes having access to more than one place where we can get ideas of creating music, without necessarily hunting down old Kinyarwanda books. Another thing is having access to deeper original Kinyarwanda which gives us strong lyrics that we use to make traditional music. Clarisse Karasira All the 4, 000 songs will contribute a lot to Rwanda’s creative industry, by allowing artists to have a source of original ideas to use while producing different things. As the music fraternity, we are delighted to be able to access songs of our ancestors, which is a huge inspiration to the youth and anyone interested in making music.
