Junior Giti is definitely one of the biggest names in Rwandan entertainment industry. You won’t see a person separating this name from movies considering that he lived close to half of his life as a film interpreter.

He is known for his sense of humor, slang and other creative aspects that make his audience want to watch more movies that he interprets.

But who is Junior Giti?

Junior Giti, real name Bonny Bugingo, was born in exile in Kampala on April 24, 1992. He and his family returned to Rwanda in 2003; they since lived in Gatenga, Kicukiro.

He is the fifth in a family of six only boys including late video jockey Thomas Nkusi (RIP) who was regarded as the pioneer of movie translation in Rwanda, commonly known as ‘Agasobanuye’.

Junior Giti attended primary school at Remera Academy before moving to Lycée De Kigali to continue his secondary education. He did Maths, Physics and Chemistry in advanced level and he later joined University of Rwanda’s College of Business and Economics.

Junior Giti grew up watching his brothers Yanga and Mike translating movies. Under their influence, he dedicated his life to the same career at just 19 years of age. That was in 2011 when he was in his final year at Lycée de Kigali.

"I grew up in the hands of movie translators and they were always close to music men, producers and artists which later brought me close to who I am today,” he said.

From then, he never had another job apart from movie translation which he has done for about 14 years.

"It made me who I am now. It gave me life, it gave me a family and friends. I have not tried anything else other than movie interpretation,” he said.

Venturing into music

Movie translation was Junior Giti’s every day job until life experience offered him more creative opportunities to explore and music became his closest thing to try out next.

And it was not completely a new thing for the 32-year-old considering that he was promoting songs of local artists through his platform. He would introduce every movie he translated with a song and in most cases, they were Rwandan songs.

This went beyond just promoting artists’ songs and he decided to venture into music management and, through his label Giti Business Group, he manages one artiste in Chriss Eazy, one of Rwanda’s hottest talents of late.

"As an entrepreneur who is also driven by the passion I have for entertainment in general, I saw a gap that can be utilized and then I went for it. It has been two years now,” he said.

Talking on how the two careers complement each other, Giti said that they all are supplying entertainment in the market and both domains promote one another.

The Rwandan music industry is growing bigger than ever before, says Giti, having now crossed borders and having channels of selling music today that has become more digitized and advanced, has given artists more space for creation.

"It is now earned as you perform in the market,” he added.

Yanga, the mentor

Junior Giti is a little brother to the late Thomas Nkusi, commonly known as Yanga, a famous dubbing artist, who popularized translating movies in the early 2000s.

He referred to him as not only his brother but also a mentor whom he considered as his father based on what he had done so far.

"Ever since I was a kid I looked up to him for answers and solutions. He fitted well in the big shoes of our late dad. Through him, I am who you see today.

"He was my best man during my wedding. We share land here in Nyamata as close neighbors, and our fences are touched. In everything I did or he also did, we had to share ideas on what to do next. He was a best friend and I miss him every day,” said Junior Giti.

Overcoming challenges

Junior Giti is convinced that Rwandan music is making waves of change and success moving its way. However, he is concerned by the fact that the industry continues to lack investments.

"Lack of potential investors up to date is a big issue to the industry,” he said.

"And not to forget the battle of convincing the society that music is a career like any other business which can earn lots of money.”

Against all odds, Junior Giti and Chriss Eazy have achieved a lot during their past three years together. Under his management, the artists performed at several class A concerts organized in Rwanda before taking his stage out of the country including Bujumbura, Burundi.

He also holds a number of awards including the Best Breakthrough Act award that he received during the East African Arts Entertainment Awards (EAEA) 2024 held in Nairobi, Kenya, all thanks to his hit songs like 'Bana (ft Shaffy), Jugumila (ft Phil Peter & Kevin Kade) that took stage in East Africa.

He is also among five Rwandans who earned maiden nominations at the 2023 TRACE Awards that took place in Kigali in October.