Fabrice and Maya Nzeyimana are a married couple that have dedicated their lives to serving God through singing. They have written and sung many songs together.
For those who go to Christian Life Assembly (CLA), you have probably had pastors thanking Fabrice and Maya for coordinating the praise and worship team during the service.
The duo released their new song, "Mwami w’Ibihe” (Lord over time and seasons), yesterday, July 6.
The Nzeyimanas say that what stirred the writing of the song was to portray the supreme nature of God because He is the God of all seasons.
Regardless of the many present problems that happen and people try to solve them, they don’t have the power just like God because He will be present, now, tomorrow and forevermore.
According to Fabrice, the idea of jotting down this specific song ran in his mind during the second week of the lockdown that was due to the new coronavirus outbreak.
He stressed that he started realizing that the pandemic would affect the lives of many people. He could read depression, fear and anxiety in the eyes of many, including his own family.
"Numbers of contamination and deaths were and are still increasing around the world. Time seemed like it had stopped. That’s when I started thinking about times and seasons,”
"Although I had released an album in 2011, named "Ibihe” (Seasons), I wasn’t really satisfied with it as I thought something was missing. Until I added God, to make it, ‘God over time and seasons.’ We all know that seasons are different, but God is always in control,” he said.
Who are the Nzeyimanas?
They are both Burundians who moved to Rwanda in 2015 and started working at CLA in Nyarutarama. Up to now, they lead the Worship and Creative Arts department.
Fabrice works full time at the Church, while Maya serves as a volunteer. She is a teacher at Kigali International Community School (KICS).
Due to their passion for ministry, they both studied an online course in theology for three years, from 2015 to 2018, at Lancaster Bible College University, United States.
Fabrice is a graduate of Bachelor’s Degree in Law while Maya holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Leadership and Management.
Musical journey
Fabrice is a professional singer and songwriter, who started singing in the early 2000s. As a worship leader in Burundi, he wrote many songs mainly for the church. In 2005, he started his music ministry, dubbed, "Heavenly Melodies”, where he recorded his first album "Ico Nipfuza”
"Heavenly Melodies started as a ministry of unity in a country that was coming out of a long period of civil war. Back then, we were among the very few groups that were able to bring together singers from different churches, different tribes.
"Together In worship”, was and still is our motto. We believe that unless there is a togetherness and love between worshipers, we cannot pretend to love God whom we don’t see yet we hate the brothers and sisters that we see,” he explains.
In 2009, Fabrice recorded the second album named "Umwizigirwa”, then Ibihe in 2011, "Mu Buntu” in 2013, and "Overflow15” in 2015, which was launched in Rwanda. Last year, he recorded "Overflow19”.
Their ministry on the continent level
When the couple moved to Rwanda in 2015, they realized that their ministry and music could not be limited to one place, Rwanda inspired them to reach out to other nations.
This sparked off a worship conference that is organised in August, every year. This conference, known as "Overflow Africa” brings together gospel artistes from all over the continent. Music teams in Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and DR Congo have also started.
Singing as a couple
"We have very complementary skills and voices, that’s why when we are preparing an event for example, Maya coordinates the singers, and I deal with the musicians and technical team. I must confess that this is really a blessing in disguise, as we are able to achieve a lot together,” Fabrice notes.
Maya agrees that both being and working together, they influence each other in many ways. They have written about 95 per cent of all the music sung by Heavenly Melodies. On top of that, we also listen to each other’s compositions and make adjustments together.
The lovebirds started writing music together mainly in 2014, they have written about 14 songs on overflow15 Album, and another album which is Overflow 19, that was released last year and it contains the song "Muremyi w’isi”, which many people in Rwanda loved.
The gospel power couple’s albums are found on digital distribution platforms such as Apple music, Spotify, Deezer, iTunes, and YouTube under the name—Heavenly Melodies Africa.
How they met
Having grown up in Zambia, Maya returned home to Burundi in 2011, since she was an Anglophone, life was a bit tricky to get used to life in Burundi. She yearned to find a music group that sung in English, fortunately, one of her good friends recommended Heavenly Melodies.
She immediately attended one of their rehearsals. When she and Fabrice set eyes on each other, something magical happened, it was love at first sight. Maya melted Fabrice’s heart and they were both sure that they would one day walk down the aisle and start a family together.
The two didn’t date immediately, as they allowed themselves time to know each other better. They got married three years later, on May, 23, 2014.
The two believe that walking the journey of marriage with God at the centre has been really amazing. Apart from singing and writing songs, they also play musical instruments like the Piano.