THE LAST TIME Stanza released a song, ‘Humura’, was in March 2019. He was, at the time, a First Year student at University of Rwanda, Gikondo Campus, before his course was relocated to Huye.
The Afro Jazz singer, real name Gospel Mata Muvandimwe, has since been forced to put music aside and focus on studies as he couldn’t afford to move to Kigali to record songs any longer due to limited financial resources.
"All the plans that I had for my music career completely came to a halt because all recording studios that I work with are from Kigali and I could hardly manage music proportionally to my studies. But this time, I am bouncing back because I am about to complete my university studies,” he said
The 24- year-old is now working tooth and nail to return to the music scene and is now back with a new song ‘Vumilia’, which is a production of Producer Pastor P while the video was directed by Nyamurasa.
The inspiration of the song, he said, came in April 2020 when a big part of the world was put under total lockdown resulting in people losing their jobs, others starving while others were forced to cancel their weddings.
"In my song, I just wanted to tell all those who were or are struggling that they should be strong, that they should not lose hope because of the problems there are going through. The song carries a message for people to take heart in these hard situations that almost the entire globe is facing due to the pandemic,” he said.
No management
Stanza is a young artist who has a future in music. However, he still struggles with management but his vision for his career motivates him to press on.
Besides being occupied with his studies, he cited that financial and managerial challenges are reasons why he has not recorded in two years.
"I don't have management nor do I have the resources to invest in my music, but I hope I will manage to do pursue my music with the limited resources that I have. And, look, I already have the complete audio projects,” he said.
He said that while some prominent figures in the Rwandan music industry like DJ Pius and event manager Remmy Lubega have been helping Stanza in some music projects, none of them was able to take him on for management.
Lubega, for instance, paid the whole video project for the singer for its completion.
As a breakthrough artist without management, Stanza knows his journey will not be a walk in the park. Although he has tried to approach different music managers so they could sign him up the efforts have been futile.
His other challenge, he added, is that his music genre ‘Afro-fusion’ is not favored by local media houses and therefore doesn’t get enough play.
However, the support from foreign media outlets like Voice of America, BBC and Radio France International gave him reason not to give up but record more songs like ‘Mama Afrika’, ‘Hands in Hands’ and ‘Summer Rain’.
Despite the challenges, Stanza believes that he is ready to show the world that he is not a quitter and that his eyes are set on releasing quality songs.
"I want to justify that I can contribute to the development of this industry by releasing quality music that Rwandans and Afro-jazz lovers abroad, can be excited to listen to. I believe I will achieve this milestone sooner than later because I want to do music on a regular basis,” Stanza said.