If there was anybody who got visibility during the Basketball Africa League (BAL), other than the players who were tussling it out on the court, it was singer Bruce Melodie -the sole Rwandan artiste who benefited from the continental tourney.
The singer, who did the official BAL anthem "Game on”, alongside Senegalese star Dip Doundou Guiss, had a busy time during the tournament which ended on May 30, during which he performed at the final game which pitted the eventual champions Zamalek of Egypt against Tunisia side US Monastir.
According to Lee Ndayisaba, his manager and spokesperson, there is a lot in the pipeline after the BAL, including several collaborations with different African artistes and content creators.
Unlike in the past when Rwandan artistes had to run after visiting artistes ‘begging’ for collaborations, this time it was several artistes who came in looking to meet Bruce Melodie to discuss projects, something which confirms the star power the singer possesses.
"There are two things which happened for Bruce Melodie, very unrelated but they happened at around the same time. One was the signing of the deal as the resident artiste of Kigali Arena and working on the BAL anthem.”
"Those two developments were unrelated. He had just signed the deal and incidentally, the BAL team came looking for someone who could work on the anthem. They are the ones who actually contacted us. It was on short notice but we went to the studio and worked around the clock to deliver it,” Ndayisaba explains.
The song came out big and was played throughout the BAL, before, during, and after the games and whoever listened to it approved it. The catchy song, which brought out the adrenalin rush of the tournament, was a constant on DJ Ivy Poizon’s playlist for the two weeks in the Kigali Arena.
It was no wonder that the Dallas Mavericks official sports sound strategist was full of praise for the ‘Bado’ singer and looks to continue working with him.
"Mark my words RIGHT NOW! @BruceMelodie got NEXT. It’s been a while since I’ve seen an artist with a work ethic like his. Thank you for the warm welcome to Rwanda! Can’t wait to show the world what we have up our sleeves,” tweeted the Kenyan-born celebrated DJ.
Ndayisaba says the BAL was a huge platform for Bruce Melodie and it added a lot to his credentials and the fact that he was trusted to deliver the anthem of such a mega tournament.
"Being a voice of such a big African event is not a small feat. They had so many options, all the artistes BAL invited and more but choosing Bruce Melodie to do it was an honour, not just for him but also for the country and performing arts in general,” says Ndayisaba.
On his part, Bruce Melodie says he was happy to be part of history and be able to produce the song as well as the network he created, which will open new opportunities across the continent.
During the tournament, Bruce Melodie met some African stars such as Fireboy DML from Nigeria, Ommy Dimpoz from Tanzania and many others, with whom he is set to work with on different projects.
"For an artiste, relationships are very important. That is what we do as a company, building key relationships for artistes across the world. It is not just a matter of you know me and I know you, we know each other. We make sure that as artistes you build true relationships, have conversations with each other,”
"From there, great things happen. You chat, you listen to each other’s music, and then move from there to do great projects together. That is what we did with all the artistes who were here. You have to watch this space for what will come out,” Ndayisaba.
New songs coming
Hot off his BAL exploits and getting his Twitter account verified, the singer is set to release several songs, one after the other and another ‘summer jam’, whose name he is yet to reveal
Bruce Melodie, on June 2, put up a poll on Twitter asking his fans which song, out of the three ‘Jioni’, "Ndagatora" and "Caterpillar", he should release first and 41.7 per cent thought "Ndagatora" should come out first, followed by "Caterpillar", which polled 39.6 per cent and "Jioni" with 18.7 per cent.
In his own words, Bruce Melodie says all the songs are well done and have the qualities of being hits but he is just waiting for the right time to release them.
According to Ndayisaba, the "Saa Moya" singer has been spending most of his time in the studio if he is not somewhere completing a deal. From the look of things, he is enjoying the fruits of hard work and the best is yet to come.
Bruce Melodie (in red pants) with DML Fireboy trying out archery.
Bruce Melodie with DJ Ivy Poizon. The Kenyan born DJ said Bruce Melodie is the next big thing. Photos/ Courtesy