SERGE ALPHA CYUSA also known as Serpha is one of the Rwandans who competed in the 2020 Voice Afrique Francophone and made an impression on the judges. Serpha told The New Times that he has been singing for as long as he can remember, but started doing it professionally in 2018 when he started singing live music. “Although I was just doing music only because enjoyed it, it later became a career that actually pays me well and I decided to fully go for it,” he said. Serpha said added that he is not tied to one genre as he explores different genres and usually appreciates good music. He joined the music industry independently with his trial song 'Ugihari' produced by The Major who is now in Symphony Band. When asked about his parents' reaction after choosing this career path, the artist replied with, “My family is very open minded. When I started doing music professionally, they were really not so supportive at first since they thought that I was just kidding. Later after seeing some of my achievements, they started to believe in me and supported my career.” His parents were so amazed when he started doing musical gigs and when he won Rwf300, 000 as the second winner of the ‘Spark Your Talent’ competition alongside Calvin Mbanda in December 2019. He was later chosen among the six Rwandans who participated in the 2020 'The Voice Francophone' singing competition held in South Africa. Serpha said that attending The Voice Afrique Francophone was a dream come true. “Until this moment I still feel like what happened is surreal because I’ve always wanted to be there but didn’t know how. It still feels like a dream to me though.” He shared that learned of the music contest through his Gabonese online friend who saw the poster that Rwandans were also allowed to apply and shared the link which he followed, applied and got accepted. He travelled to South Africa for the show and managed to turn four judges' chairs which, for him, was unbelievable. “I knew I could at least convince some and make one judge turn a chair, but not all four. For me that was success and I ended up winning the battles that day, but my journey there ended at the knockouts.” He is grateful for all the knowledge and discipline he got from the competition as he is now a better version of an artist he always wanted to be. He recently released his single ‘True Love, after Your Style and Ugihari that he released two years ago. He also performs at weddings and other social events.
