Celebrated local gospel musician, Isreal Mbonyi, has released his music video for his brand new song, Karame. The video is his first since he launched his music career in 2015. The singer’s new video was recorded during a live concert in Kigali, recently. The video has gained massive reception from his predominantly Christian audience since its release a week ago. The 27-year-old performer said that during the live recording, the song, Karame, went on for almost 30 minutes, as hundreds of people cried out in worship. The release of his debut video, he added, is just the beginning, as he will soon be releasing videos for every song since started his musical journey. “I have always said that it was my plan to do live recording videos for my songs, it was just a matter of time and it is not too late to do so. I think this is the best moment to produce such live recording videos for my supporters,” he told The New Times. The Ibihe hitmaker promises to produce more videos to meet his fans’ expectations. He, however, said that doing live recording videos remains his favourite approach as he plans to do the same video production for the rest of his audio songs and for his future music projects. “From my experience, I don’t think people care much about where the video of the song has been taken, nor do they focus on the performance materials and fashion appearance, an artiste has in a video but boldly value the time an artiste spends with them while performing . It is like a church service, which I love most,” he explained. “It is a recording approach that I feel comfortable with because I am the kind of person who likes ‘simplicity’ and it is in my nature. I never felt I could go to different places for video shooting, nor think of changing fashion styles to spice up my video because I like doing simple things. It is not cheaper, though, but it is my favourite one,” he added. Mbonyi’s videos are originally recorded by his backup team, 12 Stones, from his live performances at the different concerts, and worship services, an idea he picked from some international gospel acts, like Hillsong, renowned for recording videos during their live shows. “I had to take time to learn creative production ideas from what fellow international singers, not just Hillsong, and it inspired me to release the videos of my live performances,” he said. Mbonyi, who is working on his second album, is planning a music tour in the United Kingdom, where he has two concerts in Manchester on August 17, and London the following week. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
