For Olive Ngorore, the love for drumming came naturally after encountering women drumming out of her curiosity and she never looked back. Not even motherhood could get in the way of her passion to create a career out of drums. “I am married, with kids. I started drumming in 2008. I was walking around the neighbourhood and I heard drums in the vicinity. When I went to the source of the sound of drums, I found women drumming,” “It was love at first sight. I was moved. I had Goosebumps all over my body. I wondered how they became confident enough to drum, and I really wanted to do it,” she says Ngorore is one of the 18 women, who performed during the celebration of the 15th anniversary of Ingoma Nshya, at Kigali Conference and Exhibition Village, the former Camp Kigali. She was applauded for nurturing her four daughters into drumming and making them part of her troupe. However, on the night, she managed to bring only two of them and their dad. Their performances were a blend of traditional Rwandan, Burundian and Senegalese rhythms, and their own creations. They also sang some of Rwanda’s most popular oldies like, ‘Ingendo y’abeza’, ‘Agashinguracumu’, ‘Ikizungerezi’, and ‘Wararaye’, with well-choreographed traditional dances from the region. Their performances came in bits, but there wasn’t a session that was less than 15 minutes. While performing, the women wore wide happy smiles and exuberance as they danced and jumped with such grace. Clad in traditional ‘Imishanana’ at first, with their braided hair coloured in red, blue, yellow and pink, the audience was cheering as they performed. They came back wearing African ‘kitenge’ outfits, with white cloths wrapped around their heads. Agnes Mukakarisa, 50, one of the pioneers of Ingoma Nshya, told The New Times that drumming flows in their veins and blood. It is a way of life for them. “I am excited. The audience was happy, and that is why we drummed with all our hearts,” she said, adding that drumming is her therapy. When drumming, she puts all thoughts aside and focuses on her “friend”, the drum. Women drummers from DR Congo, who were invited, also performed on the evening, singing and dancing as they know it in their country. However, they had a hard time using local drums, as they were not used to traditional Rwandan drums. They were not able to bring their own, which are played with hands as opposed to sticks locally known as ‘imirishyo’. Ingoma Nshya boasts of a junior troupe, where they train 80 children in drumming. On the stage, 20 of them performed and you couldn’t tell that the young ones had only practised and mastered the art of drumming in just a year. Odile Gakire Katese, the founder and leader of the troupe, told The New Times that celebrating the 15-year milestone for Ingoma Nshya meant everything for her. “This day is very precious to me. This wouldn’t have happened without people’s support. There are women from the market who contributed to the cause. Some contributed one thousand, others two, and others Rwf300 or Rwf400. This meant a lot. “I am very happy to see where the women are today 15 years later. Today we have kids who can drum, we are passing the art onto them. It has not been easy being where we are today and we are confident that tomorrow will be even better,” she says. ‘I have a drum’ will be a two-month tour in the USA, where they will have 30 performances. Gakire calls upon everyone to support the troupe, because sometimes they are invited for international events, but end up cancelling because they can’t afford air tickets. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
