A good number of Rwandan gospel artistes were voted among the winners of the Maranatha Awards 2019. Among the many that walked away with different accolades include Israel Mbonyi who won an award as the Best Live Minister. Aime Uwimana also scooped the award for the Best Collaboration for his ‘Uri Hejuru’’ song featuring Nice Ndatabaye, whereas Serge Iyamuremye scooped The Best Album award, while Bosco Nshuti was voted the Best Minister of the year. James and Daniella were awarded as Best upcoming gospel stars. The Pink was awarded as the best gospel rapper, Babou Melo won the award as Best Male vocalist while Ndanyuzwe by Aline Gahongayire was the best song of the year. James and Daniella won the Best upcoming gospel stars award In a telephone interview with The New Times, Daniellah Rutagarama expressed her gratitude for the award. “I am really grateful for this award. I and my husband have been in this music career from long ago, but we stepped in officially last year, so it is a motivation to get awards at the first year of your career,’’ she said. However, she said that the awarding ceremony had not been communicated but would be communicated soon by the organisers. James and Daniell recently released their new hit dubbed “Ububyutse” which literally means “Revival”. Its audio was made by Bruce and Boris, the track was directed by Doux. The Maranatha awards aim at showing appreciation to gospel artists within East Africa. In addition to the East African countries, Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia were also represented in the awarding ceremony.
