He has by far been the most hardworking artiste in Rwanda in recent years, outing hit after hit, but singer Bruce Melodie seems to have the stars aligned for him while events seem to work in his favour too. On July 23, the singer, real name Bruce Itahiwacu, released a song titled, “Saa Moya”, in which he sings about getting home by 7pm to be with his lover. The song, which is laced with many sexual innuendos has, like many of his songs, been already popular with young people, but little did he know that the resolutions of a cabinet meeting which sat this week would give the song a whole new meaning. Though the banger came out when curfew time, which is part of the measures to stop the spread of the new coronavirus, was from 9pm to 5am, for some reason Bruce Melodie insisted on getting home by 7pm. Fast forward on August 26, the meeting chaired by President Paul Kagame at Village Urugwiro increased curfew hours, making it 7pm to 5am as part of the efforts to tame the increasing Covid-19 cases. Effective Thursday, all people have to be home by 7pm or risk spending time in the stadium for violation of Covid-19 measures. The song has since become a social media sensation as many took to social media to jokingly blame the singer for the “Saa Moya” curfew and as you would expect, the ‘Fresh’ singer is basking in the popularity of the 7pm song, taking to social media to answer some of the people who ‘accused’ him of being behind the new curfew time. On August 27, Bruce Melodie posted a small cut out clip with the popular lyrics “Saa Moya, murugo, Saa Moya” adding the popular phrase “Ntabe ari njye”, which loosely means ‘I shouldn’t be the one’ to spread the virus. “You are responsible for this,” one Twitter user, who identifies herself as ‘Sine Ya Mwiza’ tweeted the singer, jokingly accusing him of being behind the 7pm curfew to which he responded “Forgive me, I will not do it again.” The song, whose audio was produced by Producer Element (Eleeeh) of Country Records and the video by Meddy Saleh, is nearly hitting one million views on Youtube. The song has become largely popular because of the 7pm curfew which has become the talk of the town since Thursday when it was enforced, with many struggling to finish what they were doing and getting home on time. The hour is characterised by roads clogging up, people rushing from their locations as Rwanda National Police enforces the curfew. The cabinet also put a temporary stop on public transport between Kigali and provinces to minimise the spread of the New Coronavirus. The country has in the last two weeks seen a spike in new coronavirus cases. Rwanda has so far registered 3,672 cases. Despite artistes struggling to make ends meet as concerts and other musical events remain on hold, Bruce Melodie has been cashing in on deals, thanks to his hard work. Last month, the hitmaker signed a Rwf50 million deal to promote a new beer on the market.
