German-Rwandan female singer Babo is confident that her music will soar to greater heights under the management of 1K Entertainment. The 19-year-old joined the music record label, owned by DJ Pius, early in May, to take the place of Amalon who quit the house in April. The singer has already released two songs in a space of three weeks including her brand new love song ‘On You’ that she dropped last week. “The message is about love. I am not the kind to sing about love, the beats are a little bit for clubs or for summer music, but this one is about that person I love,” she explained. With the two songs already out, Babo feels she can only do better under her new manager DJ Pius with whom she looks forward to achieving many and big things in her music career. “He’s got good connections and he’s a good manager, he knows how the music industry works and I think, with my music, we will make great things in this journey together,” she said of DJ Pius. Babo, real name, arbara Horn Tetais a German-Rwandan rising singer.Courtesy photo “I trust him because he always listens to me and my ideas. If I don’t like to work with someone or If I don’t want to record this or that, he can always find a way to do things a different way,” she added. Previously, Babo was managed by her mother, before switching to 1K Entertainment’s management. “My mother managed my music because at that time I was young, a student and I was not ready for management,” she said. Who is Babo? Born Barbara Horn Teta, Babo was born to a Rwandan mother and a German father. She is the second born of two. With her looks, voice, and demeanor, Babo may be mistaken for a boy but she is a young woman whose appearnace, she says is shaped by her past. “I look like a young boy because in the past few years I used to play football, maybe that’s why I look like a boy. And it’s better looking like a boy because, at some point, it prevented me from the guys who wanted to date me,” she said. “Some are a little bit confused and that’s a good thing and I am lucky for this. Of course some guys still want to date me but I am not that person who likes to date right now because I am still young, I still need time,” she added. Had it not been for music, Babo would have become a footballer as she grew up playing the game. But music always seemed to be her calling since she was young. “I loved music when I was a child but I was a little bit scared and confused with my voice. I loved football but music was in the first place,” she said. Babo was able to play guitar as early as the age of 12 but was always shy to sing before people, including her mother. One day, while playing the guitar for her grandpa, a neighbor came by and saw her singing and was amazed. A few days later, Babo went to her mother with the guitar, played and sang her a song for her on Mothers’ DaY. “It was the first time that I was singing for her and she was like ‘Oh Babo, do you know how to sing?’” she recalls. It was after that experience that she brought her back to Rwanda to start recording some music. Babo recorded her first song ‘That’s My Life’ aged 14 before working on other music projects that introduced her to the local music scene, including ‘Ich Liebe Dich’ and ‘Turn Up’, both of which are collaborations with then three-member band Urban Boys. Choosing music over football Babo chose music over football after her mother offered to support her passion. “My mother knew I was playing football but she also knew that I love to sing. But the day she said that I know how to sing, I decided to stick to music,” she explained. Her other inspiration came from Rwandan music stars Meddy, The Ben and King James. Luckily for her, she was able to secure a collaboration with one of her role models, The Ben in a song titled ‘Go Low’ that she dropped last month. It was her first since she joined 1K Entertainment. “I think the song will help push my music, I am not going to lie. He’s a superstar and I think this collaboration is going to open my doors because every friend of The Ben now knows my name. Now is the right time to work harder and harder,” she said. “I love Rwanda” Babo was born in Rwanda before she moved to Germany with her family at the age of nine. Although a German resident, she feels happier to be Rwandese and proud to represent Rwanda in her music. “If you see these tattoos, it’s because I am proud to be Rwandese. Of course, I love Germany too because my dad is German but when I am in Rwanda, I feel I am the person that I am. I got the character of Rwandese, I feel Rwanda is my home,” she said. “I always want to be a superstar from Rwanda, and not from Germany or America. I want to be a Rwandan musician,” she added.
