After 33 years of living in Belgium, pop singer Inki finally returned to Rwanda in April to pursue his music at home. Born Inkindi Muyango to renowned Gakondo singer Jean-Marie Muyango, Inki’s life has always centred on music. At the age of six, he was already singing and at the age of 18 he began playing the guitar and doing music covers. When he was 21, he joined a reggae group called “Zion’s Youth”, in Brussels that performed in bars. Four months ago, the 33-year-old released his debut song titled ‘Entre Nous’ (Between Us). The song’s reception from Rwandans is what inspired him to return home. “I got good reaction from Rwandans about my song because I had added some verses in Kinyarwanda language and I was really touched. Actually, when you are in a certain location, as an artiste, you expect to have fans in that area only, so Rwandans really like music even though not all of them speak French, they mostly speak English and Kinyarwanda. “So, I tried to put a little bit of Kinyarwanda and I decided to come to Rwanda, because I realised that the best way to touch Rwandese people directly and meet Rwandan artistes is to be close to them. That is why I came back here to try,” he says in an interview with Weekender. Once in Rwanda, he got in touch with Ishyo Arts and began performing with Bill Ruzima, doing tours in schools. Recently, he was invited to perform at the inauguration of French Cultural Center, which was initiated by the French President. “That was something big because, due to Covid-19, I had spent a year or two without a concert, and I came here. They called me and asked me if I can perform at a concert where President Macron will attend, so I said, “What! President Macron?” It was a big deal for me and pretty exciting to do this but also challenging because it was my first time playing for a diplomatic setting, and there were a lot of people. It was a crowd of about 200 people who came to see the President, but I was there and they saw me. It was really cool,” he adds. At the inauguration he met with different artistes like Yvan Buravan, Sameer Kamanzi, with whom he hopes to work with in the future. “So, the different thing here is that I am Rwandan and I am talking to fellow Rwandans, which increases the connection with other people. So, it’s not going to be easy, but it’s going to be deep and real. If I am able to deliver my message to Rwandans through music, I think they are going to like it and get it in a better way than others,” he explains. “Music is complicated everywhere; I think there are two kinds of artistes; there are stars, and there are others who are not really famous. The journey to get to the spotlight is complicated everywhere. It requires fighting, struggling and believing every day, to wake up and say I am going to do this, I am going to go there, so it is not easy for artistes,” he adds. He hopes to connect with Rwandans more on Instagram where they can “see what I am doing, because every day I am adding new videos of me playing guitar, singing vibes, and I hope to do more in Rwanda like video clips and more.” His music is mostly pop with a little touch of R&B and an Afro content. Five years to come, he envisions himself at Kigali Arena “making the biggest event that Kigali has ever seen.”
