JUSTIN NSENGIMANA is an artiste whose songs focus on commemorating victims of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi. “After the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi which claimed most of my relatives, friends and neighbours, I decided to give my contribution of counselling through songs as well as talking about how bad Genocide is,” he told The New Times. He added that ever since he started doing these commemoration songs, he has received testimonies from survivors who say his songs helped decrease their trauma and speak out. “Some survivors come to me when they want to share testimonies in form of a song. This communicates to the youth who were born after the Genocide 1994 as they get the whole message from songs.” Nsengimana also believes that singing commemoration songs a sign of healing, “as opposed to people’s beliefs that people are still traumatised. “I was too young to know all that was happening during the Genocide. There is also a younger generation that was not yet born doing the commemoration. It is part of healing and proof of humanity and a way to fight against Genocide denial so that it will never happen again, it has nothing to do with trauma,” said Justin. When asked about some challenges they face, he mentioned minimum or no support from the authorities yet their songs contribute to building the country. So far he has seven commemorations songs, with the most popular being; ‘Abandi’, ‘Muvandimwe’, ‘Mama’, ‘Uru rwandiko’ and ‘Ntimuzazima’. His idea to sing in foreign languages, he said, came about when he attended the 27th commemoration of the Genocide in Netherlands, to help foreigners get the message and history about Genocide in his songs. “Some people don’t understand how the Genocide happened and its effects. Regardless of the country one might be from, there shouldn’t be any form of denial.” Justin recently released a song dubbed, ‘Nta Soni Bagira’ with English subtitles and the song is about fighting genocide denial. One of his biggest projects includes combining all the commemoration songs he has and writing a book about them. He explained that this is to help people living with disabilities, like who can’t hear but read get the message in the songs. He also has some other songs that are used in government events and some gospel songs as well. The 29-year-old was born and raised in Ngororero. He started his music career in 2014 with the main aim of counselling the 1994 Genocide survivors.
