21-YEAR-OLD ISAAC NSHUTI, commonly known as Isaac Bigogwe, wants to build a name in music that would see him invited to perform at international music festivals. He is a new face in the music industry but his passion is what drives him to dream big in a career he launched after graduating in music at Nyundo School of Art and Music. Last week Bigogwe released his new single ‘Love Yourself’, which carries a message to encourage the people to focus on their dreams and count on their loved ones to successfully achieve their targets. The song audio was recorded and produced by upcoming producer Real Beat, while the video was directed by Otto Shamamba. ‘Love Yourself’ comes three months after the singer dropped another love song ‘No Time’ as he pushes to introduce himself on the local music scene and join the new generation looking to change the game of Rwandan music. Nshuti was born and raised in Bigogwe. He decided to take the name of the place as his stage name after he realised that his friends at school liked calling him by the name of his birth place. “The likes of Bill Ruzima, Kevin Kade, Kenny Sol, Okkama and even my roommates at the music school used to call me ‘Bigogwe’ and I ended up taking it as my stage name. It’s my pride because thats where I was born,” he revealed. The rising artiste was a member of a choir at a church from his home village in Nyabihu and people always enjoyed and admired his drumming skills whenever he was in action during a choir performance during the Sunday service. He grew up practicing more as an instrumentalist who had his heart set on becoming a number one drummer in the country in the future. However, his colleagues made him change his mind when he was admitted to join the music school in Muhanga although he thought the school would help him sharpen his skills and become a pioneer in drumming. “My dream was to become Rwanda’s finest drummer. But I changed my mind after my friends at school said I would be better off as a recording artist,” he said. The youngster explained that he decided to give up on drumming because there was little access to drums because they were few at school compared to the number of students who wanted to use them. He shifted focus to learning how to use saxophones and flutes, two musical instruments the singer says he will regularly be using in his songs. “I can now use saxophone in my music just like I did during our performances at Iwacu Muzika festival last year. The flutes are also important to me because I perform them to produce background music during the performances of poems and production of documentaries,” he said. Bigogwe now focuses on establishing himself more as an artist of festivals than concerts and his confidence on stage gives him hope that he will one day earn a number of bookings from international festivals.
