RWANDA has a number of tourist attractions, including events and concerts, but the festivals, in all different forms, seem to have been left out, yet town festivals are not only an eye-catching tourist attraction but also impact the city economically. The music industry has for years been short of festivals yet a number of musicians are discovered through festivals before they introduce themselves to the music world. To complement the existing attractions in Kigali and fill the festival gap, Hill festival Ltd intends to organise an annual festival dubbed ‘The Hill Festival Kigali’, which will be a music festival targeting all music styles, considering world cultural diversification. The festival will be an annual event, with the first of its kind scheduled to take place from August 4-5 next year. The inaugural edition will attract artists from Germany, Jamaica, Sweden, Switzerland, France and East African countries including host nation Rwanda. Local showbiz presenter Luckman Nzeyimana is working hand in hand with the festival organisers who trusted him as a showbiz figure who has been in the forefront in promoting music in Rwanda over the past decade. Nzeyimana told The New Times that the event company behind the festival wants to make it grow and become a go-to international event for tourists. “Rwanda has been impressive in establishing itself as a tourism destination. But there is still a gap in festivals yet we agree that they attract tourists too. Apart from bringing entertainment in town, we hope this festival can contribute to the development of tourism in Rwanda by attracting so many people, mainly artists from across the globe, to visit the country,” Nzeyimana said in an interview. “The more successful the festival becomes, the bigger the country’s visibility will be. Festivals contribute a lot to countries touristic revenues and I think its time to take lessons and practice the same model in Rwanda ,” he added. The music festival is the largest and one of the most important performance institutions in music life, a space at which the culture brand may also be promoted. Music festivals are events, consisting of a variety of live bands and musical artists performing shows, on numerous stages, over a period of days to a large audience in outdoor and indoor venues and that’s why organisers are considering approaching solo artists and bands from the aforementioned countries to grade the inaugural festival. If successful, one of the festival organising team says, we hope to see our country’s cultural tourism boosting year after year by attracting a number of artists coming from various parts of the world. “The staging of festivals and special occasions in small towns are aimed at the development of tourism, cultural development, and the provision of recreational activities to tourists, but certainly benefit as well when they participate in them,” he said. Organisers are announcing the festival earlier for them to take enough time to secure important artists and get enough funds to organise the event of a high standard. “It is a festival that we hope will also help to discover new talents that could show the world what Rwandan music can offer in the future. I think it’s a good platform for our music to thrive as we continue to push for new strategies to promote our music to the international scene,” Nzeyimana emphasizes.
