It is by far the most popular song in Rwanda at the moment and it could be just the beginning for Afrique, real name Josue Kayigire, the young artiste behind the groovy song which is playing on every radio and television station. It is the quality of the song in terms of lyrics and mellow beat that has turned ‘Agatunda’ into an overnight hit since it was uploaded on YouTube on November 4 last year, garnering 1,051,888 views as of today—not a small feat for a first-time song for an upcoming artiste. In a recent interview, the 20-year-old revealed that he didn’t know ‘Agatunda’ would throw him in the limelight, but luckily many people don’t recognise him. “We were just relaxing with Producer Nizbeat and he started to play codes and I also started singing along. I wrote down the lyrics and the song seemed to flow. When we were done, we realised it could be a good song. “However, we didn’t know it could get as popular as it is today. We thought it was just a normal song. In fact, I thought of writing another song rather than ‘Agatunda’ but people started telling me that it is a great song,” the singer says. A quick rise to fame Afrique says he started sharing the song with his friends on WhatsApp after it was uploaded on YouTube. Before he knew it, they were sharing it and people started doing challenges on Instagram and TikTok, even abroad. “I was overwhelmed. The song went all over the world. I started receiving messages from abroad, upcountry and everywhere. It started trending, many people downloaded it,” he says of the song that is now one of the top two Rwandan songs on Boom Play and on the charts. The Eastern Province-born singer is flawlessly talented with strong vocals and ability to write songs and is now working on his next songs, with his latest ‘Rompe’ already out. It will be an uphill task for Afrique to release another song that will match ‘Agatunda’ but he is not worried. He believes it has opened doors for him to do even more. “There is some pressure of course to release a song as big as ‘Agatunda’ but I believe I now have the formula to release more songs of the same magnitude,” he says. The humble and shy singer says that sometimes when he is in a public bus heading to Nyagatare or back to Kigali and the song is played, people sing along. “Sometimes I join and sing along but people don’t know I am the one who sang it. When it happens, I promise myself to do even more and release more music and videos,” he says. “I just want people to know that I am ready to produce more good music. Even ‘Rompe’ was not released by me. People picked out the sample and shared it but I am yet to release the song and video,” Afrique says. He is not happy about his next song being leaked but he believes it is part of the process for a starting musician. Though he started singing earlier in 2020, Afrique waited to complete his secondary and vocational education before hitting the studio. Though he specialised in construction, Afrique does not see himself practicing what he studied but he acknowledges that what he pursued in school helped him to become open-minded. He was discovered and supported by local actor Leon Ngabo, commonly known as ‘Njuga’ and U.S-based singer Patrick Tegera, known by the stage name ‘Real Pac’. Afrique says he already has collaborations with different artistes coming up, including one with Riderman. He has other songs such as ‘Robine’, ‘Spy’ and ‘Don’t’.
