The gospel music industry, unlike the mainstream secular music industry in Rwanda, remains a difficult one to manoeuvre and requires resilience to remain relevant, but Ireney Mercy Safari has proved that he can weather the storm. The 27-year-old didn’t know that he could become a singer until he joined a church choir at a young age and eventually discovered that singing was indeed his talent. The artiste launched his solo singing career in 2006 when he released his first song, with many challenges along the way. “Different from today, at the time we had only one local media that could air gospel songs. Sponsors were also nowhere to be found, because no one could see the future of gospel music,” he recalls Safari so far boasts of four albums, with many collaboration songs with R&B star The Ben, his childhood mate. According to Safari, his relationship with the Ben began many years ago when they both prayed from the same church. After they became friends, The Ben started helping him with vocal trainings and assistance in studio when recording songs. Giving highlights of his latest album titled “Uri imbabazi zanjye”, Safari notes that he packaged the album to ensure that everyone who will listen to the songs, many of which are already out, will not only enjoy the melody, but also experience relief through the message in them. One of these songs is “Dufatanye” that brought together Safari and other both secular and gospel music icons like Aime Uwimana, Alpha Rwirangira, Gabby Kamanzi, Patrick Nyamitali, Jules Sentore and Aline Gahongayire among others. Commenting on this all-star song, the artiste says that as the name of the song is around team work, the motive behind it was to emphasize that only love, unity and solidarity can yield the ideal positive change in the world. Disclosing some of his future plans, Safari says that he has many projects he is working on. “I am currently writing a book on discovering oneself as a means to be prosperous, and I plan to release it soon,” he said, adding that: “I am also working on many other songs, including one that I am doing with Israel Mbonyi which will also be out in the near future.” With 14 years of experience in the gospel music industry, Safari urges upcoming and established artistes to never be money-oriented, but instead stick to spreading constructive messages that change the society for the better and make sure that they also walk the talk, reiterating that “further benefits will come along the way.”
