It is not often that you will find siblings doing things together considering that each one will most probably have a different path in life but that is not the case for Pastor Gaby and Claire. The siblings, real names Gabriel Ngamije and Claire Uwambayikirezi, are an upcoming Rwandan gospel music duo which is fast becoming popular on the gospel music scene. Formed in 2016, the duo released their debut 10-track album, Narastinze on this month, and boasts of hits like Yandutiye, ‘Tuje Kugushima’ and ‘Jehovah is your name’, among other songs That same year, the musical group formed a ministry called Christo Centric Worship, where Pastor Gaby serves as a pastor, and Claire as a worship team leader. Pastor Gaby is the elder sibling, older than Claire by two years. Before they became a duo, the siblings had already been experimenting with music in church choirs, performing songs by different gospel artistes, both local and foreign before they thought ‘hmmm….we can do it on our own’. “We come from a talented family, our father used to sing, our sister is a model and our older brother and the two of us are singers,” They told The New Times. “We started singing in choirs when I was 10 years, and Claire was only eight. By the time I was 15, I was a worship team leader at my church,” said Pastor Gaby. The father of two said that what makes them unique from the rest of other local gospel artistes is that they record all their music live and exhibit high levels of talent. He, however, said that like most local artistes especially in the gospel genre, they struggle with limited exposure and tangible remuneration from their work. “People in Church know us, but what about the rest? The online platforms will help us to expand our fan base and perhaps get us to a point where people pay for our music or performances,” said Claire. Their songs are available on digital platforms like Youtube iTunes, Spotify and XWAV, editor@newtimesrwanda.com
