She is one of the most renowned names on the gospel music scene in Rwanda with six albums to her name, but Clementine Uwitonze is not about to stop. Commonly known by her stage name Tonzi, Uwitonze continues to show her aptitude and commitment to the growth of gospel music industry in the country. Tonzi has released her latest album, the seventh, composed of 15 songs. It is titled, Akira, which can loosely be translated “receive.” It includes songs like Akira, Bonne Annee, I am a victor, Mwizerwa, Yesu Akunda abana andAmatsiko among others. The songs are written in different languages, Kiswahili, English, French, and Zulu and six of them have their videos. The artiste has featured other gospel artistes such as Zaza from South Africa, Billy and Papa Dennis from Kenya. Tonzi started the project of her seventh album last year and the main message is to thank God and remind people about God’s power and love. “I could not find anything else to give my Savior. God did a lot of things to me. This album was to show my recognition of God’s love upon me. Sometimes we lack words to use to express His love. My thanksgiving was in the songs,” she said. Tonzi started her musical journey singing in church choirs at the age five and later she decided to venture into a solo career. She has since featured various renowned gospel artistes across the continent in her songs. Her first album was Humura, which she released in 2007. According to Tonzi, apart from organising concerts, she said that her other passion is to support children with disability to integrate them in the society. Last year together with other friends, Tonzi organised Spread Love Christmas to celebrate with children with disabilities. Her vision is to support, empower and hone talents among children with disabilities. She called on fellow gospel artistes to support each other, be united and fight copyright infringement, which hinders the development of music as an industry. Tonzi promised more gospel events to boost the visibility and development of industry. The album is recorded on flash disk and CD. Flash disk is sold at Rwf10,000, while a CD is Rwf5,000. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
