Rwandan soul R&B singer and songwriter Alpha Rwirangira left his home country a few years ago to pursue a course in music to improve his talent. Even after graduating, the ‘Yamungu’ singer has since not returned home. Sunday Magazine’s Sharon Kantengwa had a chat with him on what he has been up to of late and his musical journey. You have been ‘quite’ lately on the music scene. What have you been cooking for your fans? Trying to put my new songs ‘Yamungu’ and ‘Merci’. More music projects are still coming up. I graduated a year ago in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing and minor in music but I am still working on my music to gain more experience before I think of coming back home. From the experience you have so far, how can you say you have improved musically? Before I used to get pressured by my fans but now I have grown to control my emotions. Oh, I have improved a lot more especially my composition style. I have also improved business wise, right now every project that comes out is always revised to a point where by if it’s not good enough to be put out there, the song will not be released despite the amount of investment. You have switched to gospel music of late. Is this a reflection of your Christian roots? I have always been a Christian and haven’t changed a bit. The only difference is that I’m a creative artist just like every other artist. I don’t like to put boundaries to my art. However, this world is composed of all kind of air in the atmosphere, some are poisonous and some are not but at the end of the day oxygen is the rescue of every living soul. So is Gospel music in my philosophy. Anyways, I love Gospel so much but if you look at my kind of writing for the past songs; you would classify this type of music as “inspirational music” Which of your songs have moved you emotionally? Amashimwe, Merci and Yamungu. Their message, melodies mean a lot to me. I have grown to understand what my fans want to hear from me and this has led me to produce better projects with quality. What can you say has been your lowest point in your music career? My early points of my music journey when I had just began my music journey after I was officially launched into the music industry. I was completely lost and everything came to a standstill, all at once. It was tough to break through emotionally. What do you attribute your career success to? Music runs in my family. We all sing in my family, my grandfather was a good traditional (intore) dancer. My father too was a great guitarist and singer. I remember when we were young, my father and I used to sing hymns and praise songs all night long. My love for music and family support is what has seen me through. Do you have plans of venturing into something else other than music? Not yet for now even though I have a lot of other talents that I believe died within me like, comedy, acting, acrobatic and so many more. I will see which one I will bring out next. Only time will tell. What new projects are in the pipeline? They will very soon be announced. Two weeks up to a month or so. I am still working on the release strategy.
