From playing a piano in church to owning a music studio

Sam Ryan is a talented pianist and currently one of Rwanda’s best music producers. The soft spoken and down to earth beat maker is the owner of Beats Records located in Nyamirambo and also manages the audio production at Buddies Records. Born on January 7, 1987, in the family of six (four boys and two girls), Sam Tuyizere, aka Sam Ryan’s passion to music dates back to his childhood. Both his parents being pastors, Ryan grew up in church and says that his family played a major role in developing his music career. He started playing a piano at the age of six and was later introduced to different music instruments. He attended Remera Catholic Primary School and George Fox College of Kagarama for secondary. He is currently pursuing management studies at INLAK.While growing up Ryan thought he would be a musician, but instead opted for music production because of his love for musical instruments.How his career startedRyan gets his inspiration for music production from David Gater and Dr. Dre, whom he says he admires because of their style of music. His journey in music production started in 2006 at Amnet Records with producer Emile Mbayeho.“I loved music and computers that’s when I landed on this software called FLstudio for mixing beats,” narrates Ryan. “So when I reached Ament I had some little knowledge about production and they taught me a lot of stuff about FL and Logic soft wares used in music production.” Despite working at Mbayeho’s studio, Ryan continued to play the piano in the church till 2010. He later moved to Kampala and performed at Rubaga and Kasanga Miracle Centre churches for one year. “The music production in Uganda was booming compared to that in Rwanda. Producer Godie taught me how to use logic 8 and also change from PC to imac,” says Ryan.He later went to Nairobi and joined the Tusker Project Fame, where he played the piano in both season three and four. He met producer Robert Kamanzi, aka R.KAY, while there who taught him about logic 8 and 9 and how to master a song very well. After Kenya, Ryan returned back home and started working with Tigo where he raised some more money and teamed up with his brother David Tuyishime and started their own studio called Future Records.“That was in 2010 and the business was promising. We worked with many artistes like Tom Close, Austin Dre d Andre, Miss Jojo and Alpha, among others.”The duo produced singles, like “Naku Love” for Dre en Austin, “Ukoranabo gute” for Miss Jojo and Alpha Rwirangira “Hakutamani.” It was until this year that the two brothers decided separate to pursue solo music careers. “It was a little tough for both of us because I wanted to do something unique for my clients so I started working on a new beat by combining both modern and traditional beats to get a new rhythm and also bring out the Rwandan culture,” he adds.Asked how he ended up producing secular music, Ryan said: “Despite my profession, I am still a Christian with strong religious values. I still produce gospel music and I pray every Sunday at Elimu Christian church in Remera.”Challenges in his line of workAccording to Ryan, Rwanda’s music production is still lagging behind because of lack of music schools. He says there are so many Rwandans with talent in this field but lack an institution to nurture them. Ryan also cites copyright as another challenge where by some music producers pirate songs, especially from upcoming musicians.“I am also a victim of this. Recently I released a new beat for the song Imitobe and one of the producers copied it and used it without my consent. There should be strict laws to punish such people,” he says.His achievementsDespite the challenges, producer Ryan says that his efforts have paid off and has managed to start his own studio where he is employing two people but hopes to even employ more. He also says that through his work, he has managed to pay tuition, cater for his needs and also support his siblings. Future plansThe young talented music producer dreams of having one of the best music studios in the country and also wants to start a local music school to nurture talent.He also wants to have his own talent show for both musicians and those who can play music instruments arguing that the ones available are not professional.

Leisure

From playing a piano in church to owning a music studio