Miss JoJo: Blazing the music trail

Her poise and grace in the music industry has earned her celebrity reputation. This is Josiane Uwineza aka Miss JoJo, has chosen to blaze. Her focus is undeterred, her mission is clear – sky is the limit for this budding musical beauty. This intelligent young lady speaks eloquently about her biography, music and dance, her potential and vision. Miss JoJo, 25, is one of Rwanda’s hottest hip hop female artistes. Born in Bugesera, Eastern Province, and attained a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the National University of Rwanda. Music and Dance ‘Music is my passion, my dream. In fact, I am living my dream! I have been unable to stop it’, she says upon being asked about what music means to her. ‘I found myself in a profession that I had always looked forward to. I am living my dream to become an international musician. Miss JoJo is quick to point out that she is dead serious about her career so much so that if she stops being a musician to venture into something else, she will actually mess up her life. She has a background based on a wide experience on performing arts such as traditional and contemporary dance, and her love for music made her develop the passion from the time go. It is an experience that allows the growing star to declare herself as a progressing singer, whose ambitions and determination in music has rare stage of development throughout fellow artistes in the country. Late last year, she released her debut album “Itangiriro”, (Genesis’), which is definitely a hit on some, if not all the local radio stations. Her art puts together the message delivering and the melody entertainment. In the world of music genre, Miss JoJo is looking forward to developing a new style which combines the international rhythms and Rwandan music style to come up with a purely Rwandan rhythm and context. Potential She has the chance to be one of the rare young women who have a heterogeneous audience. This means that she has gained fans from all ages, different social entities, and from all backgrounds. Her young age draws from modernity, while her education holds the culture of the Rwandan art. The mix of the two allows her to produce hot dancing tracks for youth, as well as soft soul music for adults. Also, Miss JoJo says that she has learnt a lot through her journey in the music industry. So far, the singer has performed in more than 25 shows of different categories, ranging from the international and national music festivals, such as the East African Party, Pan African Dance Festival (FESPAD) and FESPAM (Pan African festival of the Music). She has also participated in promotional events of big companies, like the MTN/Rwanda and Rwandatel. The singer won some important Regional Music Awards and nominations, which include the 2008 PAM Awards (Pearl of Africa Music) as Best Rwandan Female Artiste and the National University of Rwanda Rector Excellence Award 2007 for Best Female Artist. Vision Today, Miss JoJo is looking forward to develop her career to the international level. However, she is currently focused more on the regional market which is already patriarchal industry in the place. By promoting her first album “Itangiriro” (Genesis) in Bujumbura, Kampala, Nairobi and Dar-Es-Salaam, she hopes to grasp out a good opportunity to demonstrate that Rwandan music is on an amazing level. After conquering the East African music market, Miss JoJo is looking ahead, because she intends to make her sound audible from all the corners of the world, and her dream is to profile her country on the global level. She says that she is ready to register all the patience and challenges to make her dream come to reality. Ends

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Miss JoJo: Blazing the music trail