Culture
Music
Rwanda is an African nation with a long history of folk music. Due to socio-military unrest and violence, many Rwandans have moved overseas in recent years, bringing their country's music to cities such as Brussels.
The ikinimba is probably the most revered musical tradition in Rwanda. It is a dance that tells the stories of Rwandan heroes and kings, accompanied by instruments like ingoma, ikembe, iningiri, umuduri and inanga. The inanga, a lyre-like string instrument, has produced many of Rwanda's best-known performers internationally, including Sentore, Maitre de Rujindiri, Kirusu, Sebatunzi, Sophie and Victor Kabarira.
The Rwandan-Belgian Cécile Kayirebwa is the most famous Rwandan musician. Before the chaotic 1990s, Rwanda produced popular local bands such as Imena, Nyampinga, Les 8 Anges, Les Fellows, Impala, Abamarungu, Los Compagnons de la Chanson, Bisa, Ingenzi and Isibo y'Ishakwe. They took influences from across Africa, especially the Congo, as well as Caribbean zouk and reggae. Following the civil war, music gradually returned to the country, and new stars arose, the most prominent of which is probably Aimé Murefu, a guitarist that draws upon American rock and blues guitarists like Jimi Hendrix, BB King and Carlos Santana.
Recently, singer Jean-Paul Samputu, along with his group Ingeli, won two Kora awards (African Grammy) for "Most Inspiring Artist" and "Best Traditional Artist" in 2003 for their performance of neo-traditional Rwandan music. The group tours the world spreading the Christian message of peace and reconciliation, and helps raise money for the many orphans of Rwanda.
Literature
Rwanda's literary history is largely an oral one. The traditional texts were classed in two main categories: more formal, royal documents, which are described as 'official tradition', and the non-formal, popular literature. To this day, storytelling and public speaking are much admired, and good storytellers are respected in society.
Very little literature has been written in Kinyarwanda (the native language of the country), but there are a number of books written in French. The clergyman and historian Alexis Kagame (1912-81) researched the oral history of Rwanda and published a number of volumes of poetry and Rwandan mythology. Saverio Naigiziki wrote an autobiography, Escapade Rwandaise (Rwandan Adventure) and a novel, L'Optimiste (The Optimist), about the marriage of a Hutu man and a Tutsi woman.
In the aftermath of the 1994 genocide, Benjamin Sehene (b.1959-) wrote Le Piège ethnique (The Ethnic Trap) (1999), a study of what led to the genocide, and Le Feu sous la soutane (Fire under the Cassock) (2005), an historical novel focusing on the true story of a Hutu Catholic priest, Father Stanislas, who offered protection to Tutsi refugees in his church before sexually exploiting the women and participating in massacres.
Films
There have been a number of films set in Rwanda, including the following:
- Gorillas in the Mist (1988):
Feature film dramatizing the work of American ethologist Dian Fossey, who studied gorillas in Rwanda's mountain forests until her murder there in 1985. - Hotel Rwanda (2004):
Feature film dramatizing the true story of Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who housed over a thousand threatened Tutsi refugees during the 1994 genocide. - Shooting Dogs (2005):
Dramatic feature film based on the true story of a Catholic priest and a young idealistic English teacher caught in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. - Sometimes In April (2005):
Dramatic feature film focusing on the experiences of an intermarried Hutu-Tutsi family during the 1994 genocide. - Un dimanche à Kigali (2006):
Dramatic feature film relating the love story between a foreign journalist and local woman, against the backdrop of the genocide. The film is a French adaptation of the Gil Courtemanche novel A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali.
