Sophie Nzayisenga- 'Ingangi'

This morning we recorded Sophie Nzayisenga, the Queen of the Inanga at the Highland Suites Hotel in Kigali. Sophie has been playing the inanga (a traditional stringed instrument) since she was six years old, and she has played all over the world.

She is the only professional female inanga player in Rwanda. Her mother died when she was four; as a result, she spent time with her father and grandfathers, all of whom played the inanga professionally (her paternal grandfather even played for the king’s palace). She was born in a village in the south of Rwanda. By age seven she was doing festivals and by nine years old she had left the country to play a festival in Bulgaria! She was accepted as a female inanga player because she started so young and people loved seeing this child perform. By the time she came of age people were used to seeing her. Since then she’s toured America, East Asia and Europe – last week she was in Holland with 200 artists from around the world, and was one of only 5 chosen as the best of the festival. Over the last few years the inanga has been having a resurgence among younger Rwandans, and Sophie is teaching a host of young women to play.

The location where we were going to film was flooded, so she came to our hotel and the other guests were treated to a concert of six of her songs:

Turabara Mutsa (“Welcome Song”) – created in 1930 by a choir from the king’s palace called Abagororangigingo for the king’s coronation, and for the reunion of the king and queen after some time apart.

Ingangi (“Winning”) – written by Sophie’s father but featuring Sophie’s own lyrics too. A kind of victory song about the artist’s achievements. Sophie is the only woman to have a song like this, and we are going to work with our wonderful fixer Jado and Sophie’s son to have the lyrics translated.

Inyambo (a type of cow) – an original song that Sophie wrote in 2018 during an event at Nyanza, where we’re off to tomorrow. Many inyambo cows were killed during the Rwandan genocide, and they brought over more from Uganda to the king’s palace in 2018, inspiring Sophie to write this ode to the inyambo.

Imijyembe (a part of the spear) – this is an original song telling farmers to fight the hunger, with the spear. It’s a conversation format, telling the story, featuring laughing and talking as well as singing, and at the end everyone starts fighting the hunger by farming together.

Kamananga – this is based on the true story of a man called Kamananga who tried to take over his entire region when Rwanda was left without a king (the king had died and his son was still a boy and too young to take the throne). Kamananga was summoned to the palace and the song takes place on his journey there. The palace said to him that he could have power over his area as long as he didn’t attack the throne. But he did, and that is how he died. A story of hubris that we’re going to learn more about when we visit the museum later this week.

Nyangezi – this is a song about happiness and funny moments, about a character called Nyangezi.

Nyangezi: Magic Moment

Kamananga: Magic Moment

If you are interested in hearing more from Sophie- here’s a link to Antonovka Records recording of Sophie, recorded in October 2018 and featured on Bandcamp:
https://antonovkarecords.bandcamp.com...

Recorded: 23.09.24
Location: Highland Suites Hotel, Kigali Rwanda