Impano group- 'Ndabigukundira'

In the afternoon we drove to the Nyamirabo area of Kigali to record The Impano Group, (pronounced Imano group, silent P), which means “Gift” or “Talent”, a young five-part group that do modern takes on traditional songs and mix the inanga with the guitar. They have one guitar player, one inanga player and three vocalists. Yvanny is the songwriter, when they do originals. Yvanny, Livingston and Karinijabo met when they studied music together at the technical school, and Deborah was in a church choir. Kirenga taught himself guitar and met Ivanny playing at a wedding. Since then they’ve all gigged together at weddings and in bars. Some of them are still at university and hope to be professional musicians.

Band members
Inanga and vocals – Karinijabo Ignas
Guitar – Kirenga
Lead Vocals – Mutangana Yves (stage name Yvanny Mpano)
Vocals – Livingston Elie (red shirt)
Vocals – Deborah Wiyineva
They showed us around their very cool studio, but as we wanted to film outdoors we ended up directing them to a quiet grassy area just outside the toilet (it’s a glamorous life on tour).

Their sound was a perfect blending of old and new, tradition and experimentation, coming together in something harmonic and unique that we loved getting to record.

The songs they performed for us were:

Ngarara – this is an Intwatwa style song about a boy asking for directions to a girl he likes. A traditional song.
Kabanyana (“Bride”) – a song traditionally sung for a bride on her wedding day
Ndabigukundira (“Why I love you”) – this is a gentle love song, an original by Yvanny, that lists the five reasons why the singer loves his woman
Sakabaka (“Eagle”) – this is an original song by Yvanny about an eagle flying, and the group did a lovely eagle dance move to accompany it
Kumuyira – this traditional song is set in Kumuyira, an old name for a place in Rwanda
Lorette – this is a sad ballad about a woman named Lorette going into an arranged marriage, asking her mother why she’s leaving her. She doesn’t want to leave her family and she’s going to someone she didn’t even grow up with. So it’s a goodbye between a family and their daughter.
Umunezero (“Happiness”) – this was a traditional song

Recorded: 26.09.23
Location: Nyamirabo