Thirty five years
after the legendary reggae singer Bob Marley passed on, his legacy still
lives on, thanks largely to the messages of love and unity that his
music espoused.
In memory of this
outstanding legacy, birthday anniversary celebrations in honour of the
reggae legend have been held across the globe every May 11, the date on
which he died in 1981.
In Rwanda, the celebrations have come to be synonymous with Mulindi Japan One Love, popularly known as Kwa Rasta in Kimihurura.
This year, the
celebrations have been dubbed Bob Marley Festival, and for the first
time, will run for three days, from May 11-13.
To headline this
year’s event is the Lion Story reggae band from Burundi. The 10-member
band first performed in Rwanda in 2012, at the KigaliUp Music Festival.
They have since returned to Kigali for a few concerts, although it’s the
first time they will be performing at the Bob Marley birthday
celebrations in Kigali.
“This is a joint
project between Mulindi-Japan One Love and Lion Story. We have known One
Love before as a place that promotes peace and love, and the owner,
Gatera Rudasingwa even has some charity projects he runs in Burundi. So
we knew each other before,” explained Igirukwigomba Patience aka Passy,
the band’s lead vocalist and percussionist.
“We have always
performed at Bob Marley birthday concerts in Burundi, but since we are
not in our country and can’t also perform there, we decided to hold it
here because also many of our fans who are Burundians are living in
Rwanda due to the insecurity in Burundi at the moment,” he added.
Performing as guest
artists is the Rwandan reggae outfit Strong Voice, who are more
familiar with the Bob Marley anniversary celebrations, having performed
consistently at all of them since 2010.
“It’s a pleasure to
welcome our brothers and sisters from Lion Story to Rwanda. We have
been busy preparing a surprise for our fans and on Wednesday we shall
unveil it,” remarked Dusabimana Heritier, the leader of Strong Voice.
Strong Voice is a
family band that originally started out as Kidz Voice, and is made up of
five siblings (three brothers and two sisters).
Amidst all
hardships, the then kids’ band recorded a 14-song album titled, African
Child at Dreamland Studios in Bujumbura, released in 2011.
In 2013, the
siblings took a decision to change the name of the band from Kidz Voice
to Strong Voice. Last year, the band performed at the DOADOA East
African Performing Arts Market in Uganda.
Proceeds from the
festival will go towards the Mulindi-Japan One Love Project, an
initiative that provides artificial limbs and IT training to people with
disabilities in Rwanda.
Other acts lined up for the celebrations are; Kwanda band (Rwanda), Ras Clan Entertainment (Uganda), and Dub Armada (Germany)