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Major events that lit up 2021

Friday December 31 2021
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Rwandan Artists perform on stage during the opening ceremony of the Fespaco Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou, In Burkina Faso. Rwandans staged excellent performance. PHOTO | FILE

By ANDREW I KAZIBWE

As curtains draw on 2021, local creative industry is gradually coming back to life following close to two years of no physical events to fight spread of Covid-19.

The year recorded the return of physical events and big entertainment exhibition that breath life into creative industry.

Rwanda Today recounts the major events that stood out. With physical events getting green lights in October, there were a number of creative events to help artists recover.

Successful events a­fter reopening of the economy were Trappish Concert at Canal Olympia Rebero, which was organized by Intore Entertainment.

This was followed by the Movember Fest, hosted at the same venue which featured Nigerian artist Adekunle Gold, together with Keny Sol and Gabiro Guitar.

Other events were Fantasy Music Concert featuring Nigeria’s Ric Hassan and Rwanda’s Mike Kayihura, Kigali Fiesta, which featured Nigerian Afro Pop and R&B Star Omah Lay, Kigali Live and Unplugged Concert which featured Nigeria’s Nneka Igbuna, Rwanda’s IN_KI and Andersonne.

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The Ten Years of Bruce Melodie Concert, hosted by the Kigali Arena was another successful event that attracted many enthusiasts to it.

The Koffi Olomide Live in Kigali Concert prevailed, but with huge mixed reactions from the Kigali activists over the previous Gender-Based Violence track record and cases the musician holds.

There were also annual events like Ubumuntu Arts Festival in July which, but through the semi-virtual mode.

Others included the Hamwe Festival, East African Nights of Tolerance Contemporary Dance Festival, the European Film Festival, and the Kiss Summer Awards in November and Rwanda Theatre Festival, Mashariki African Film Festival, which made a return to the physical events scene since 2019.

And in October, there were celebrations in the country as three local filmmakers scooped awards at the 2021 Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) an annual event hosted by Burkina Faso to recognize African fi lmmakers.

The festival which year attracted the participation of 50 countries saw Rwandan acts; Mutiganda Wa Nkunda winning the Best Screenplay Award for his fiction film Nameless.

Kantarama Gahigiri’s 2019 film dubbed Ethereality was awarded the Poulain d’Or, while Alliah Fafin scooped the 2021 Fespaco Silver Foal Award for her 2021 fi ction fi lm Amani.

On August 20, the country’s former Minister for Sports and Culture ambassador Joseph Habineza died while in Nairobi at the age of 56.

Habineza was in 2004 appointed Minister for Sports and Culture, a position he held for seven years.

The news of the sudden passing on of prominent Rapper Joshua Tuyishime alias Jay Polly struck many fans and the entire Arts industry. Tuyishime, 33 passed away on September 2 at Muhima Hospital, where he had been shortly admitted due to health complications he suffered while he was in detention at Mageragere Prison in Kigali.