Shanel Nirere with Lokua Kanza at Kigali Up Festival 2011

This video is of Shanel Nirere performing with Lokua Kanza at Kigali Up Festival, which took place in Kigali, Rwanda on September 10th 2011. Shanel is a female Rwandan artist - she is a well-known singer and actress who released her two first acapela songs in 1999 to pay respect to victims of the genocide. She has been nominated for the Pearl of Africa Music Awards three times: in 2006, 2007, 2008 and was nominated for a Salax Award for the Best Female Artist of the Year in 2009. Lokua Kanza is a multi-lingual, multi-talented singer, composer and arranger who has helped kick-start African music's renewal. Based in France, this Congolese-born guitarist began his career in rumba bands, later becoming interested in traditional music, joining the Kinshasa conservatoire of music and studying jazz and modern music in Europe. Over his 30-year career, he's worked with Abeti, Ray Lema and Manu Dibango, among others. Kanza's notoriety spread widely before the release of his first album and his soulful melancholy acoustic music has swept away clichés around music from the former Zaire, with its rumba and diabolical Soukous rhythms. Kigali Up was born from a desire to enhance a developing economy, promote Rwanda as a tourist destination and expose Rwandan artists to international audiences. The festival had two stages featuring live performances by international, Rwandan and East African artists whose music celebrates Africa's deep, diverse musical traditions and the modern music that has grown from those roots. This will be an annual festival, so to find our more go to: http://kigaliup.com and see you in 2012!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Shanel Nirere
• Lokua Kanza
• Kigali Up
• Rwanda
• African Music
• Mighty Popo

[patricklokua]

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