Christiane is her first name but she has chosen to use her family name as her artist name. Her very first album, Gikundiro, was released in September, and since then she has become the artist everyone in Kigali wants to have at their event.
The album features 11 songs, some produced by renowned Rwandan producer Michael Makembe, but also by Flyest Music and Shami. Boukuru has surrounded herself with several producers for her very first baby.
I discovered this artist by chance on social networks in 2022 after seeing a video of her at a party in Kigali. I was so moved by the song she was singing that I wrote to her to ask for the lyrics. She did so a few days later, and I was delighted to find the song in question, “Umwali”, on the album. A finalist in the Rwanda Ubuhanzi cohort, this woman excels not only in the mastery of her silky soul voice, but also in the art of storytelling. She manages to connect with her audience in an authentic and touching way, sharing her personal experiences, which I think is what makes her such a success.
The quality of the album is also worthy of note, with the instruments professionally arranged, mixing traditional and modern in a very subtle way. On some tracks, she sings in Kinyarwanda, the Rwandan language, with her powerful voice, as on “Gukura”, while on “Rest” or “Experience”, she inserts English, and even a little French in slam mode. She hits the high notes with disconcerting ease, pushing the note all the way, adding her vocal flights without straining.
As I prepare to fly to Rwanda, she is one of the artists I plan to meet during my stay in my native land.
