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Former back-up singers find the spotlight

Saturday October 18 2014
Duo

The duo of Nina and Charly, who officially began to record music together. PHOTO | CYRIL NDEGEYA

Nina (real name Fatuma Muhoza) first entered the music scene as a backup vocalist for Guma Guma Superstar contestants in 2010. Then, in 2012, she auditioned for and was picked to represent Rwanda in the regional reality music show, Tusker Project Fame (TPF).

Unfortunately for Nina she was one of the first evictees from East Africa’s biggest reality singing contest. The show however boosted her confidence to pursue music professionally.

After returning to Kigali, Nina went straight to the studio to record her first song Uzabaze. But unfortunately for the budding singer, like most debut efforts, local radio stations shunned the song and consequently, Uzabaze did not propel her into the limelight.

But, this did not stop her musical aspirations, instead it pushed her to work even harder. When Uzabaze failed to receive airplay, she penned and recorded a follow-up track titled Umunsi Nugera. But this one, too, failed to receive airplay.

It was the same story when she recorded another single featuring Uncle Austin. In fact, “That song never got to be released and I doubt it will ever see the light of day,” said the artiste.

But Nina believed that her music destiny was only being delayed. After the song featuring Uncle Austin failed to bring her the success she was seeking, she decided to take a break from the recording studio and began doing side projects.

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Nina started performing with Sound of Hills, an ensemble that plays regularly at the Hotel des Mille Collines. Playing with Sound of Hills was not her kind of thing but it gave her the time to plan for her career.

At the end of 2013, she bumped into Charly (real name Charlotte Rulinda), who was her old friend from the days when they would perform as backup singers at the Guma Guma Superstar contest. Nina suggested that she and Charly form an all-female music group.
Charly quickly warmed up to the idea partly because she shared a similar experience with Nina. Like Nina, Charly had also recorded a couple of songs, like Ntawe Nkuruta, Warezwe Nande, Niwowe and I’m Gonna Make You Stay, but none of them catapulted her into the spotlight.

Early this year, the two officially began to record music together as Nina and Charly, and their collaboration has brought out the best of them.

Their single Ngwino, is currently enjoying airplay on a couple of local FM radio stations. The song is about two young women who have just settled down and are looking forward to the next stage in their career.

Determined

However, their song Mapenzi is the most striking. It is an R&B tune about love and longing. With Mapenzi, Nina and Charly have certainly nailed it.

Together, Nina and Charly have recorded and released a total of six songs, but Mapenzi is their best so far. It is sung in Kiswahili, English and Kinyarwanda. The duo hope the song will see them gain popularity across the region.

They also hope to cultivate a more solid fan base across East Africa by recording collabos with regional artistes in the near future. “We will probably start recording at the beginning of next year,” said Nina.

For now Nina and Charly can enjoy having a career that is on an upward trend. The duo will this weekend perform at the Serena Hotel in a show dubbed Explosion Concert, mainly due to the popularity of Mapenzi.

They will perform along other big names in the industry like Tom Close, Dream Boyz, Social Mula and Uganda’s Jackie Chandiru and Burundi’s Big Farious among others.