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Ntarindwa’s solo comedy show a hit

Saturday March 18 2017
comedian

Diogène Ntarindwa’s one-man comedy show proved successful. PHOTOS | ANDREW I KAZIBWE

The one-man comedy show genre is yet to be developed in the country especially by local comedians. However, Diogène Ntarindwa, 41, also known as Atome or Gasumuni, has earned a reputation for holding successful solo shows.

In a recent show dubbed Kwirekura, which translates to ‘let’s have fun freely,’ the comedian proved himself by entertaining the audience for more than four hours. Some of those who attended the event held at Camp Kigali Grounds on March 4, included government officials.

For his stage act, Ntarindwa focused on politics, the country’s history and development policies in a humorous way. He entertained the audience with his take on the country’s development for the past 23 years since the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi; the infrastructural and service sectors, tourism, government polices in health and other issues affecting society.

The comedian also holds a special skill in engaging with his audience closely by using humour and mimicking well-known personalities.

Ntarindwa — who mainly performs in France and Belgium — joked about his life experience as a soldier in the rebel movement before the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, and the challenges of life after demobilisation.

He joked about how during rebel times, they were trained on “Ujanja Wa Poli” which he translates as “techniques of surviving in the forest,” but they were never taught “Ujanja wa Mjini” (how to survive in towns).

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Ntaridwa rarely holds local shows and he last performed in 2015 at the Rwanda Revenue Authority Auditorium, which marked almost four years of not performing locally.

“My absence on the local scene is because I am currently concentrating on my performances abroad,” he told Rwanda Today after his comedy show.

Ntarindwa has a unique ability as multilingual artiste. His recent show saw him perform in five languages: Kinyarwanda, Kiswahili, Kirundi, French, English and Lingala. He also has experience in performing across the Great Lakes Region.

Following the success of this show, the comedian plans to perform again in April and May.

Ntarindwa is also an actor and will perform in several plays. One of the plays is titled Human Species, while the other is titled Hate radio — a play produced in German and which has been acted in more than 30 countries worldwide.

Ntarindwa takes on the role of Kantano, a hate radio presenter at RTLM a radio station known for spreading genocide ideology and hate speech during and before the Genocide against the Tutsi.