Iyakaremye: I Don’t Do Gospel Music for Money

[Photo Credit: Courtesy]

By Kinyua Mwangi

Budding Rwandan gospel artiste Patrick Iyakaremye has spoken of the challenges dogging new entrants into the musical scene. Iyakaremye now 28, has nurtured his musical dream since childhood and has hopes of becoming a high-flying gospel artiste in the country.

However, lack of support in terms of sponsorship and promotions have been the biggest setback in his 6-year journey in the gospel industry.

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“At times you meet people who are interested in helping you through music promotion and funding some of the expenses that go hand in hand with music, but all of a sudden, they change their mind when they realise that you do Gospel music, because they believe that there is no money in the genre,” he explained as quoted by New Times.

The young artiste started singing at a tender age, he was big fan of hip hop and this inspired him a lot to join the music industry.

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He was also an ardent choir member where he trained his vocals to “do good music”.

Hitherto, Iyakaremye has released two singles and is planning on releasing more in future. He also explained that he does music for the sole purposes of spreading the word of God and not to gain financially as it is for many people joining the industry.