First album from Maria Yohana, 70

Musician Maria Yohana Mukankuranga, third from left, and her troupe at the album launch. Photo/Cyril Ndegeya 

By Edmund Kagire and Joram Muhoozi Rwanda Today

In Summary

• Commonly known as Maria Yohana, she is one of the country’s respected liberation icons, a symbol of Rwandan culture and a mother figure.
• Among those who attended the launch were party Secretary-General Francois Ngarambe, party commissioner Senator Tito Rutarema among other top RPF officials.
• She features in national functions and all events linked to traditional Rwanda culture, which has endeared her to many Rwandans who simply call her “Mummy.”

Maria Yohana Mukankuranga, 70, a liberation icon, could not have chosen a better day to launch her 12-track album titled Intsinzi, Intego ni Imwe. It was July 4, which also happens to be Liberation Day.

Commonly known as Maria Yohana, she is one of the country’s respected liberation icons, a symbol of Rwandan culture and a mother figure.

She features in national functions and all events linked to traditional Rwanda culture, which has endeared her to many Rwandans who simply call her “Mummy.” There is no doubt that she is also very close to the country’s top leadership, particularly senior members of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).

Among those who attended the launch were party Secretary-General Francois Ngarambe, party commissioner Senator Tito Rutarema among other top RPF officials.

Launching her first album at the age of 70, she admitted, was something that came a little too late. The album however features all her compositions of the past two decades.

The album features songs such as Urugamba rurashyushye, one of the songs that spurred on the 1990 liberation struggle, as well as Intsinzi, the original triumphant song that was echoed after RPF took power in 1994 after stopping the genocide.

It was an evening of reflection as Maria Yohana and her entourage entertained the audience with classic liberation songs and many more from Rwanda’s past. Her music is basically a message of love and harmony.

Many of her admirers also got to buy the CD, and sales of up to Rwf5 million were recorded, including financial contributions from the groups she has mentored and supported, particularly those of genocide survivors.

Traditional music groups such as Indahemuka and solo musicians whom she has mentored turned up to support her. The launch was sponsored by MTN.

Intsinzi is arguably the second most popular song after the national anthem, even doing better than the RPF anthem which is only sang during party events. It is played every time Rwanda wins anything on the international stage.

Maria Yohana was among the well-known musicians during the liberation struggle, composing and recording several songs which were used to encourage the soldiers during the four years war.

Like most Rwandans, she suffered personal loss in the liberation. Her two sons were killed. Speaking to Rwanda Today back stage, she said even today, she would still make similar sacrifices.

“There is nothing good in being a refugee. All my life I was wishing for one thing — to return home regardless of what state the country was in,” she says. She spent most of her youthful years teaching in refugee camps in Uganda.

According to her account, one of the things that used to hurt her most, and still does today, was the deterioration of the Rwanda culture, referred to as ‘Umuco Nyarwanda’.

She is one of the few people who believe in the old Rwandan culture where people lived in harmony, sharing what was available, families giving each other milk, grazing cattle together and later in the evening converging to chat and recite poems (Gutarama).