Jean Paul Samputu

Jean Paul Samputu was born on 15 March 1962. He began singing in 1977 in a church choir. he is influenced by traditional and contemporary music and artists such as Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff and Lionel Richie. In 1982, Samputu helped to form a group called Nyampinga, which eventually went on to record three albums that contained early hit songs like ‘Suzuki’ (after the Japanese motorcycle), ‘Crayon No Shimboke’ (referring to a new style of dress in Rwanda)and ‘Ingendo Yabeza’ (Walk of Beauty).Throughout the 1980s Samputu toured with his Orchestra Nyampinga in Rwanda and Burundi.

In 1990 Samputu was among the first who were arrested for ethnic reasons during the RPF invasion. He was detained for 6 months in prison until the government issued an amnesty. In 1993 he embarked on a tour of Europe. He moved to Canada in 1998. He won the most promising African artist at the 2003 Kora Awards, that same year he founded the Mizero Foundation, an organization that aims to help children who are homeless, orphaned, infected with HIV/Aids, or vulnerable in some other way. The foundation created the Mizero Troupe, a group of children who tour outside Rwanda singing and dancing.

In 2005 he was the winner of the Spirituality & Healing Competition for the album Testimony from Rwanda. That same year he also started his Forgiveness Campaign. In 2013 and 2014 he embarked on the Forgiveness tour in Japan and the UK.