The recording industry in Burundi

Historical background

The history of Burundi’s recording music industry dates back to the colonial period, which lasted between the 1890s and 1962.

The first professional music recording studio started in 1960, with the establishment of Radio Television Nationale du Burundi (RTNB), Burundi’s national radio and TV broadcaster. RTNB began with audio recording in a mono-track setup. The recording of artists was necessary because the station needed local musical content to broadcast. Later, in 1984, RTNB began recording live bands to generate video content for its programming, and that is when the first video recordings of Burundian musicians emerged.

During the mid-1990s, Burundian musician and producer Antoine-Marie Rugerinyange, also known as Africa Nova, set up Burundi’s first multi-track recording studio, called Burundi Music Studio (BMS), in Bujumbura, the country’s capital city. At the time, Rugerinyange was the bandleader of Amabano Band and the National Orchestra. A skilled keyboard player and arranger, he is credited for recording most of the hits that were locally released on cassette tapes by artists such as Cedric Bangy, Evode Ntahonankwa and Bahaga Prosper, among others.

It should be noted that the first popular hit in the country, 'Longtemps', was recorded in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1974. The song was composed by Leonce Ngabo, who was backed by Kenya-based Congolese band Boma Liwanza.

The Burundian recording industry in the digital era

Digital music recording in Burundi began in the early 2000s. The first digital music recording studio, Menya Media Studio, was established in 2003 by guitarist and producer Jeremy Hakeshimana. The studio was an initiative led by local NGO Menya Media. The organisation represented Kawas, one of the leading hip hop groups in Burundi at the time. The group recorded songs with positive messages, including HIV/AIDS awareness songs. 

The first-ever professional-standard digital recording studio and label in Burundi, Tanganyika Studio, was launched in 2009. The studio produced and represented several Burundian artists and promoted their music, most notably the traditional band Alfred & Bernard, which toured Africa, the US, Europe, China and Australia.

In the past few years, many private professional recording studios and home studios have been established in all of Burundi's cities and provinces. The emergence of new, and affordable, audio recording technology has been a boost for both professional studios and home studios in terms of output and creative freedom, with the development of digital audio workstations (DAWs) profoundly transforming how music is made, approached and budgeted for.

However, some industry players in the country argue that the quality of most recordings coming out of Burundi lack in quality compared to many other African countries. Although Burundi has a good number of skilled producers and sound engineers, many musicians are hesitant or unable to spend funds on professional mixing and mastering services.

Currently, the most popular and well-equipped studios in Burundi are AM Productions and Boychum Productions, the latter of which is geared towards live recordings.

The value of the recording industry in Burundi

When it comes to digital sales, Burundian musicians are struggling to sell their music online compared to the more developed music markets in Africa. In addition, there are no readily available statistics on digital publishing and distribution in the country. This is an area that needs to be developed in order to place an objective value on the country's recording industry.

Resources:

[1] Interview with Leonce Ngabo, the author of 'Longtemps'.
[2] Michael Chanan, Repeated Takes (Verso 1995).
[3] https://afro7.net/bandcat/boma-liwanza.
[4] http://www.ua.ac.be/objs/00110840.pdf.
[5] https://menya-media.org/menya/notre-equipe/.
[6] http://www.conseilfrancophone.org/fr_FR/professionnels/detail/id/72. 
[7] https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-art-of-digital-audio-recording-9780195394108?cc=us&lang=en.
[8] https://www.academia.edu/5370622/Case_Study_Impact_of_Digitization_on_Music_Industry_in_the_Recent_Times.

Disclaimer: Music In Africa's Overviews provide broad information about the music scenes in African countries. Music In Africa understands that the information in some of these texts could become outdated with time. If you would like to provide updated information or corrections to any of our Overview texts, please contact us at info@musicinafrica.net.

Editing by David Cornwell