Hope Irakoze is the talented winner of the 2013 Edition of Tusker Project Fame. At 25, he won the life-changing amount of nearly BiF 100,000,000. The gospel singer born at Bwiza has now signed with Sony, the American music corporation, to record his debut album. Iwacu met him.-By Joanna Nganda
Hope Irakoze, singing during the Tusker Project Fame.©Iwacu
3:30 p.m., we arrive at the hotel to meet Hope. Kindly, the humble multi-millionaire welcomes us in his tidy and spacious suite where we start the interview : “At the age of 12, I left Burundi for the Seychelles where my parents moved for professional reasons. Later, I went to Rwanda where I worked as a singer for Serena Hotel,” Hope remembers. “This is probably the reason behind the rumors saying I am not Burundian. But I am; I was just not living here the whole time.”
In Bujumbura, he is well-known in the gospel music; he was one of the leading singers of Divine Glory, a gospel group. In Uganda, he studied harmony.
He also plays the guitar and piano; in fact, he used to teach those instruments to orphans and children with disabilities in Rwanda : “Music is my passion, and to succeed in doing what I like, feels really great. My friends were the ones who encouraged me to participate in a singing contest of some kind. I tried the African Idol but it was too late to be auditioned, so I chose Tusker Project Fame instead. I was auditioned and 2 weeks later I was accepted. I was both in shock and happy!” Hope says.
He received very few votes from Burundi during the contest; but luckily enough, a lot of East African people voted for him, especially people from South Sudan. According to Tusker Project Fame organizers, it was the first time for any contestant to receive so many votes from South Sudan. With a smile, Hope shyly admits “I had a lot of votes from the ladies…”
A Burundian rising star
But the rising star stresses the fact that his success has very little to do with his physical features “people don’t always realize, but it’s a lot of work. You have to own the stage and know how to communicate with the public, share your energy with them. And on top of that, you have to know how to dance and play with the cameras because you also have to connect with the people who are watching you on TV, from their homes. I remember how I recorded a single in only one da y… a single and its video clip. That day I only slept 2 hours!” explains Hope.
In Kenya, where he is working on his album with Sony, it is common for him to only sleep 4 hours per night. However, his efforts are paying off since he has already produced 2 songs and a video clip. “Now that I have a contract with Sony, I have to keep my suitcase near at all times. They can call me anytime saying that I have to be in Kenya the next day.” Among the artists signed by Sony, we can name a few : D’Banj, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, Rihanna and now Hope Irakoze, the newest addition.
With this storming success, can we say he has accomplished 100% of his dreams? Hope hesitates “not really…maybe only 60%. Don’t get me wrong, I do realize how lucky I am but I still have a lot to accomplish. My contract with Sony is only a 9 month-long contract. What am I going to do after that? I have to keep going. I’ll have an album but I still have a lot to do. In 2014, I want to contest for BET Awards and MTV Awards. With the money I won with Tusker, I want to buy myself a car and invest the rest in the music industry. This is only the start for me!” From now on, the sky is the limit and we can only wish success to this talented artist, while waiting for his debut album to be released in March 2014.
Here’s an exclusive teaser : Hope’s upcoming album will feature D’Banj, Ali Kiba, Red Sun and Jaguar …
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