BIOGRAPHY: KIZITO MIHIGO

« If I was to choose myself a name and if this name was to define the real me and the person whom I wholeheartedly want to become, then that name would be: "Rwanda reconciled by Christ "» Kizito Mihigo

 

The organist and composer, Kizito Mihigo, was born Saturday, July 25th, 1981 at Kibeho, a sector of Nyaruguru district, in the former Gikongoro province, currently located in the Southern Province. Son of Augustin Buguzi and Ilibagiza Placidia, Kizito grew up in a Catholic Christian educational environment. At the age of 9, he began to compose small songs, and five years later, when he was a secondary school student in the « Petit Seminaire de Butare », he becames the most popular liturgical organist composer in the Catholic Church of Rwanda.

In April 1994, when he was almost 13 years old, the young Mihigo survived the genocide against the Tutsis, in which more than eight hundred thousand Tutsis were murdered during including his own father.

A few years later, this tragedy inspired the young talent to become the organist-singer-author and composer of the most popular songs in Rwanda.

One year after the genocide, Kizito Mihigo composed hundreds of liturgical compositions which were rapidly exploited in several parishes in Rwanda.

In 2000, (when he was 19 years old), Kizito Mihigo were already author and composer of over 200 (two hundred) liturgical songs, sung in all the parishes of Rwanda.

Kizito on the organ of Koelkelberg Basilica in Brussels

In 2003, noticed by the authorities of the country, he was sent to Europe to follow his music studies.

In 2008, he received the postgraduate diploma (DFE) at the “Conservatoire de Musique in Paris”.

From 2008-2010, after his graduation, he was a music teacher in Belgium.

In 2010 he founded the KMP (Kizito Mihigo for Peace) a non-profit foundation with the mission of using Art in PEACEBUILDING.

Kizito receives CYRWA Award

In 2011, Imbuto Foundation, the organization of the First Lady of Rwanda, gives to Kizito Mihigo the price CYRWA (Cerebrating Young Rwandan Archivers), in recognition of his artistic activities for Peace and Reconciliation.

His best known works are:

• INUMA (DOVE): Kinyarwanda Song about Peace - in 2010
• TWANZE GUTOBERWA AMATEKA (composed on the occasion of the 17th commemoration of Genocide against the Tutsi)
• TURI ABANA B'U RWANDA: (Composed in 2011 which became like the anthem of the Rwandan Diaspora)
• ITEME (BRIDGE): (A 20 minutes Christian song about forgiveness and reconciliation)
• ARC EN CIEL (RAINBOW): (Singing on forgiveness and peace after the genocide)
• IJORO RIBARA UWARIRAYE: (Song about Memory Conservation, composed on the occasion of the 18th commemoration of Genocide against the Tutsi)

KIZITO MIHIGO- OFFICIAL WEBSITE