{"product_id":"bizimungu-dieudonne-inzovu-yimirindi","title":"Bizimungu Dieudonne - Inzovu Y'Imirindi","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the late 1980s, singer Bizimungu Diudonne, his wife Agnes Umbibizi, and a backing band of family and friends self-released a visionary cassette, featuring stuttering electric guitars, loping bass lines, and call and response vocals.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTheir combo of 80s studio wizardry rooted in traditional Rwandan praise songs resulted in hypnotic, extended jams unlike anything else released in East Africa at the time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe lyrics praised the beauty of the countryside and the exploits of the ancient gods.\u003cbr\u003eOn plaintive acoustic tracks squeezed between the electric bangers, Bizimungu and Agnes called for unity in the divided nation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTheir message was an eerie presaging of the coming Rwandan Genocide, which tragically tooke the lives of all members of the group.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBizimungu and Agnes were both killed by Hutu militias in 1994.\u003cbr\u003eTheir music, popular across the region, was largely forgotten in the ensuing decades.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe fi rst heard this album through music scholar Matthew Lavoie in 2018, and spent years looking for any surviving members of the band.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLast year, co-producer and Voice of America host Jackson Mvunganyi tracked down Bizimungu and Agnes' daughter, Noella, in Kigali.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOnly 8 years old at the time of her parents' death, she had taken on the task of reintroducing their work to a new generation in Rwanda.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThough her family lost almost everything in the genocide, Noella miraculously was left with a CD containing the master recordings of Inzovu Y'imirindi.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is stunning to fi nally hear this music in its fullness and immediacy, beautifully remastered at Osiris Studios and pressed on the highest quality vinyl at David Rawlings' Paramount Press.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe're grateful to Noella and our collaborators for helping us share Bizimungu and Agnes' vital music and message with the world.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MISSISSIPPI RECORDS","offers":[{"title":"Standard Black Vinyl","offer_id":53206284501319,"sku":"TRI-66999","price":29.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0931\/9779\/5655\/files\/d9d8d8e5c7c0aa6961d292cfb4a99877.jpg?v=1769369891","url":"https:\/\/towerrecords.ie\/products\/bizimungu-dieudonne-inzovu-yimirindi","provider":"Tower Records Dublin Ireland","version":"1.0","type":"link"}