Rapper Stephen Sambia, a.k.a. Sambity, is maybe best known as the singer of the Army Jazz Band, yet he is also very busy working on a solo career.

Rapper Sambity. (photo Timothy Kisambira)

“That was hard for me, because it was near impossible to find a producer willing to record my music for free,” Sambity recalls.

He nevertheless managed to record his first song, Grace, while still living in Dar. In 2004, he returned to Rwanda and settled in Kibungo. He soon found out that that wasn’t the ideal environment for a budding artist to explore his talent, so he moved to Kigali, where he found a job as a casual laborer at the airport.

Meanwhile, he had become attracted by the Army Jazz Band, which inspired him a lot; as a result, he decided to join the army in 2005 hoping to become part of the band. And he got lucky, because a top commander spotted his talent and recommended him to the group.

He still had a lot to learn, though, since there was no instrument he really played well. But he had a good voice, and thus became the band’s singer and dancer. Thanks to that position, he earned recognition in the region, something for which he still is grateful. “The army has been so supportive, I have even been shortlisted to get sponsorship for further music studies in South Africa,” Sambity explains.

Yet however much he liked singing in the Army Jazz Band, the rapper also wanted to make a name of his own. So one year after joining the group, he used his savings to produce an album with five songs at a local studio – it was a tough choice, since he had composed dozens of them. To add insult to injury, the record got a bad reception; radio stations refused to play the songs saying they were of poor quality.

Despite the blow, he struggled on, and two years later he collaborated with Clovis on the song Urugendo, which became an instant hit. That success opened the door to regional artists like Big Farias from Burundi, with whom Sambity did several songs.

By then his name had grown bigger in the region, and one year later he went to Kampala to work on his second album, which he says has been lagging behind due to lack of financing.

In the meantime, he concentrates on individual songs, such as the recently released Siwe and Beef na life, which he made with renowned Tanzania artists Daz Baba and Nadson respectively. These tunes came after a long period of silence around Sambity. “I’ve been busy with my official duties in the band, while also gathering funds for my third album,” he explains.

Yet now he says he’s back to stay, and nothing will stop him. He remarks that his new producer, DJ Wise from One Way Production, has been of great help in relaunching his career.

His personal story, Sambity points out, is a good example of how the growth of the country’s music industry is hampered by unqualified music producers who end up producing low-quality music, which is made worse followed by the lack of promoters and investors in the industry. As a result, he says, Rwandans still do not appreciate their own musicians, and concert organizers fail to pay local musicians fairly – especially compared to the huge wages doled out to international artists.

As a solution, Sambity proposes that the government kickstarts the industry by setting up programs to support artists and market their music abroad, which he thinks would improve both sales and listenership. That, in turn, will attract investors and promoters.

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