Gaelle turns to gospel strengthened by TPF experience

Although she was not among the winners of the Tusker Project Fame 4 competition, Gaelle Atete is determined to continue her music career.

“Singing is my passion and I have always had it as a dream; though I lost in TPF4, I learnt a lot and reached some of my goals, like performing on stage and writing songs,” Gaelle says. Now the 21-year old born-again Christian has set her eyes on gospel music.

It indeed surprised many who knew her that the deeply religious Gaelle would participate in TPF with its emphasis on secular pop and beat music. She however argues that it gave her free access to the TPF academy, where she got a lot of experience that would be of help in developing her career as a musician, which is a childhood dream.

And the learning curve was steep, she admits, and it was a challenging experience having to do things she was not used to – singing before an audience, meeting people from different countries, getting to perform songs that did not fit her voice. It showed in the results: Gaelle got a maximum of six probations. Yet she always managed to scrape through with votes from all over East Africa, and almost reached the final level before being evicted.

Yet all in all, she finds the experience rewarding and is determined to continue in music while at the same time pursuing a Bachelors’ degree in Law at ULK. And although Gaelle wants to concentrate on gospel, she says this will not stop her from going into other genres as long as the theme of the songs is good – peace and unity, genocide remembrance songs, reconciliation are among her favorites.

And she did not waste time: already she has started composing and writing her own songs, six of which she is currently finishing. Yet although she finds its important to write her own music so that she can sing what she likes, Gaelle says she is ready to work with other artists if they want to. And surprisingly, she doesn’t even have to be in the limelight. “I am excellent at backing vocals,” Gaelle says.

Now that would be a God-sent gift for any singer.

Related articles:

• How a charming ‘reggae boy’ became an East African superstar
• Tusker Project Fame: poor promotion, few Rwandans

Posted by Joram Muhoozi on Dec 13 2010. Filed under Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.