In 2018, Ndorisimbi Thierry popularly known as Pogatsa introduced his brand of music to the world through his debut album Ngoma 100, a blend of cultural and pop sounds. While the world has been eagerly waiting for his next project, Pogatsa has been creating a project with Green Ferry Music recording label and he is ready for the world to hear his thoughts in the 12-track album – Mucakara that tackles heavy societal issues and is out now and available everywhere.

The record features cultural inspired production sounds, with Pogatsa and producer Dr. Nganji incorporating elements of old Rwandan traditions of folk music, Hip Hop, and Kinyatrap into the compositions. Lyrically, Pogatsa discusses a wide range of topics including social economic issues, human beliefs, love, oppression, self-evaluation (existential introspection), conflicts and culture. The album’s title is a combination of a “Mucakara”, which has been interpreted by Pogatsa as a person who is being mentally isolated and physically bound, hence living like a slave!

“When you are always in the same place or you are not progressing, in short it is the slave mentality; Because normally when one’s mind develops, the whole body follows,” says Pogatsa. In the track Mucakara, Pogatsa finds himself questions elders about their colonized minds they grew up with and didn’t get rid of it and transmit it to next generations while they knew it and choose to live with it. In retrospect Pogatsa doesn’t want youth to fall into the same trap of repeating the same mistake.

While the album is steeped in weighty issues, at the end Pogatsa offers a reprieve in form of celebrating some of the cultural aspects of the Rwandan traditional way of life. The final track ‘Urwina’, is a celebration of music; dance and drinking ‘Urwagwa’ an integral part of Banyarwanda ceremonies, festivals, social gatherings and storytelling. In the track Pogatsa is saying that the road to ‘Urwina’ will always be there, this can be interpreted as his advice to fellow Rwandese citizens: “as long as the citizens continue to uphold their culture, they will always celebrate their cultural dignity, drinking and dancing.

The album marks Pogatsa’s return to music after a hiatus in 2019. The album was recorded in the middle of the pandemic. Pogatsa and Dr. Nganji observed an increase in the duo’s confidence after they created the first song ‘Mucakara’ a contemporary lyric, but with old school vibes, and still feeling modern. That track set the tone for the rest of the album. “That track enabled us to understand the power and the magic we were creating. We started to elaborate on the concept and nearly a year later we are happy to present the world with this beautiful project,” Dr. Nganji who produced the project says. In a way Mucakara, offers Pogatsa solace amid a time that has been quite challenging to him and many people in the world due to the effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

About Pogatsa

Ndorisimbi Thierry, professionally known by his stage name Pogatsa, is a Rwandan Hip Hop artist. He is widely considered as one of the pioneers of Kinyatrap movement, most significant and well-regarded cultural Hip Hop artist in Rwanda. Like most Rwandan artists, Pogatsa released a number of singles before as early as 2015 but came to prominence in 2018 with his debut album, Ngoma 100, that featured the track ‘Nyabingi’ as a single which became a hit nationally.

Nyabingi video: https://youtu.be/HqezAoynS34 

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