Mani Martin
Rwandan musician Mani Martin talks about the life-changing experience that inspired his latest album.
Mani Martin was one of the first Rwandan artists to emerge after the devastating genocide of 1994. He was a child when the genocide took place, and when he started writing songs. His 2004 hit Urukumbuzi, released when he was only 15, was a song of hope drawing on the stories of other children traumatised by what they had experienced.
Since then, Martin has gone on to collaborate with international artists including Kenya’s Sauti Sol and Eddy Kenzo from Uganda, to perform around Africa, and to help build Rwanda’s music sector by mentoring newer artists.
In December 2025 Martin dropped his seventh body of work. It’s called Rebirth, because, as he tells DJ Edu in this episode, it was written after a life changing experience when his home was swept away by torrential rain.
Image: Mani Martin (Credit: Gerald Kingsley)
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