The Ottawa Citizen
Nightlife
March 9, 2000

A Musical Call for Peace

Wes Smiderle

Jacques "Popo" Murigande was performing at an African Dance Festival in Rwanda two years ago when he met his grandmother for the first time.

"In Kigali, I played in a huge stadium in front of 35,000," says the 33-year-old Ottawa-based musician known as the Mighty Popo. "This guy I grew up with told me the stadium was built on land my family used to own ... The trip was amazing. I was in a trance the whole time."

The 1998 concert was held by the Organization of African Unity to help dispel the ghosts from the genocide that had claimed one million lives just a few years earlier.
Murigande's 15-day tour in the country of his parents' birth was also a crucial step in rediscovering his roots. While his 1997 debut CD featured a mix of blues and traditional African tunes, his second effort, Dunia Yote (Kiswahili for "the whole world"), completes Murigande's conversion to - for lack of a better term - world music.

"I don't like the labelling too much," admits Murigande. "I want to present something that everyone can enjoy."

He arrived in Ottawa at the age of 19 with hardly any money and a smattering of English. He went to school, got a job and was soon doing session work with bands around Ottawa, making a name for himself as a talented blues singer, harmonica player and guitarist.

Dunia Yote will be released in Ottawa at Barrymore's on Saturday, and will be released nationwide in May.

The new CD is a fusion of the many musical genres and styles Murigande listened to while growing up in Burundi: West African juju, township jive from South Africa, Caribbean reggae, East African soukous and Louisiana Delta blues.
Murigande's parents fled Rwanda for Burundi in 1961 "I was born a refugee," he says. 'And the day I left Burundi, I was still a refugee."

Burundi is currently in the grips of a civil war.

The title track of Dunia Yote (sung in Kiswahili) urges "the children of Africa" to put an end to needless wars and death. "That song is an invitation calling on people where I'm from, and the whole world, to stop exploitation of other people," says Murigande.

For all his earnestness, Murigande is quick to laugh, and his music carries an exuberant spirit. His hope is that the people in Africa, and around the world, can shake off the warmongering propaganda of politicians and reconnect with their cultures.

"People have to be awakened. Their history has to be told."

The Mighty Popo CD-release party takes place at 9 p.m. Saturday at Barrymore's, 323 Bank St. Tickets are $10 advance.
(Popo also performs regularly with reggae group Ragamuffin & Bingie Barker every Thursday at Perfect Strangers, 207 Rideau St.)