About the band

Beginning in 1978 when they were still children, The Good Ones' core members were taught music by Janvier’s older brother who was blind and later perished in the 1994 genocide. They formed the band as a healing process after the genocide and the original trio’s membership reunited Rwanda’s three tribes (with one member each from the Tutsi, Hutu, and Abatwa tribes). It was an active attempt to seek out “the good ones,” after having endured and witnessed unthinkable horrors.

Since they live without electricity and have had little access to devices to reproduce musical recordings, The Good Ones’ vocalizations are based on the singing traditions and dialect of their local immediate, agricultural district more than by outside and Western influences. Primary songwriter Adrien Kazigira interweaves intricate harmonies with co-singer, Janvier Havugimana, in a style frequently referred to as “worker songs from the streets.” With the musicians rural and remote hilltop origins, the harmonic similarities to American Bluegrass vocals is often eerie. 

In 2010, The Good Ones released their debut album, Kigali Y Izahabu (“Kigali of Gold”), making them the first Rwandan artists to distribute internationally songs in the language of Kinyarwanda. In 2015, they released their follow-up album, Rwanda Is My Home. It was named one of the “Top 50 Albums of the Year” by the Sunday London Times.

Their new album, Rwanda, You Should Be Loved, features special guests from Wilco, TV on the Radio, Sleater-Kinney, My Bloody Valentine, and Fugazi. NPR’s head of music named it one of the "Top 10 Albums of 2019."

Thumbnail photo by Marilena Umuhoza Delli

Lyrics

(translated from Kinyarwanda to English)

Despite It All I Still Love You, Dear Friend

Even if you hate me, I will keep loving you. 

When someone is really suffering,

only then do you realize that no one deserves such pain.

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