Saturday September 28 * 8pm * $10-20 * TICKETS
This concert is part of the annual Multiflora Productions music series Flash of the Spirit featuring a diverse showcase of music with Time Is Fire, The Mauls, and The Good Ones from Rwanda.
The Good Ones are a trio of Rwandan genocide survivors who play joyous, acoustic love songs— often written in the dialect of their rural district which has for centuries been known as the region for producing poets for the Kings. Primary songwriter Adrien Kazigira interweaves intricate harmonies with co-singer, Janvier Havugimana. In a style often referred to as “worker songs from the streets," these simple, direct and plaintive love songs speak more to the healing power of peace than a thousand academic treatises or preachy goodwill ambassadors ever could.
The Good Ones roots music is so strongly regarded that multiple respected artists have collaborated on their forthcoming third album, including members of the Grammy-nominated groups Wilco and TV on the Radio, as well as members of Sleater-Kinney, My Bloody Valentine, and Fugazi. As with their previous two albums, the new record is produced by Grammy-winner, Ian Brennan (Tinariwen, Zomba Prison Project, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott). The Good Ones last album was named one of the “Top 50 Best Albums of the Year” by The Sunday London Times.
Starting in 1978, the band members were taught music by Janvier’s brother who was blind and perished in the 1994 genocide. They formed the group as a healing process after the genocide and the original trio’s membership reunited Rwanda’s three tribes (with one member each historically from the Tutsi, Hutu, and Abatwa tribes). Since they live without electricity and have had almost no access to devices to reproduce musical recordings, their vocalizations are based on the singing traditions of their local immediate, rural district (which has historically been for centuries the region known for producing the poets for the Kings) rather than by outside and Western influences.
They utilize one-of-a-kind instruments in their music, often incorporating their farming tools as percussion.
Their music and original songs have received acclaim globally and they have appeared on the BBC and on The Netherlands RTL national-television morning program.
In fact, they also have been publicly praised by the likes of legendary Led Zeppelin lead-singer, Robert Plant, and Grammy-winning platinum-selling group, Mumford & Sons.
2019 year marks the 25th anniversary of the genocide.