Who is she?
Empress Nyiringango is an award-winning, self-taught Rwandan-Canadian singer and songwriter based in Ottawa.
What is her background?
Born in Bujumbura, Burundi to refugee parents, Nyiringango did not have access to musical instruments or professional training. She learned music through practising the traditions of her ancestors with her family and community. “In our culture, we love to sing and dance,” she said. “I didn’t chose it, it was in me,” Nyiringango told Capital Current.
She began writing her own music as a “healing journey” in response to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, in which she lost her grandmother and cousins. The song Umurage meaning “Legacy for Rwanda,” was “the telling of a story but at the same time, comforting survivors and families,” she said.
Nyiringango first came to Ottawa in 2007 to perform with a Rwandan theatre group that featured her song in a production. After performing across Canada, she decided to live in Ottawa.
What is she known for in Ottawa?
Nyiringango’s second album, UBUNTU, was nominated for the global roots album of the year at the 2024 Canadian Folk Music Awards in April. She has performed in venues across Ottawa, including Bluesfest 2024 and most recently the 15th anniversary of the Shenkman Arts Centre in Orléans on Sept. 8. She also performs for residents in long-term care homes in Ottawa.
“Its really motivating that what I’m doing is meaningful not only to the people that understand the language of my music, but also to the people outside of my community,” she said.
What do people say about her?
“I’ve really enjoyed being a part of the music that they make,” Dave Draves, a music producer who runs Little Bullhorn Studio in Ottawa, said in Jablur Film, a documentary on the making of Nyiringango’s second album. He worked with Nyiringango and said he was “blown away” by her work and that he “would have liked to have done even more in the end.”
What’s a lesser known fact about her?
“When I am with some people, people laugh,” Nyiringango said explaining her love for making jokes. “When I’m with you, you’re not going to have a bad day, you’re going to have a very, very good day,” she said.
