Musanze Celebrates Culture

After we left the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International museum, music drew us across the road, where there was a cultural center.

The gate to the Musanze Cultural Center.

For centuries, African villages were the center of life. Children grew up learning not just skills for daily living, but music, dancing, and other arts. As modern, city life drew people away from their village lives, people realized that their traditional culture was in danger of fading away, and so these centers were organized to showcase and teach traditional culture. For the rest of us, it simply looked like fun!

Everyone enjoyed watching this young man improvising on the front lawn.

Artists displayed their works inside the center, and outside when the materials were weatherproof. I was particularly drawn to this painting.

The artist is Godfrey Kalungi. He’s exhibited across Africa, in the United States and Canada, and in Europe. He works in other mediums as well – sculpture was mentioned in his bio – and he is working on a book about African art. The biography did not mention a publication date.

We stopped at the coffee house after the cultural center, enjoyed a really good espresso drink, and then headed back to the Best View to rendezvous with our cohorts and celebrate Jacob’s birthday! It was a great way to spend the last evening out. In the next morning, we would be heading back to Kigali.