The Rwanda Genocide Tragedy inspires the Fray Song

The Fray's new song "Heartbeat" seems to be about reviving a broken relationship, with lyrics like "I wanna kiss your scars tonight, and baby, you gotta try, you gotta let me in."

But the inspiration for the rock tune has little to do with a failed romance.        

Instead, it comes from one of the worst tragedies in recent memory — the genocide in Rwanda nearly two decades ago.

Lead singer and writer Isaac Slade was visiting the Rwandan capital of Kigali last year when he found himself standing on the site where more than 250,000 victims of the country's 1994 genocide were buried. Then he had an epiphany.

"(I was) at this gathering with a bunch of local (people) and ex-pats, all standing in circle holding hands, just kind of thinking and talking about Rwanda. This chick was standing next to me and I couldn't tell if it was her heartbeat or mine, but it felt like the country was getting its pulse back to it," Slade remembered.

"I busted out my phone and wrote that pre-chorus of this song called 'Heartbeat,' and wrote some of the chorus on the way back," he said.

The vocalist also spent time with President Paul Kagame after a friend arranged a meeting. The visit took place near Kagame's birthday, so Slade performed a solo version of The Fray's biggest hit so far, "How to Save A Life," in the presidential place. Slade bonded with Kagame and the two men spoke of family and the darkest period in Rwandan history, when extremist Hutus killed more than 500,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in the country. Kagame led Rwandan Tutsi soldiers at the time, and has been credited with ending the genocide.

After Slade talked to Kagame, he said he understood the purpose of  "Heartbeat."

"One of the few sayings that the Jewish faith and the Muslim faith share (is) that if you kill one man, you're guilty of killing all of us," Slade said. "So I wanted to flip that to the opposite. If you serve one man, if you do step off your pedestal or whatever like Kagame did and risk his life and led those people out of exodus, you're essentially loving the entire world."

The song is on the band's third album, "Scars & Stories," which was released earlier this month. Producer Brendan O'Brien, known for his work with Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen and Rage Against the Machine, certainly helped shape the song and the rest of the album, said Joe King, the band's guitarist and co-vocalist.

"He pinned us on both sides, and that's what we needed," King said.

Slade added: "Every album, so far, has been a snapshot of who we are and where we are. Here we are."

Both Slade and King feel the experiences that led up to this album left them more mature.

But then Slade added: "We're mature, but certainly not that mature."

Compiled by Connect Hemisphere Safaris a dedicated Tour operator offering you the best Rwanda safaris  and Uganda Safaris

The Price of Gorilla Permits Increases

The Rwanda Development Board confirmed plans to implement changes to current gorilla permit pricing FROM US$ 500 to US$ 750. The prices have been increased by 50% and this will take effect from June 1st, 2012 save for prior bookings made before this date. RDB CEO John Gara said; 

“This increase comes at a time when there is significant growth of the gorilla population as well as an increasing demand for gorilla tourism. 

We are very committed to sustain our efforts in conservation in order to protect their environment as well as the rich biodiversity that exist in our national parks.” Rwanda’s gorilla conservation efforts have shown significant success.

Today, there are ten gorilla families which accommodate a maximum of eight tourists per day each, a number that has almost doubled over the last five years. The head of Tourism and Conservation at RDB Rica Rwigamba explained; “We have seen a sustained increase in interest for gorilla trek as well as recognition that good conservation can truly contribute to growth of these species. 

Mountain Gorillas are the only increasing gorilla species population, which is evidence that responsible tourism and conservation go hand in hand.” A contribution of 5% towards the communities surrounding the national parks under the revenue sharing programme is an activity that RDB is also committed to and this increase will also proportionally impact on this initiave.

 Compiled by Brenda

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UN Genocide Tribunal Reduces Jail Term for Convicted Local Official

The United Nations war crimes tribunal set up after the Rwandan genocide today reduced the jail sentence of a former local official who was convicted last year of his role in a notorious massacre in which thousands of ethnic Tutsi civilians died.
Dominique Ntawukulilyayo, a former sub-prefect in Rwanda’s southern prefecture of Butare, will now serve 20 years in prison instead of 25 years after a ruling from the appeals chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
The appeals chamber found that the trial chamber had erred when it convicted Mr. Ntawukulilyayo of ordering genocide for the killings at Kabuye hill on 23 April 1994, just weeks after the genocide began.
But the five-member appeal panel upheld Mr. Ntawukulilyayo’s conviction for aiding and abetting genocide over the same incident.
During his trial, the court heard how Mr. Ntawukulilyayo instructed many Tutsi families who had gathered at Gisagara market over four days to move to nearby Kabuye hill, promising them they would be protected and fed.
But he later transported soldiers to the hill, and the soldiers joined with other assailants to attack the Tutsis, killing thousands.
Meanwhile, an appeal hearing also began today at the ICTR – which is based in Arusha, Tanzania – in the case of Gaspard Kanyarukiga, a businessman who was convicted of genocide and other war crimes for his role in the destruction of the Nyange church on 16 April 1994, which led to the killing of about 2,000 Tutsi civilians.
Mr. Kanyarukiga was sentenced to 30 years in jail and both he and prosecutors have appealed against decisions about convictions and sentencing.
Compiled by Brenda for Rwanda Safaris