{"id":55993,"date":"2025-10-18T13:01:59","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T13:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/kenya-s-bien-opens-up-about-his-admiration-for-rwanda-s-leadership\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T13:01:52","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T13:01:52","slug":"kenya-s-bien-opens-up-about-his-admiration-for-rwanda-s-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/kenya-s-bien-opens-up-about-his-admiration-for-rwanda-s-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya’s Bien opens up about his admiration for Rwanda\u2019s leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speaking in a media interview ahead of his performance at the Friends of Amstel concert in Kigali on Saturday, October 18, 2025, Bien reflected on his special connection with Rwanda and how deeply his music resonates with Rwandans.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy art has been understood by Rwandans better than by people in Kenya. Rwandans, and people around the world, have truly embraced my craft,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I come to Kigali, I feel a connection\u2014maybe because I look Rwandese. I think if I trace my ancestry, I\u2019m probably from here. I\u2019m from Western Kenya, and our people share similarities with Rwandans in how we live and what we eat. We eat the same things you do!\u201d<\/p>\n

Bien also spoke about his admiration for President Paul Kagame and Rwanda\u2019s vision for the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m also a big admirer of President Kagame and the future Rwanda is building. I envy the leadership you have and wish you all the best. My love for Rwanda comes from a place of purity, and it\u2019s received with humility. When I sing from the heart, it resonates deeply with Rwandans,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

During the interview, Bien hinted at a possible on-stage collaboration during the upcoming concert.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we should perform our song together. It\u2019s not new; it\u2019s been around, but we have to sing it together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His fellow artist, Mike Kayihura, also shared that he is gradually rebuilding his career after previous management challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say I\u2019m taking it step by step, doing what I can as an artist,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Friends of Amstel concert, now in its third edition in Kigali, follows previous successful events featuring Johnny Drille in 2023 and Bnxn Buju in 2024. This year\u2019s edition will be held at Zaria Court, with all 2,500 tickets sold out two days before the event.<\/p>\n

\"Speaking<\/figure>\n
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Kenyan heartthrob and singer Bien-Aim\u00e9 Baraza, popularly known as Bien, has expressed admiration for Rwanda\u2019s leadership and the country\u2019s ongoing progress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000096325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[201],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-55993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-rania-umutoni"],"bylines":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":139}],"contributors":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":139}],"featured_image":{"id":2000096325,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/bien_in_kigalilogo.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/bien_in_kigalilogo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/bien_in_kigalilogo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/bien_in_kigalilogo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/bien_in_kigalilogo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/bien_in_kigalilogo.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000096325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55993"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=55993"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=55993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}