Profile: Nyinomugisha Crombach

[Black Star Profile]

Where She’s From: Nyinomugisha Crombach was born and raised in Uganda; the last in a family with eight children.

"At that time Uganda was under the military regime of Idi Amin," she tells The Black Star News, "and like a lot of families we also fled into exile."

She says in retrospect she really appreciates the effort it must have taken for her mother to raise her and her siblings.

"The most important thing I learnt from mum was that no matter how hard a situation is, family must always stick together. In those difficult times we always prayed, studied the Bible and sang together as a family."

After early education in Kenya, she attended Namasagali College in Uganda. "All through my school years, I was involved in music, dance and drama, but still didn´t have the urge to pursue it further," she recalls.

After Namasagali, she settled in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Soon, she was participating in the daily grind of life. Most of her spare time was spent watching documentaries about different cultures and listening to world music and she slowly started waking up to realize, that she loved singing.

"I started taking vocal lessons with a very talented tenor and started singing at different cultural events in Germany," she says, of her emergence in recent years as a noted singer. "I performed sometimes with two different bands or sometimes solo, either acoustic or unplugged. That was in 2004 but again it´s not until last year, that I finally started taking it seriously and decided finally I wanted to take this to another level."

Where She’s At: Nyinomugisha Crombach says she’s still "just beginning and hopefully the sky will be the limit."

"I really want to see it going to an international level," she says, of her career, "which is something I am going to fight for and with the help of the strong management team, which is building up behind me and the support of my people, I stand a good chance for that. Not forgetting putting in a lot of hard work and practice."

"I have always been a seemingly quiet and shy person and never did I believe I would stand on stage and do my thing," she laughs, when asked about some challenges she’s had to overcome.

"To sing in Acholi? A language that wasn’t and still isn’t taught in school?" she marvels, at her own accomplishment, with her hit record, Paco otoo, which is sung in Acholi, her original language and ancestry in Uganda.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zeJaHoqo5M

"It’s also a lot of confidence building within myself that keeps me going."

Another accomplishment she’s most proud of is teaching traditional dance at her son’s school and membership in an organization that brings together Africans and Afro-Germans in Düsseldorf and the neighboring regions.

She’s also co-hosted radio shows and organized cultural events that included music, dance, storytelling, traditional dishes, and fashion shows.

Nyinomugisha’s Words of Wisdom: "It’s a quote from my favorite poet Khalil Gibran, ‘I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.’"

Nyinomugisha’s Secrets of Success: "Self confidence, faith, commitment and continuous growth."

Nyinomugisha’s Favorite Three Movies: "I am still caught up in The Sound of Music, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, St. Louis, My Fair lady."

Nyinomugisha’s Favorite Three Books: "Once in a while, I revisit my childhood memories with Enid Blyton’s books, like the Famous five. Apart from that my absolute favorite is Khalil Gibran. He was a Lebanese author, philosopher, poet and artist."

Nyinomugisha’s Favorite Three Inspiring Leaders: "Of course, the first would obviously be Nelson Mandela; Julius Nyerere, and Martin Luther king."

Nyinomugisha’s Favorite Three Entertainers: "My first favorite is Miriam Makeba, then Brenda Fassie, and Alicia Keys."

Nyinomugisha’s Favorite Five Websites: www.rupiny.co.ug, www.newvision.co.ug, to keep me informed about what is going on in Uganda. For entertainment I check ugpulse.com, ecomedia.co.ug and I have also been reading a lot in the Blackstarnews.com

For more on Nyinomugisha’s music and career please see: www.myspace.com/gisha


Please post comments directly online or submit them to milton@blackstarnews.com

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