Music
Landmark
Kizito Mihigo
1981 – 2020
Gospel singer, genocide survivor, and the first posthumous Havel Prize laureate
Landmark is level 2 of 4 in the Rwanda Hall of Fame: a first that opened a door, or the pre-eminent figure of their generation in this country. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
A genocide survivor who wrote a song asking that all Rwanda's dead be mourned, was imprisoned for it, and died in police custody. The Havel Prize was awarded to him posthumously.
Kizito Mihigo was a Rwandan gospel musician and a campaigner for peace and reconciliation, and himself a survivor of the genocide against the Tutsi.
His song Igisobanuro cy'urupfu — the meaning of death — argued that the dead of both the genocide against the Tutsi and the crimes against Hutu should be remembered. He died in police custody in 2020, and became the first posthumous recipient of the Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent.
His song Igisobanuro cy'urupfu — the meaning of death — argued that the dead of both the genocide against the Tutsi and the crimes against Hutu should be remembered. He died in police custody in 2020, and became the first posthumous recipient of the Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent.
- RPF Gakwerere — Kizito Mihigo among 2020 Havel Prize laureates
- Hungry for Truth — Rwanda: Kizito Mihigo is a political prisoner
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