Behind every successful artiste are a couple of people, one of which is a shit-hot music video director who crafts enthralling visuals to carry a song further.
Fayzo Pro, Rwanda’s acclaimed cinematographer and video director, is a living example of this saying, given that he has been producing mesmerising music videos over the years and has distinguished himself as a video production mastermind.
Hailed for creating masterpieces, the ascent of Faycal Hassan Tuyishime, commonly known as Fayzo Pro, into Rwandan music video production is firmly inspiring.
The former singer-songwriter began learning how to make videos in 2008, although it was not until two years later that he created his first music video, for Elion Victory’s song ‘Amafaranga.’
“I didn’t pursue a career in video production because it was my passion, I rather pursued it because I was a singer back in 2006, but finding financial resources to make a song was pretty hard as I was still a student,” Fayzo Pro told KT Press.
“One day, I made a song and lacked the funds to make its video, hence I decided to start learning how to make videos so that I could do it myself. Thereafter, many people liked my video production work and even paid me for it, so I opted to stay in it.”
One of the hurdles Fayzo Pro faced along the way was that, at the beginning of his profession, he was not able to afford decent equipment for producing music videos. Instead, he did it with the webcam on his laptop, which he used in editing.
However, he took these conundrums in his strides, managing to produce the video of ‘Akanyarirajisho’ by the late Jay Polly and ‘Amafaranga’ by Elion Victory which went on to become a hit at the time.
It is fair enough to say that Fayzo Pro has seen it all when it comes to Rwanda’s music video production. The seasoned director not only witnessed the rise of the industry but also rose with it.
“Back in the day, there were few directors in the game and it resulted in me getting loads of work to do even though it paid less money, but it was enough for me since I was a student and I hadn’t an idea of continuing this career.”
Cleverly behind the monster hits like ‘Haso’ by Kenny Sol, ‘Amabiya’ by Mico The Best, and ‘My Type’ by Danny Nanone, among others, Fayzo Pro is now embarking on a journey of taking Africa’s video production by storm and to global stages as he set out to compose videos featuring great artistes across the continent.
Among his unreleased projects, he has been crafting, are Kenny Sol’s collaboration with Nigeria’s DJ Neptune, Okkama’s forthcoming song that features Kenny Sol, Chriss Eazy song, Bwiza song, Kivumbi King song, Ariel Wayz song, Bushali, King James song, Afrique song, and Mistaek song.
The director, who has worked with several celebrated Rwandan artistes such as Bruce Melodie, King James, Kenny Sol, Mico The Best, and Danny Vumbi, among others, reckons that Rwanda’s music video production has grown so much over time in terms of financial matters, skills, and equipment used in the industry.
“We have now got the equipment Americans use in video production, and we use them wisely. Moreover, great artistes trust the quality we deliver, and international televisions play our videos. Every artiste is now willing to pay us well.”
