It is more common for local African churches and musicians to cover or make translated versions of songs done by American or European choirs, and kind of rare vice versa.
Though some African gospel songs may make it outside of the continent, it is arguably to a smaller extent.
However, Rwandan gospel music artiste Assiel Mugabe has had his song “Witinya” translated to English and covered by a New York based worship team – belonging to the New Hope Free Methodist Church Rochester.
The covered song was composed by Mugabe in September 2019.
According to Mugabe, he was pleased to find his song translated and covered,
“This shows me that I have to keep up and accelerate the level of my work because that team is made up of professionals. Yet, this has kept me so humble and I have to remain the person I am. I can assure that my character has pushed them to do what they did. They did it without relying on anything about myself but all was done to praise the Father in Heaven and proclaim His Mighty Name,” he said.
Mugabe added that he got pleased that his products had gone beyond and reached remote places.
Among the team, only Guitarist Randy is a personal friend with Mugabe.
