Every year on 7th April, the International Day of Reflection on the Genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda, established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2003, is celebrated. 7 April 1994 marked the start of the genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda, perpetrated by the extremist Hutu government. Over the next 100 days, more than a million members of the Tutsi minority were murdered. Moderate Hutus and other opponents of the massacres were also killed during this period.
Since then, many of the perpetrators of the genocide have been prosecuted through various judicial and extra-judicial mechanisms, including the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, national justice, the Gacacas (people’s courts), the use of universal jurisdiction (notably in France and Belgium), and also by a National Unity and Reconciliation Commission. A great deal of memory work has also been done to ensure that such atrocities are not repeated and to reconcile the Rwandan people.
Many works of art, in various forms, pay tribute to the victims, but also work to remember them, to ensure that the survivors are compensated and that such atrocities are not repeated1. Singer Corneille is one of the artists who have evoked this past in his compositions. Born in Germany in 1977, Corneille spent his childhood in Rwanda, in the capital Kigali. His father, Émile Nyungura, a Tutsi, was an electrical engineer who entered politics, becoming one of the leaders of the Rwandan Social Democratic Party (PSD). His mother, a Hutu, worked at a commercial bank in Kigali. When the genocide broke out, Corneille was 17. An armed group entered the family home on the night of 15th to 16th April 1994 and murdered his parents, his two brothers and his younger sister. The teenager witnessed the massacre. He survived and fled to Zaire, then to Germany, before moving to Canada.
As a committed singer, his work is marked by his own history and the Rwandan genocide, of which he is a survivor. This is particularly true of the song “Sur la tombe de mes gens” (“On the grave of my people”), taken from the album Les marchands de rêve released in 2005. In this song, the artist poetically recalls this traumatic event. He echoes the need to remember, “we always remember in the name of all my people” (“on s’en rappelle toujours au nom de tous les miens”), to avoid repeating these atrocities.
He evokes the apprehension of going back to retrace the steps of this trauma, the fear of his reaction, “Am I going to hold a grudge against the Earth for having allowed hatred to prevail” (“Vais-je en vouloir à la Terre, d’avoir laissé vaincre la haine”). He concludes that despite the doubts, it is necessary, in particular not to forget the victims, but also to move forward, “To get rid of a past that is too heavy” (“Pour se défaire d’un passé trop lourd”). We need to keep positive things in mind, memories of happiness before the atrocity, and not reduce Rwanda to this massacre.
On the grave of my people
(free translation)
On the grave of my people
I will see again the garden
Where I let the bodies of my loved ones rest one morning
I’ll also find those brave men
Who hid us from the end
I’ll sing to them that we always remember in the name of all my people
On the grave of my people
I’ll see the road again
The long corridor of despair
The great exodus, the long road
And at the end always the animal, which changed my destiny
Who, tired, said go, I’ll leave the pleasure to the other
On the grave of my people
On the grave of my people
On the grave of my people
I will see my country again
The thousand hills and the hot winds
And streets, where I learned everything
I’ll find my old loves
And perhaps my first time
The one I’ll always love
But who I believe must no longer be
On the graves of my people
I’ll see myself again, little man
Great of heart and courage
But small like all men
Gaining momentum without looking back
To get rid of a past too heavy
Without knowing that the time will come
When he’ll have to go back
On the grave of my people
On the grave of my people
On the grave of my people
On the grave of my people
On the grave of my people
Will I weep with sorrow at last
Will I blame the Earth
For letting hate win
Will I want to kill them
To these cursed sons of bitches
The great and the small executioners
Or am I going to remain peaceful come what may
On the grave of my people
On the grave of my people
We’ll have to go back one day
On the grave of my people
On the grave of my people
On the grave of my people
On the grave of my people
| ↑1 | Like the song, the book by Gaël Faye, then the film (Eric Barbier) Petit Pays. Find the song’s recommendation on our website. |
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