[Video] Eminem, the Spice Girls, Emo, African funk and jazz – Rémy Ngamije shares the music behind his debut novel The Eternal Audience of One
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BlackBird Books recently shared a video of Rwandan-born Namibian writer Rémy Ngamije talking about music, pop culture and his debut novel, The Eternal Audience of One.

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The Eternal Audience of One tells the story of Séraphin Turihamwe, a 24-year-old Rwandan immigrant living in Windhoek, Namibia, who is suffering from exquisite boredom and family frustration until he moves to Cape Town to chase his dreams.

90s kids will immediately recognise the era and music that inspired The Eternal Audience of One.

‘Some of the things to look forward to in The Eternal Audience of One is not just the diversity of voices or characters coming through or all the locations – it’s really about music and pop culture,’ Ngamije says.

‘In writing this novel, I was really influenced by the various types of music that not only I grew up listening to but anyone who was around in the 90s would’ve listened to on the radio – especially around that strange gap when the internet started playing a big role in music appreciation or availability,’ Ngamije says.

‘A lot of the music that’s explored or plays a narrative role in the story is rap and hip-hop – right about the time when Eminem is coming out and hip-hop is starting to become a big commercial enterprise – and it also deals with rock music that was around in the late 90s, full of teenage angst and feelings of loss and jadedness.

‘It deals with pop music as well, like Spice Girls that was all energetic girl power. It deals in great detail with some of the African funk and jazz music that was around in the 90s.’

Watch the video: