Rafiki Records

Dicken Marshall established Rafiki Records in May 2009 after setting up Rwanda’s premier recording facility as an innovative income-generating scheme for a Charity.

“I soon realized that there was no sustainable music industry in Rwanda or Burundi and artists often struggle on a day to day basis, to support their families on the most basic levels. This company is not about aid but about equal trade in music and facilitating access to a greater market.”

Dicken is a musician, producer, and composer, from Brighton in the UK. Having worked on various projects and musical endeavors over the years He has just finished the music for a feature length film and is currently writing the music for a short 3D stereoscopic film, he is also finishing off his own solo album ‘Island Time’ which will be out in March.

Rafiki Records comes from a concept which many musicians aspire to; groups of musicians and artists working together to produce their own music as a community, make a fair share of the profit and put back into positive community projects which benefit the community from which the Artists are from.

This is the ideal, now this is where we’re at: We’ve facilitated the creation of Rwanda’s best acoustic recording facility, which was designed to create revenue for a charity which supports the community.

We are currently working with seven amazing and different Rwandan artists on various projects, to create products to go to market.

* A fair deal for artists and the communities they're from.
* Protecting artists against exploitation.
* We are creating an equal platform and structure for artists, who through geographical and financial status would not have the same access.
* Setting a Benchmark for Artists and industry in East Africa.
* 50/50 contracts, when sustainable profit is reached support for community projects which alleviate poverty.