Every time I see this video I have to stop and stare. The cinematography is simple, clean and elegant and Corneille (pron: Cor-Nay) Nyungura exudes a soft sexiness that's only augmented by the fact that he's singing about his wife (the shower scene doesn't hurt either).
The way he sings of his love for her is beyond sweet. It's both moving and powerful as he sings lines like, "I could tell of your pain too/And I’ll die trying to love it away/But this much I owe you/If I can say/Woman/You loved me back to life..."
This romantic 32 year old singer who was born in Frieburg, Germany and raised in Rwanda has a heartbreaking history that would leave most people unable to sing about the solace of love. Corneille's father was a leader of the political party PSD and because of this Corneille's father, mother, brother and sister were killed during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Cornielle subsequently fled to Kinshasa and then back to Germany where he was cared for by some of his parents friends.
On his website Corneille explains how, even in death, his family was able to help him heal after the tragedy;
"For a good ten years after the genocide,” he says, “I lived in a great deal of denial. But I managed not to get too bitter because I had parents who always made me feel special. It’s a sort of pain that you can have closure with. I know I’m not going to be able to talk to my family ever again, but they left me with memories filled with such love that I don’t have that much anger.”
Despite this tragedy Corneille was able to forge a successful singing career, having previously released two hit French-language albums. Now he's released his first English-language album on Motown Universal titled The Birth of Cornelius.
I must admit that I also admire that the man's pretty honest about his desire for a simple and "real" life outside of stardom, as he explained to Vibe magazine;
“The only place I can take a lot of attention is when I’m onstage performing,” he says. “For two years I was like, ‘I’m stopping everything.’ I didn’t do any interviews. I stopped signing autographs. People would come up to me for one, and I would say, ‘No. I’m not going to give an autograph. I’d rather shake your hand. I feel like that would be a little bit more real.’ It’s weird to be put on a pedestal in that way, when you’re aware that it’s all bullshit."
Check out his video for "Back To Life" below and check out his MySpace page http://www.myspace.com/corneillemusic
*Side Lipton: The song "I'll Never Call You Home Again" is a painfully honest and brutal ode to the country and massacre that claimed his family's lives.
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