Survival of the Crow

I want to introduce Corneille to those who are not familiar with him. I first fell in love with the artist and the lyrics when I stumbled on a live performance on tv. First thought I had was "Damn....he's cute!" But not only that, he had a beautiful voice, amazing connection with the audience and the SMILE, one that showed him doing something he truly loves: speaking from his heart...........

Soon after I began listening to his songs and learning the lyrics (its a great way to learn French!!!!) and noticed that there must be a story behind his smile....Sure enough there is.....based on his story it shows that in the larger scheme of life, Allah swt has bigger plans for you, and no matter what you face in life, your Faith must not waiver and must stand above and beyond everything else in life. Without faith, you'll forever walk aimlessly throughout your life...........................read on.......

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Corneille scored a big hit with the French public following the release of his début album "Parce qu'on vient de loin" (a moving account of his personal experience in the Rwandan genocide). The singer, who recently became a Canadian citizen, continues to attract a wide following of fans thanks to his vocal talent and personal charisma.
Corneille Nyungura was born in the German town of Freiburg on 24 March 1977. His parents were living in Germany at the time completing their university studies. The family moved back to Rwanda while Corneille was still very young, however, and he spent his entire childhood there, getting in touch with his roots. Corneille developed a passion for music at an early age, listening to the giants of black American music such as Prince, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. Meanwhile, he also rifled through his parents' record collection, discovering old French 'chanson' classics by the likes of Brassens, Aznavour and Brel.
By his early teens Corneille had proved to be a budding singer and musician. In 1993, the talented 16-year-old ended up going into a studio in Kigali to record his first compositions. Shortly afterwards, he went on to triumph at the "Discovery" awards organised by Rwanda's national television. Corneille's fortunes appeared to be on the up and up, but a few months later tragedy struck. In April 1994, a bunch of soldiers broke into his house and massacred his entire family, slaughtering his Tutsi father, his Hutu mother and all his brothers and sisters. Corneille managed to survive the massacre by hiding behind the sofa, but he still bears the mental scars of this harrowing ordeal.
Following the killing of his family, Corneille fled to Zaire (the future Democratic Republic of Congo), joining the crowds of refugees in exodus on the roads and enduring several long, exhausting days of walking before reaching his destination. Once in Zaire, he managed to make contact with a German couple who had been close friends of his parents. They immediately offered to take him in and act as his adoptive family in Europe.
A New Life in Canada
In 1997, Corneille decided to venture further afield and try his luck in Canada. He moved to Montreal and began studying for a degree in communications. But he soon returned to his first love in life: music. Teaming up with two friends from Haiti, Corneille went on to set up his own R'n'B group, O.N.E. The band's career took off fairly quickly after they scored a big hit on the airwaves in Quebec with their single "Zoukin’." Before long, O.N.E. found themselves in major demand as a support act, playing concerts with leading stars such as Isabelle Boulay.
In 2001, Corneille decided to break away from the group and launch his own solo career. While he was working on material for his début album, he also wrote music and lyrics for "Ce soir" (a track which featured on the compilation "Cocktail R&B 2002") and "Si seulement on s’aimait" (which appeared on the album "Hip Hop Folies.") Meanwhile, Corneille also honed his skills on the live circuit, performing extensively in Quebec and then France where he caused a major stir at the "Francofolies" festival in La Rochelle in July 2002. In October of that same year, Dave Stewart (ex-half of The Eurythmics) invited the young Rwandan singer to perform at Le Réservoir in Paris. Corneille jumped at the chance – and all the more so, as it gave him the opportunity to get up on stage with one of his all-time idols, the reggae star Jimmy Cliff.
Corneille scored his first hit in France in 2002 with the single "Avec classe." Meanwhile back in Quebec, music fans discovered Corneille's début album "Parce qu’on vient de loin" (on which the singer spoke out about his personal history and the Rwandan genocide). The French public would have to wait until the following year for the album to appear in record stores. When it did, the first single release "Ensemble" rocketed to no.39 in the charts. But it was in 2004 that Corneille exploded on the French music scene. Two successive chart hits, "Parce qu'on vient de loin" and "Seul au monde", boosted sales of the album which rapidly topped the 300,000 mark. Meanwhile, Corneille found himself in great demand on the live circuit. He supported the American singer Cunnie Williams in concert in January 2003 and performed countless dates in France as a solo act. Meanwhile, he also recorded the song "Laissez-nous vivre" for the soundtrack of the French film "Taxi 3." Spokesman for the Red Cross
In February 2004, Corneille was nominated in two categories at the annual "Victoires de la musique" Awards. ("Best Newcomer of 2003" and "Best Album of 2003"). Between July and September of that year, the Rwandan singer hit the festival circuit with a vengeance, performing at countless events such as the Nice Jazz festival and the "Francofolies" in La Rochelle, Spa and Montreal. Corneille also gave a memorable performance in La Réunion (where Bernadette Chirac, wife of the French president had a front row seat).
In October 2004, Corneille brought the house down at Le Zénith in Paris on two successive nights. A few weeks later, he went into the studio to record a duet with Youssou N'Dour which featured on the fund-raising album "Dix ans ensemble," made by the collective "Ensemble contre le sida" (All Together Against AIDS). In November of that year, Corneille triumphed in Quebec, receiving a prestigious "Félix" award for "Best Male Artist of the Year." Meanwhile, at a special ceremony organised at La Citadelle in Quebec, Corneille became an official Canadian citizen.
Corneille currently combines his singing career with humanitarian work. He is a spokesperson for the Canadian Red Cross, campaigning on behalf of child soldiers used and abused in conflicts all the way from Sierra Leone and Colombia to Sri Lanka. He has not returned to Rwanda since the tragic events of 1994, but claims his greatest dream would be to organise a reconciliation concert in Kigali stadium one day.
Committed to humanitarian causes, Corneille went on to become an ambassador for Unicef, spearheading the organisation's "Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS" campaign. For the first time in almost ten years, the singer returned to Africa in March 2005 to perform at "Africa Live", a concert organised in Dakar by Youssou N’Dour to raise funds for malaria victims. Corneille later admitted that setting foot in Africa again had stirred a sea of emotion in him and made him want to pay tribute to the continent and its people. Second album
Corneille made a comeback on the recording front in November 2005 with the release of his second album, "Les marchands de rêves" (The Dream Sellers). The album, on which Corneille appeared to be more at peace with himself and his past, was intended as a message of hope to African youth, painting a more positive picture of their homeland. Unlike Corneille's first album, "Les marchands de rêves" was a much more acoustic affair with tracks composed around simple guitar and percussion, then filled out with African and Afro-American arrangements featuring n'dombolo, Afrobeat, zouk, reggae and soul. All compositions were overlaid with Corneille's soft, velvet vocals.
Lyrically speaking, women are omnipresent on the album on tracks such as "Dieu est une femme" (God is a Woman) and "Petite soeur" (Little Sister). Corneille also comes to terms with his past, paying tribute to his family, who were killed in the Rwandan genocide, on the particularly moving ballad "Reposez en paix" (Rest in Peace) and sharing his doubts and emotions on "Sur la tombe de mes gens" (On My People's Grave). Both lyrically and musically speaking, Corneille's second album confirms him as an increasingly interesting and mature talent.