Major rhumba music festival set for Mombasa

A Rhumba music extravaganza is being tuned up for the coastal resort town of Mombasa. The fans of the popular Congolese music genre will next Saturday be treated to a mega concert organised by the Amitie Muisca Band - Les Incomparable at the Maasai Nyali.
According to band leader Crispin Tambwe, the show will also serve as a platform to launch the New Amitie Musica, which features the youthful members. There will also be a performance by the regular group, the Amitie Rhumba Legends, and the sister Banamitie Musica Band.
“We have invited all our fans and well-wishers to join us during the festival to feature the three Amitie Musica bands. We will also be celebrating 27 years since the formation of the original group," he said.
He explained that they had chosen to bring in a youthful team, which will serve as a transition between the older generation Amitie Rhumba Legends and Banamitie. The two cater for middle-aged rhumba music fans.
These forthcoming events have been billed as Season One of the Rumba Impact. The second season has been set for next year.
“We will play more of own compositions during the show,“ he added.
Entry fees for the show will be Sh700 (regular), Sh1,500 (VIPs) and Sh2,500 (for couples). During the concert, the band members also plan to mark the sixth anniversary of the death of legendary Congolese musician Lutumba Simaro Masiya. Fans of Simaro, who was a long-serving vice-president of grandmaster Franco Luambo Luanzo's TPOK Jazz, will mark Simaro’s death anniversary beginning this weekend and next weekend.
 Amitie Musica's initial base was the then Kimwa Grand Hotel in Kisumu way back in 1998. They relocated the following year to Mombasa, where they have been based since then. They were replaced by the Extra Kimwa Band at the Kimwa Grand Hotel. The band featured Tanzanian singer Ally Choki, songbird Suzanna Owiyo, of the Kisumu 100 hit song, and others.
 The Amitie Musica group is doing well with songs such as Maziwa, Maisha, Utalia na nani, Safari and Hero in the Shadow.

Elsewhere, members of the Bilenge Musica Du Congo, led by Darzee Kalend, perform every Wednesday to Sunday at the New Dream Village Bar in Nairobi South B. For Wednesdays and Fridays it's Ultimate Rhumba at the same spot.
Tomorrow, the group will join others in marking the sixth anniversary of the death of the legendary Congolese Lutumba Simaro. On Monday it will be an Idd Special show which will be dedicated to Muslim fans and others of the band. They are currently doing well with the song ‘Dawa na Deni ni Kulipa alongside others.

angaira@ke.nationmedia.com