When the first notes of the band’s guitars warm up the stage on a Thursday night, the atmosphere inside a popular rhumba club on Nairobi’s Riverside Drive turns electric. It doesn’t take long before the irresistible sound of the Tabu Ley song “Mi Amour” fills up the dance floor.
Rocky Bila Kazembe and the Basi Tu band, one of the top rhumba groups in Nairobi, perform at Pots and Palms restaurant twice a week to a full house of loyal fans. The repertoire includes a mix of the band’s own tracks and the greatest hits of Congolese rhumba giants like Dr Nico, Joseph Kabasele ‘Le Grand Kalle’, Franco and Tabu Ley ‘Rochereau’.
