It’s not a common genre in Rwanda, but for the Kinga Blues, it doesn’t get better than that. The five man outfit proved its worth during an outdoor performance at Mulindi Japan One Love Project, Kimicanga, on Saturday.

Burundian, Arnold Nganji, the band leader and guitarist, kicked off the show at 4 pm. Nganji and crew treated the small crowd to a refined performance that has actually come to be associated with Burundian bands. 

The band gave a rendition of several blues instrumental classics like Michael Bolton’s When a Man Loves a Woman. Leo Ludemann, a German saxophone player, added a twist to the music. Blues wasn’t the only music of the night; Bob Marley’s Get Up Stand Up, Redemption Song and Latin jazz classic, Oye Como Ova were also played.

Speaking after the show, Nganji said that this was the first event at the new location, Mulindi Japan One Love Project, since the band moved from Alpha Palace, Remera, their original home.

"We love playing music; we don’t want to be a band that plays everything. We play what we are passionate about, only. Blues is the foundation of most of the music played today, blues is our genre and it came from Africa,” said Ngaji.

"We want to release our first album this year, and we have partners in Uganda and Kenya so we want to go regional,” he said.

Kinga Blues is one of the several bands formed by Burundians that play at various locations in town and have gained a following due to their prowess.

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