The Insider: Torero Café

Kigali City’s Best all round entertainment centre No doubt about it-Torero Café is the place to be. It offers the widest array of entertainment menu among all the hangout joints in Kigali City. Because of this and as a number one fan I asked Daddy Ruhorahoza the brains behind the venture if we could cover this joint within the 4th episode of The Insider. How it all started Ruhorahoza, 26 felt that something was amiss within Kigali’s social circles. There was a void when it came to having a venue for offering ‘one stop’ entertainment for the city’s ever enlarging socialites. ‘Over and above this need I also noticed that real quick service was needed. Most of the outlets offered real slow service as the supply chains of these outlets were often weak’, he said. These two primary observations propelled Daddy to come up with a concept of ‘a café with a difference’, adding that ‘on top of that I am happy to come up with something totally different, an innovation in the local entertainment scene. That sums up my venture called Torero’. Asked how he went from conceptualizing to actualizing, he said, ‘I came to a point of thinking that I needed assistance in the form of back up in several areas such as having the acumen, expertise and related components. My partner Kara Dahl who is from USA was up to this time working for an international NGO came in handy by filling this gap. After her entry into this venture things moved quite first’. To help with the set up Daddy revealed that Kara traveled to Spain to source the best approach of setting up one of a kind ‘hybrid entertainment venue’. It took almost 2 years to baby the idea from the time Daddy first conceived it. It took another 3 months before finally things shaped up and by August 2008 Torero started operating. Why it’s different ‘It is the only place where artists converge to showcase their talents. It is also a place where professionals of different backgrounds converge to share and to socialize’, he added. ‘For instance we normally have salsa dancing lessons free of charge, conducted by qualified instructors. There is also an art gallery. We sell art to our patrons directly and we don’t charge them anything over and above the artist’s offer. So this is a recognized art gallery in Kigali City’. The third component of Torero value addition lies in its book library section. It has a collection of 300 books and over 25 different periodical publications such as magazines and Journals. I asked what the hell a library had to do with a restaurant. He replied, ‘It’s pretty simple. In Rwanda to date we still don’t have a public library. Since I love books I had to do something about it. I felt that I had to come up with a simple solution through having a small place where sharing of books could be effected and others would have a chance of joining me in this effort’. Asked about the essence of the stage located at the far end of the café, Daddy intimated that there was a need to fill in the gap for a small place to stage live gigs by locals. ‘It was a good idea to incorporate a place where such gigs could be staged. For young Rwandan artists this stage offered a platform where things musical could happen. An upcoming musician had the potential of being spotted by a producer or a promoter for instance’. Regarding film, yes movies he stated that, ‘starting the second week of January next year, we’ll be screening independent films followed by debates to be moderated by an art historian. ‘The purpose is to enable people of Kigali to have access to the fascinating world of independent movies. These are rare forms of cinematography. It’s not just movies for the sake of it. It is very courageous form of art. We happen to have such forms of art so I felt that I had to offer a venue for such art. But why debates?’ People need to talk, debate and exchange ideas on a broad range of issues which are normally captured in such forms of movies. By screening such movies we will encourage discussion and debates about such issues. Regarding Internet, Bar, Food and Coffee he said, ‘There are so many professionals who don’t need offices. We give such people an opportunity to do their stuff here. We are in the city centre, in a very quiet environment with broad band internet complete with food and coffee. This completes the picture. A journalist for instance can do his work in a casual atmosphere which we seem to offer. The same applies to hosting meetings of different forms. Torero is just the place’. The Concerts and events Daddy felt that Torero needed to host real Rwandan stars to perform, artists with a huge following as well as those upcoming ones. That is why they hosted Mighty Popo and Jean Mutsari both heavy weights within the Rwandan showbiz. ‘People were happy and they asked for more’, ‘We had planned to have a 3 hour gig but fans demanded an extension. I t was the kind of event we needed to happen every weekend in Kigali. It was such a success that the duo performed more than three times’, he said. For an upcoming event Torero is organizing the first Black and White party in Kigali City slated for next year. This will bring together the locals and the expatriates to share and have fun together under a themed environment. Regarding overall response Daddy was positive, ‘People are impressed and surprised at the same time about what we offer. We need to come up with even better offers. People are elated that we have opened such a place. The reaction is very positive so far’. Contact: ojiwah@gmail.com