Orchestra Super Mazembe

With a fluid roster ranging from nine to fourteen players, the Zairean ensemble Mazembe—whose name translates as “earth movers”—ranked among Kenya’s leading bands throughout the 1980s. For a short spell in the middle of the decade the group also attracted a devoted European following after Virgin Records signed them and issued their album Kaivaska in the United Kingdom. Although the musicians had been resident in Kenya since the early 1970s, every member remained Zairean; like several other Kinshasa groups, they had quit the saturated local scene in the late 1970s in search of fresher opportunities in the East African markets of Kenya and Tanzania. Alongside fellow expatriates Orchestra Makassy, Mazembe cut their most successful recordings in Nairobi under the guidance of British producer Norman Mighell. Their 1984 cover of Nguashi Timbo’s perennial East African favorite “Shauri Yako,” featured on Kaivaska, became a major international success. A follow-up British collection, Maloba D’Amor, recycled several Kaivaska selections, among them “Shauri Yako,” and added fresh material highlighted by a strikingly literal interpretation of Buddy Holly’s classic “Words Of Love,” which served as the album’s title track.