Dr. Nico Playing at Kinshasa's Vis-A-Vis Club During a Kiri-Kiri Dance Competition | Nov. 1968

Footage of Congolese music legend Docteur Nico and his band l'orchestre African Fiesta Sukisa playing at the Vis-a-Vis Club in Kinshasa.

The occasion was a Kiri-Kiri dancing competition. Kiri-Kiri, a dance invented by Dr. Nico, had become extremely popular at this time. Couples danced for over two hours but the judges could not pick a winner on the night, and so the decision was deferred for a week.

Source: Reuters News.

Note:

Dr. Nico, who was born Nicolas Kasanda Wa Mikalayi, is one of the great names of Congolese music alongside those of Tabu Ley Rochereau and Franco Luambo Makiadi, the leader of Tout Puissant Orchestre Kinshasa (O.K. Jazz). Nico and Tabu Ley were creators of l'Orchestre African Fiesta but after falling out went their separate ways, with Rochereau, renaming the band "L'Orchestre African Fiesta National Le Peuple" then Orchestre Afrisa L'International.

Nico withdrew from the music business in the 1970s but will always be remembered as a pioneer of Soukous music, which was previously known as African Rumba.