Koffi Olomide promises top notch performance

Congolese legendary musician Koffi Olomide has promised his fans a great New Year’s Eve show at Kigali Convention Centre, tonight. Ready to usher in 2017 with a bang, the 60-year-old soukous singer and dancer touched down in Kigali on Thursday, before assuring the media that the concert will be terrific.

Friday, December 30, 2016
The Congolese Lingala singer speaks to journalists ahead of his show tonight. / Faustin Niyigena

Congolese legendary musician Koffi Olomide has promised his fans a great New Year’s Eve show at Kigali Convention Centre, tonight.

Ready to usher in 2017 with a bang, the 60-year-old soukous singer and dancer touched down in Kigali on Thursday, before assuring the media that the concert will be terrific.

"I am happy to be in Kigali. This is a great city that is developing fast and I am really proud of Africa. I am very honoured to be here because I like Rwanda, I like Rwandans, especially Rwandan women.”

Koffi said that he chose to end 2016 and usher in 2017 in Rwanda because everyone has been advising him to visit the country.

"I came to Rwanda today because in other countries where I go, they ask me why I don’t go to Rwanda,” he said.

On July 23, the singer, whose famous songs include Selfie, Effrakata, and Dossier du Jour among others, was deported from Kenya after he allegedly assaulted one of his female dancers.

While some people would think that allowing the Lingala star in Rwanda would be an insult for women, the musician said that he has already addressed the issue and pleaded that people should stop looking at him as an abuser of women.

"That’s an old story. It was addressed at all levels, and even the victim herself said that she was not hurt. I have also apologised to all the women in Africa through a song that is coming out soon in the Nyataquance single. I sing for all the mothers in Africa, and no one can pretend to love and respect women more than I do,” he said at the press briefing.

Koffi came with an entourage of 22 people, including his queen dancers in the Quartier Latin choir.

Oscar Karekezi, the CEO of Count Down Events Ltd, the company organising the concert, said that they expect between 2000 and 4000 people to attend the show.

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