Catalogue       Group                                                              A side/B side                                                       Year

Number

NMS 001      Orch Zeir-Ken Show                            Nzona Mwamisa/Nzona Mwamba

NMS 004      Bukusu Young Stars                            Loulumbe Lwe Khumuoyo/Bulimi

A  late 2015 visit to Fredrik Lavik’s Afro7 website alerted me to the existence of NMS 004, then NMS 001 appeared on CD&LP.com a few weeks later. The label is one of a handful operated by Nyanza Music Stores, a company that had outlets in Nairobi and Mombasa and, one would expect, in Kisumu or one or more of the other towns in Nyanza province, though these are not listed on the label.

NMS 001 is by a band led by trombonist Diana Kodila, who also played with Les Mangelepa. Its name – more usually given as Zaiken Show – suggests a mix of Congolese and Kenyan musicians.

I can’t tell you anything about the Bukusu Young Stars as this is their only single to turn up so far.