HARARE - Diamond Musica a pioneer of rhumba groups in Zimbabwe that took fans by storm during the rhumba craze of the late 90s is back with a bang.

The group has not been vibrant on the music scene for the past five years.

It suddenly reappeared and rebranded with a new name Diamond Musica (New Image) under the leadership of Pitshou Lumiere.

“The new group is not that different from the original group, we just added a few more band members,” said Lumiere.

The band leader dismissed allegations that his band’s five-year silence had been caused by the group’s break up saying they had been touring East Africa.

“We have been on a tour, our last album, Tout Va Bien has been doing well in East Africa with promoters and fans demanding our presence that is why we left the country for some time”, said Lumiere.

The new 14-member band has been executing shows around the country since the beginning of the year.

The band’s latest dance Amataki naMoto which means riding a motorbike has become popular in local bars and clubs.

This Friday Diamond Musica is set to perform at Sports Diner.

The new Diamond Musica is working on an album that will break its five-year silence which is set to be realised before the end of November.

“We are currently working on an album that has to be released before the end of next month; it is going to be better than all the albums that we dropped before,” he said.

The group mesmerised rhumba fans with hits Amaule and Sina Makosa a decade ago.

Diamond Musica from the Democratic Republic of Congo first visited Zimbabwe about 10 years ago.

The group fell in love with Zimbabwe and rhumba fans and they decided to stay in the country for their fans.

After a while, they recruited local musicians to widen their music’s appeal.

Lumiere, the group’s leader is originally from the Bandundu Province in Democratic Republic of Congo.

He has been living in Zimbabwe as a member of the original Diamond Musica since the late 1990s. - Kaleen Gombera