After the release of CNIRBS’s latest album Hey Kollege, the German jazz trio is currently on a tour of seven African countries in a bid to promote their music on the continent.

On October 12, the trio – who describe their music as a mix of complex global rhythms, folkloristic music and solid beats – attracted a good-size crowd at the Kigali Serena Hotel, despite only a few knowing about the CNIRBS’s music before the show.

CNIRBS is made up of keyboardist and composer Matthaus Winnitzki, trumpeter Stephan Meinberg and drummer Konrad Ullrich. They kicked off the show with their single Segou, which, according to Winnitzki, was inspired by Malian musical influences. “I spent a month in Mali and fell in love with the country’s traditional music,” said Winnitzki.

Most of the songs CNIRBS performed – including Rot ist deine Glückszahl, Don Calypso, Murray Bozinsky, Hey Kollege, Multiple Pain, Indy and Palinka Polkapops – were taken off the band’s latest album Hey Kollege.

The German jazz trio have performed in Maputo, Mozambique; Antananarivo, Madagascar; Johannesburg, South Africa and Kigali. Their next concerts will be held in Kampala, Uganda; Nairobi, Kenya and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. CNIRBS’s Africa tour is sponsored by the German cultural centre, Goethe Institut.