Coast music group that wowed Suluhu

Sheikh Yusuf Abdi, the leader of Munshid band that entertained Tanzania's president Samia Suluhu at the Statehouse in Nairobi. [Courtesy]

They had one job to do and not enough time to do it. They were to compose a song for visiting Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan in three days.

The difficult situation the Mombasa-based Islamic quartet found themselves in was compounded by the fact that Suluhu, a Muslim, was visiting Kenya during Ramadhan, the month of fasting.

“I received a call on May 2, from brothers in Nairobi asking whether I was open to the idea of composing some verses to welcome the Tanzanian president who was scheduled to make her maiden State visit on Tuesday,” says Sheikh Yusuf Abdi.