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Exceptional debut Congolese novel uses jazz rhythm to evoke the frenzied exploitation of land and people in contemporary Africa.

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In a city in secession, land tourists of all nationalities seek their fortune by exploiting the mineral wealth of the country. They mine during the day in and, as soon as night falls, they abandon themselves in Tram 83, the city´s only nightclub. Lucien, a writer, fleeing censorship, finds refuge there with his friend, Requiem, a thief. Tram 83 plunges the reader into the atmosphere of a gold rush as cynical as it is comic and colourfully exotic. It´s an observation of human relationships in a world that has become a global village.

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