Harare — THE unique sound of the Lubumbashi Stars the super rumba group that rocked our world before the turn of the millennium and became a part of the rhythm of Harare vibrated across Rufaro last Saturday in an unforgettable festival of music, dance and football.

On a sunny spring afternoon in Harare, in perfect conditions for a titanic football duel, Zimbabwean champions Monomotapa played host to TP Mazembe a cash-rich club from the Democratic Republic of Congo desperate to relive the good times of a bygone era.

Monomotapa were fighting to breathe life into a campaign, which had begun so brightly in the mini-league phase of the African Champions League with a stunning victory over Tunisia's Etoile du Sahel, but had suddenly gone off the rails.

Two- time African champions TP Mazembe were here hoping to take another huge step towards a place in the semi-finals of the Champions League their confidence having been boosted by a comprehensive 5-0 demolition of their opponents in Lubumbashi.

The Congolese giants bankrolled by the billionaire businessman and politician Moise Katumbi are on an ambitious mission to become the champions of African club football again this year.

Forty-one years have passed since Mazembe were last crowned champions of the continent, during a golden age of Congolese football, in which they won the title twice in a row and qualified for the final four times in succession.

Back then, between 1967 and 1970, TP Mazembe were the dominant force in African club football, turning on the style with an attacking brand of football that destroyed the opposition, and transforming themselves into a club that became the shining symbol of their nation.

Legendary stars like Martin Tshinabu, scorer in the final of the 1968 African Club Championships, Ntumba Kalala, Andre Kalonzo, Robert Kazadi, Paton Kabangu, Sony Mpinda, Boule Tshizeo and Pierrie Katumba, Patou Kabanga were at the heart of this team's dominance.

However, nothing lasts forever.

When TP Mazembe lost in the final of the African Cup of Club Champions to Ghanaian giants Asante Kotoko in 1970, it marked the beginning of their decline as a major force on the continent.

The club's old generation die-hard supporters -- who were part of the glory of the Swinging Sixties -- have always insisted that 1970 did not only mark the end of their team's dominance of the African game but the end of a beautiful era for football in the world.

After all, they will tell you, the same year marked the end of a golden era for the great Brazilian team -- led by a genius called Pele -- that dominated world football, playing with a touch of class, and won the World Cup in 1958, 1962 and 1970.

Those Samba Boys, who destroyed Italy 4-1 in the World Cup final in the Mexican sun at the Azteca Stadium with a show that was as breathtaking as it was brilliant, have now won global acknowledgement as the greatest football team ever to be assembled.

"The Brazil side of 1970 epitomised the whole concept of a beautiful game. They played effortlessly and with considerable flair in intense heat," said Simon Law, in a BBC Sport poll to try and find the greatest sports team ever.

"They played open free-flowing football that has only been evident since that time by the Total Football much beloved of the Dutch in the Cruyff era.

"In a nutshell, Carlos Alberto's team entertained us with their dazzling displays in Mexico. Worthy winners of that competition and most worthy winners of this one as well."

Dave Morrish, an American, contributing to the same debate, also put his vote on the Brazilians. "I would like to say that the 1970's Brazilian side were, I believe, not only the world's greatest ever football team, but they made it truly fantastic entertainment too, something that is sadly lacking in most teams on all continents today," said Morris.

"If they conceded two or three goals they would simply go and score four, five or six to win a match, and had the ability to do it. "As my father used to say, all things being equal skill always counts in the end, no arguments there, and boy they did have some skill."

That Brazilian side had real football superstars like Pele, Carlos Alberto, Jairzinho - who scored in every round of the 1970 World Cup finals - Tostao, Gerson and Rivelino.

However, their success in Mexico in 1970 just like Mazembe's defeat in the final of the African Cup of Club Champions at the hands of Asante Kotoko in the same year marked the end of the golden era for football in Brazil.

"It was not just a coincidence that the golden spell for the best team in the world, Brazil, and the best team in Africa, TP Mazembe, both came at the end in 1970," Robert Bamous, one of the travelling Congolese fans who invaded Harare last week, told The Herald Sport.

"It tells you that there was something special about those two teams, a gift that we received, and we should consider ourselves lucky that we saw all that magic.

"After 1970, Brazil only won the World Cup again in 1994, and TP Mazembe have been patiently rebuilding and, although it has taken us a very long time, we are almost there and we believe we could be African champions again this year."

For that to happen, TP Mazembe are not only banking on the brilliance of their highly-rated forward Tresor Mputu Mabi but also on the passionatesupport of a united city and a group of fans whose music and dance have brought colour to their games.

Their fans invaded Harare last week and just like the Samba Fans of Brazil before them turned Rufaro into a theatre of their dreams with their large brass band drowning the voices of the local supporters and giving them a lesson, or two, on how to support a football team.

Club owner Katumbi chartered a plane for his team's fans and they gave a turned on the show at Rufaro on Saturday, singing throughout the match, and entertaining their hosts with a number of their traditional dances.

Even Steve Vickers, the London-based BBC football correspondent who was at Rufaro for the match, conceded that the TP Mazembe supporters put up a show for the archives.

Vickers said the fans had become the side's 12th Man.

"As TP Mazembe aim to become African champions for the first time in nearly 40 years, a contingent of travelling fans is giving them a boost in their away assignments," wrote Vickers in his report on the BBC Sport website.

"A planeload of fans came from Lubumbashi on a chartered flight, including members of a large brass band, who drowned out the Zimbabwean supporters throughout the match.

"The TP Mazembe fans will be heading for Nigeria next, as they take on Heartland in a game that could decide who finishes top of Group B.

"Francis Kaba is one of the trombone players in the TP Mazembe band and works as a musician in a group at a copper and gold mine in Lubumbashi."

Kaba told BBC Sport that they were an integral part of the team.

"On the football ground there are 11, but we make it like 12 players. We encourage them to play nicely," he said.

Mabi, the gifted playmaker who was on the verge of signing for English giants Arsenal before Katumbi told him that his services were still required at home in a deal which made him one of the best paid players on the continent, paid tribute to band.

"Every time our supporters are playing music it's a good thing for us, we are very happy," Mabi told BBC Sport.

"Our objective is to win the Champions League."

Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters Association leader Eddie "Mboma" Nyatanga was at Rufaro on Saturday and said his organisation picked up some vital lessons.

"It was a great afternoon and those Congolese fans and their band, the music and the dance, turned this match into a festival that will be remembered for a long time," said Nyatanga.

"I think they showed us that we have a long way to go before we become real football fans because here in Zimbabwe, the tendency is for us to only wait and celebrate when a goal is scored.

"We didn't even hear a single supporter from Congo booing his own players or putting pressure on the coaches for a substitution when Monomotapa appeared to be on top of the game.

"They simply let the coaches do their job, they let the players do their job and they also did they part by supporting their cause with the music and the dances.

"When you have supporters like the TP Mazembe ones, it's easy to turn football matches into an afternoon for the whole family because there is a lot of fun for everyone.

"We picked some key lessons and we will work with our members so that we can also do that for our players because supporters are a key part of the game."

The Lubumbashi Stars -- who hailed from the same city as TP Mazembe -- are no longer active in Harare's musical joints but, for some time before the turn of the millennium they rocked this city with their blend of rough and up-tempo soukous beat.

Last year, the group's drummer Frank Nyimbo, died in Harare after suffering from a kidney ailment.

Kaninda Mbala, the founder of the Lubumbashi Stars, is still a resident in Harare and, chances are that he was at Rufaro on Saturday as part of the large group of Congolese based in this country, who came to support TP Mazembe.

The travelling brass band must have brought a flood of memories, of the time when his Lubumbashi Stars were the super group, which ruled the lively night clubs of Harare.

That era is gone just like that golden period towards the end of the Swinging Sixties when TP Mazembe ruled African football and became a defining symbol of their nation.

But all is not lost.

And, thanks to a unique combination of music, dance, the millions of billionaire businessman Moise Katumbi and a cop of gifted footballers  led by Mabi, the sleeping giant called TP Mazembe is slowly waking up from its slumber.

And, as the brass band plays on, its players, with a little help from their Italian coach Diego Garzitto, have a golden chance of bringing back the African crown to Lubumbashi almost 40 years after the end of the era when they were the undisputed kings.