Zanzibar, Unicef sign Sh32.3 billion contract to improve health services
2024-05-21
The project aims to improve the delivery of quality reproductive and child health servicesContinue Reading
ACT Wazalendo warns of infiltration of dirty cash into opposition politics in Zanzibar
2024-05-18
Without explicitly naming the source of the external financial interference, both the party’s National Chairman, Mr Othman Masoud Othman, and the Vice Chairman (Zanzibar), Mr Ismail Jussa Ladhu, highlighted several attempts to use illicit funds to infiltrate ACT Wazalendo’s hierarchyContinue Reading
Mwinyi proud of aviation sector achievements in Zanzibar
2024-05-17
President Mwinyi emphasized the successful implementation of reforms in air transportation, which have enabled Zanzibar to achieve its aviation goals.Continue Reading
Tanzania: Afrika Muye Muye! Tanzanian Rumba & Muziki Wa Dansi 1968-70
2024-05-16
Note: If you yearn to experience classic and modern African music in person on the continent, consider joining Afropop Worldwide’s, February 2025 Music and Culture Tour of Tanzania and Zanzibar. Details here!
The early rumba bands of East Africa, particularly Tanzania, have often been overlooked in the wave of classic Afropop reissues in recent decades. (Fine collections by Douglas Patterson and Werner Graebner are clear exceptions, but they are few in comparison to volumes of early Congolese rumba or West African funk reissues.) This scarcity is partly due to the fact that Tanzania in the Independence era (1950s and 60s) did not have a real recording industry. Most of the recordings made by these exceptional bands were done in state radio stations, and most of those tapes have long since been lost to history. So here comes a set of 17 commercially recorded Tanzanian tracks from the late ’60s to help fill in the gap, and it could not be more welcome.
Politics helped to keep this delightful music obscure. Julius Nyerere’s Ujamaa (Swahili for “fraternity”) philosophy emphasized social, even socialist, cohesion over commercial development. Though Ujamaa would ultimately prove an economic failure, its early years were peaceful, and that easy going vibe is one thing that distinguishes these recordings from Congolese rumba of the same era. These bands did not rely on recordings, but rather on frequent, live performances, and later, government and other official sponsorship. They played constantly, and the tightness and polish we hear on these tracks can’t be achieved any other way.
As compilation producer Rob Allingham–a longtime friend of Afropop Worldwide based in Johannesburg–explains in the sleeve notes, Cuban son and cha-cha-cha recordings made a big splash in Tanzania starting in the 1930s, just as they did in West and Central Africa. Local imitations blending Tanzanian traditions and sung in Swahili began immediately, well before Congolese rumba swept the continent. It was only after 1960 that prominent Congolese musicians like Remy Ongala fled war and chaos to establish bands in Dar Es Salaam, Kampala, Nairobi and other East African cities. These Tanzanian recordings from the late ’60s emphasize the local sound, a genre often called muziki wa dansi (dance music), though some connoisseurs prefer the more descriptive term Swahili rumba.
Allingham organizes these tracks as a kind of “battle of the bands” with six bands each taking turns with two to five tracks. They are all gems, but if I had to pick a winner, it be Nuta Jazz, with Atomic Jazz Band as the runner-up. But let’s go through them.
Salum Abdalla got his start as a singer in Koranic school, but soon fell for Cuban son, and formed his band Cuban Marimba in 1952. By the time of these recordings, Abdalla had died in a car crash, and Juma Kilaza was leading the band. Organic arrangements, beginning in one tempo and pivoting mid-way to a faster tempo, is a feature of Cuban dance music that gets developed in many varieties of African rumba. Here, in the stinging guitar work, we can tease out the phrasing of marimba traditions from the Mogorogoro region where this band was formed. The song “Afrika Muye Muye,” from which this compilation takes its title, is particularly lively in both its tempos. A song lamenting division in Africa–“We don’t even know how to work together”–this is the most serious of all these tunes from a lyrical perspective. It’s a theme with a long history in African music ever since. Elsewhere, we mostly get angst-ridden love stories, about which more later.
Next, we have Tanzania Jazz Band and L’Orchestre Spear, each with two sharp, spare tracks featuring lyrical melodies and tricky guitar work. The interplay between lead and rhythm guitar parts is notably prominent in these tracks; nothing gets buried. Vocals are generally delivered by two or more singers in unison. Might this be an influence from Arabic music, where unison singing is common? In any case, it’s a characteristic feature.
Nuta Jazz, with five tracks here, marks the beginning of the era of state-sponsored bands. Named for the national trade union association, this band added brass to the lineup and became hugely influential. The band’s name changed three times over the years, as the national politics evolved. Since 1979, they’ve been an independent outfit under the name Msondo Ngoma. From the start, Nuta incorporated musical influences from the Zaramo ethnic group around Dar Es Salaam. The brass work on the first three tracks here is particularly tasty. By the way this is the only band from the early Swahili rumba era to survive today, with excellent young players continually refreshing the sound.
By the way, you can experience Msondo Ngoma and contemporary Swahili rumba bands live in Dar Es Salaam as part of Afropop Worldwide’s, February 2025 Music and Culture Tour of Tanzania and Zanzibar. Details here!
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Morogoro Jazz Band gets four tracks. This outfit grew in popularity through the ’50s and ’60s, and in the ’70s it was joined by Mbaraka Mwinshehe, destined to become the most popular singer in East Africa. In these recordings, he’s the singer, composer and lead guitarist. Unison saxophone and lead guitar adds a distinctive touch to these tracks, although the lyrics tend to the dark side of romance: “I’m tired of you,” “You will destroy me.” On “Sitaki Tena,” Mwinshehe sings, “She was like an itch on my mind/Now I don’t feel anything anymore/Let me just be on my own, catering for myself/Enough! I don’t want anymore.” A bitter pill in a sweet sauce! On “Lucia Rudi (Lucia come back),” both the vocal and guitar performances palpably plead for the return of a lost lover.
Finally, we get two crisply recorded tracks from Atomic Jazz Band formed by Haj Juma and Julius Kiluwa in Tanga’s Swahili Street quarters in 1954. The fact that this band had its own club helped to make it one of the most popular combos of the era. All these years later, the jousting between tart guitar and sax lines and those passionate unison vocals give us a potent echo of a glorious time.
Source: allafrica.com
Tanzanian insurance firms upbeat after first quarter business growth
2024-05-15
Total gross written premiums for the insurance industry have increased by 13.68 percent in the first quarter of 2024, with small and medium-sized companies showing higher growthContinue Reading
The Unusual Evolutionary Journey of the Baobab Tree
2024-05-15
New research shows the “upside-down trees” originated in Madagascar and then caught a ride on ocean currents to reach mainland Africa and Australia.
Baobabs are one of the most charismatic trees on Earth, thanks in part to their unusual appearance. Their cartoonishly thick trunks are conspicuously oversized relative to their diminutive crowns, earning them the nickname “upside-down trees.” They can also live for thousands of years, contributing to their prominent place in cultural traditions and works of art.
For all the tales told about baobabs, though, their origin story has remained a mystery.
Scientists have debated for years how baobabs wound up in the places where they grow. Eight species exist around the world, and their distribution, like the trees themselves, is unusual: One species occurs across much of mainland Africa, while six are in Madagascar. The last is found faraway, in northwestern Australia.
Most researchers have hypothesized that the trees originated on mainland Africa. But findings published Wednesday in the journal Nature tell a different story. Baobabs instead most likely first evolved in Madagascar, where they diversified into different species. Two then embarked on long-distance oceanic journeys to distant continents.
“Madagascar is this wonderful natural laboratory,” said Tao Wan, a botanist at the Wuhan Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and an author of the new study. He added, “In the case of baobabs, some very special geographical history on the island contributed to the species’ diversity.”
Dr. Wan and his colleagues sequenced the genomes of all eight baobab species and then used those data to understand how the trees evolved. They also investigated ecological factors that influenced the distribution of baobabs around Madagascar.
Their results indicate that baobabs’ common ancestor most likely arose in Madagascar around 21 million years ago. Competition with other plant life and factors like altitude, temperature, precipitation and volcanic activity caused new baobab species to emerge across Madagascar, as did fluctuating sea levels during various ice ages.
Source: nytimes.com
10 African countries to discuss aviation safety in Zanzibar
2024-05-15
The experts are aviation service providers, airport operators, and other key stakeholders in aviation from 10 African countries.Continue Reading
East Africa Bloc Pushes Up Airtel Africa Revenue
2024-05-15
Airtel Africa has said mobile money revenue in constant currency pushed by East Africa’s strong performance tops its revenue for the year ending March.
The group mobile money revenue grew by 32.8 percent in constant currency compared to mobile services grew by 19.4 percent driven by voice revenue growth of 11.9 percent and data revenue growth of 29.2 percent.
Airtel Africa Chief Executive Officer Olusegun Ogunsanya said in a statement over the weekend that the strong revenue performance was a reflection not only of the opportunity but also the resilience of affordable offerings despite the inflationary pressure across the continent.
“The consistent deployment of our ‘win with’ strategy supported the acceleration in constant currency revenue growth over the recent quarters which has reduced the impact of currency headwinds faced across most of our markets,” Mr Ogunsanya said.
Loss after tax was 89 million US dollars, primarily impacted by significant foreign exchange headwinds, resulting in a 549 million US dollars exceptional loss net of tax following the Nigerian naira devaluation last June 2023 and the Malawian kwacha devaluation last November.
“The growth opportunity that exists across our markets remains compelling, and we are well positioned to deliver against this opportunity.
“We will continue to focus on margin improvement from the recent level as we progress through the year,” the CEO said.
The group’s total customer base grew by 9.0 percent to 152.7 million and also, they continue to bridge the digital divide with a 17.8 percent increase in data customers to 64.4 million and a 20.8 percent increase in data usage per customer.
Mobile money subscriber growth of 20.7 percent reflects their continued investment into distribution to drive increased financial inclusion across our markets.
Transaction value increase of 38.2 percent in constant currency with an annual transaction value of over 112 billion US dollars in reported currency.
Increased transactions across the ecosystem reflect the enhanced range of offerings and increased customer adoption, supporting constant currency ARPU growth of 8.6 percent.
The group said will continue network investment to support an enhanced customer experience and drive increased 4G coverage.
Airtel Africa said 95 percent of sites are now 4G operational, facilitating a 42.3 percent increase in 4G customers over the year.
Source: allafrica.com
Financial audits in Zanzibar face lingering challenges despite progress
2024-05-14
Presenting the report for the fiscal year 2022/23 at the Zanzibar State House, on Monday Controller and Auditor General (CAG), Dr Othman Abbas Ali, underscored ongoing challenges despite efforts to enhance financial reporting standardsContinue Reading
US embassy in Tanzania closed over internet outage
2024-05-14
The US Embassy in Tanzania has closed for two days because of an internet outage which hit East African countries on Sunday.
“Due to degraded network service nationwide, the embassy will remain closed to the public,” the embassy said on an X (formerly Twitter) post on Monday.
Due to degraded network service nationwide, the embassy will remain closed to the public. All consular appointments on May 14 & 15 will be cancelled and rescheduled to a later date. The consular section will be open as scheduled for visa pick up and for emergency American citizen…
— US Embassy Tanzania (@usembassytz) May 13, 2024
Consular appointments for Tuesday and Wednesday were cancelled and rebooked for a later date. The embassy said it would remain accessible for handling emergency cases involving American citizens and visa collections.
Businesses and homes in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and seven other countries are experiencing slow internet speeds following a cut on deep-sea fibre cables at Mtunzini, a small coastal town in South Africa.
Read: East African countries hit by major internet outage
The fault affected submarine cables serving the East and Southern Africa, largely privately controlled Seacom and East Africa Submarine System (Eassy).
Internet monitoring group Netblocks said Tanzania and the French island of Mayotte were the worst hit by the outage.
Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) said it was working on an alternative route to reinstate connectivity to the country’s major telecom networks while the recovery process of the deep-sea cables was being addressed.
