When the name Saida Karoli is mentioned, many East Africans recall the evergreen hit “Chambua Kama Karanga” from the early 2000s.
Saida burst onto the region’s airwaves in 2001 with the song and album, which she says reached a crescendo in 2003.
With it came the money – millions of Tanzanian shillings and dollars.
Even the famous American filmmaker Tyler Perry thought her song “Maria Salome” from the album was worthy of a soundtrack to his film Peeples.
Meeting Saida today, the 48-year-old musician is a shadow of her former self.
The mother of six is struggling with a musical comeback that has been marked by false starts.
Speaking recently in her hometown of Bukoba, where she retreated after things went wrong a few years ago, she blamed naivety for her current state of affairs.
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The folk music legend’s journey to stardom began at the age of 17, when a scout plucked her out of Bukoba and took her to the big city of Dar es Salaam, the land of fortune.
“I should be wealthy, own mansions – maybe 10 or 20 – among many other multimillion-shilling investments. I was a huge star generating massive income but here I am, leading a quiet life,” Saida said.
She now blames her “downfall” on a lack of support and guidance as a young and naive artiste.
“If I had good guidance on investment, I would be doing better than I currently am,” she said sombrely. “I made a lot of money but I was young, and an orphan, and lacked an adviser to guide me on how to invest and better manage my finances. That’s my regret.”
Tanzanian Songbird Saida Karoli (in blue cap) joins Onagi Dancers in a jig on arrival at Kisumu International Airport on December 12, 2018. PHOTO | ONDARI OGEGA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
While she gives credit to her first manager for making her a star, Saida still finds a place to blame. But she also blames herself.
“I would love to have the kind of lifestyle Diamond Platnumz leads, but without being under any management. Every time I think of being under management, my blood pressure rises. I prefer being an independent artiste because I believe my previous management, to some level, exploited me and I’m to blame because I let them do that.
“I was young and naive, I didn’t know my worth so I let them decide my fate, including what to pay me. I never questioned. I didn’t understand the business and, worse still, I lacked someone to offer me the much-needed guidance on how to invest. I have paid a heavy price for my naivety,” she said.
The song/album title “Chambua Kama Karanga” became an instant hit, hot on the heels of the album’s lead single “Maria Salome”, which made Saida an overnight star.
“Maria Salome” tells a tragic love story through her enchanting vocals, garnished with traditional instrumentals of the Haya ethnic group from which she hails.
Although many of her records have been sung in local languages and Kiswahili, mostly to win over her fans in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, “Maria Salome” broke the mould to the extent that it caught the attention of acclaimed black American filmmaker Tyler Perry.
The song “Maria Salome” tells the tragic end of a woman who leaves her lover in search of a better life, only to be killed by her next catch. So profound was the record, and so perfect for a romance about a dysfunctional couple trying to stay together, that Perry paid to use it as one of the soundtracks for his film Peeples, starring Hollywood stars Craig Robinson and Kerry Washington. The film grossed $9.3 million at the box office.
It is not clear how much Saida made from its use as a soundtrack.
For the songbird, the album’s massive sales and packed stadiums when she performed in the region were a dream come true, and her passion for performing won her admirers across the region.
But the downward spiral came a little faster than her rise, and her comeback attempts were marked by false starts.
Saida was scouted by a manager when she was 17, but had already been performing in the villages of Bukoba. She was already a mother, having given birth to her first child at the age of 13.
“I didn’t have a good education and, like any village girl, I was naive but I was a good entertainer. He helped me build my brand and relocated me to Dar es Salaam, where I began working under him and signed a contract,” she said.
The vivacious singer said that while she was aware that she made a lot of money during her stardom days, she didn’t know exactly how much she earned because all decisions were left to the management that signed her.
“Whatever I was paid – any amount be it Tsh100,000 ($37) or Tsh500,000 ($185) – as revenue from my music, I was content. I did a lot of shows but I can’t tell you how much those shows paid because I never bothered to ask. Now I look back and all I have is regrets. I blame myself. I should have known better, I shouldn’t have assumed things,” Saida said.
Read: Tanzanian artist Diamond Platnumz splashes $190,000 for music video
Of her good old days, Saida picks 2003 as the peak of her career.
“We did a lot of shows in 2003. I remember being paid Tsh3 million ($1,111) from one show, then there was another paycheque of Tsh4 million ($1,481) from another gig. Many times, I was paid in millions from single shows during that season, which was a pay rise from the hundreds of thousands I was accustomed to being paid initially. It was a lot of money those days. I had never handled such kind of money before. There was a time we did a long tour of 10 shows and he gave me a car.”
Saida admits to misusing her fortune.
Over time, as her popularity grew, the musician says she became rebellious and had a falling out with her management.
“Life became unbearable in Dar es Salaam after the contract was terminated. I had lived in Dar for 10 years since relocating and so I moved back to the village with my children,” Saida said.
In an earlier interview with The Citizen, Saida said her world crumbled at her feet after years of popularity when her contract with FM Studios was terminated.
Many of her hits were produced and owned by FM Studios, which had paid her a retainer of Tsh300,000 ($111) a month. In the interview, she revealed that she once received a pay cheque of Tsh7.5 million ($2,777) from the sales of her debut album.
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