Only the tough get going when Bongo Flava hits pearl jubilee

DAR ES SALAAM: WITH over 15 years of success as a Tanzanian mega star, Diamond Platnumz is second to none in terms of success, but it was a painstaking struggle that brought him where he is today.

It’s Good Friday today, April 3, 2026, when Diamond’s Happy still hits music airwaves in Tanzania and many parts of the continent as the globe marks Good Friday.

Diamond and his Wasafi disciples, Zuchu, Harmonize, Ray Vanny and Mbosso are the present-day stars as Bongo Flava music hits its Pearl Jubilee.

Since releasing his first album Kamwambie in 2010, Diamond (his real name Nasibu Juma Abul) has remained Tanzania’s hottest music jewel sixteen years later.

Armed with sequencers, midi gadgets and computerised sound banks at stake, making good music today seems very easy, but staying on music charts remains a tall order for many.

“You have to be creative and innovative to stay long in the game,” Harmonize was once quoted as saying to the media after parting ways with Wasafi Group.

“There is a fierce competition in this game, without creativity you are lost forever,” added Ommy Dimpoz (Omary Nyembo), also a Bongo Flava popular artist, who has not been heard for a long time.

Juma Nature, one of the pillarheads of Bongo Flava creation, finds it hard to regain his past fame.

After a long silence, inspirational Bongo Flava star, Juma Nature and Inspector Haroun tried to make a comeback with a new version of their eponymous hit, Mzee wa Busara.

It’s a silent comeback since the new version of Mzee wa Busara, has gone unnoticeable for over four years now.

Since it was released in November 2022, Mzee wa Busara co-penned by Juma Nature and his old mate Inspector Haroun, is still struggling to regain its glorious past at the moment when Diamond Platnumz, Zuchu, Mbosso, Ray Vanny, Harmonize and Nandy dictate terms in the social media outlets at the helm of the top trends.

It is the same Juma Nature, who is still regarded among the old stars who shaped the present form of Bongo Flava genre.

As proved in Wasafi Group’s hit titled Zilipendwa, Juma Nature and Inspector Haroun the stars of the past, along together the 1990s stars like Aurlus Mabele, Pepe Kale, Msondo Ngoma, Marijani Rajab of Zuwena fame, fall in the gallery of the past stars.

It is very hard to convince present day music fans to accept Nature, Inspector Haroun and others who reigned from the mid-1990s to early 2000s, since they are of the past generation.

Still, despite being time-barred, Mzee wa Busara deserves to be classic as it laid an artistic trackroad to the musicians of the later generation like Diamond Platnumz, Mario and Zuchu.

ALSO READ: Enjoy Bongo Flava as it goes back to music root

Still regarded as a music genre for the young generation, Bongo Flava is now heading to its 30th anniversary since it was officially coined by Radio One presenter, Taji Liundi in the mid-1990s.

The comeback of Juma Nature’s Mzee wa Busura has not been celebrated as it failed to shrug off the dominion of the contemporary stars of today’s Bongo Flava.

Mzee wa Busara is one of the top fifty Bongo Flava classics, along with Mapozi by Mr Blue, Zeze and Siamini by TID and Hali Halisi by Mr Two; Juma Nature and his Wanaume group, who was popular even before the2000s when Bongo Flava made a crossover appeal.

It is the epoch when the likes of T.I.D, Matonya, Lady JayDee, Mr. Blue, Marlaw, Dully Sykes, Ray C, AY and even a young Ali Kiba were revolutionising the scene with every hit song they released.

It was the time when Bongo Flava music blessed Swahili speakers with its unique poetry. Since then, artists like Diamond Platnumz, Ali Kiba and Vanessa Mdee have since given Tanzanian music a wider international appeal, but East Africans may remember a “golden period” of urban music when Tanzania’s Bongo Flava had taken over the airwaves.

From the radio and television, to the clubs, bars, minibuses and at every street corner, you couldn’t escape this music.

And why would you even want to this unique style of Tanzanian hip-hop and R&B originated from the streets of Dar es Salaam. That’s why its name translates to “the flavour from Dar es Salaam.

“The majority of youthful music fans in Dar es Salaam and other parts of Tanzania believe that if other artistes wouldn’t come up with new innovations, popular Bongo flava hits such as ‘Nikusaidieje by Professor J, Awena by Kassim Mganga, Dar Mpaka Moro by Juma Nature could still be aired today.

“They were once very popular on radio and television stations. It is not surprising, they are no longer appealing today because others like Diamond, Alikiba, Jay Melodi, Marioo, Zuchu or Nandy have taken over the podium,” noted Dar es Salaam music fans.

Bongo flava megastar Ali Kiba, had a better explanation when he said: “The country had only one radio station in the past, but today there is an opportunity on different radio and television stations to play music on.”

With all that, there are a score of artists who deserve recognition as their works helped to reshape Bongo Flava into universal appeal and create the track road for their disciples.

New hits being recorded by Bongo flava artists seem to be released almost daily.

However, the problem is that the artists of the new hits come and go almost immediately, without maintaining or sustaining their fame.

At the moment, it is Wasafi-signed artists whose works continue to dominate in dance halls all over East Africa, where the Kiswahili language is spoken.

Though Juma Nature opted to reissue Mzee wa Busara, his most popular hit of all time is Dar Mpaka Moro, which Juma Nature and Wanaume Group released in the 2000s.

The surprise package in the gallery of the region’s classic hits is Sauti Sol, whose hit, Suzana, is the ‘youngest’ golden oldies to date.

It has been widely played by many bands as classical music despite being less than ten years. Though old, these classics and many other oldies continue to easily capture the ears of music fans.

“Yes, our old hits constituted very good music; they continue to win the hearts of town folks, unlike that of today,”

Amani Temba, popularly known as Mheshimiwa Temba, from Wanaume TMK Group, once said. Some Bongo artists themselves are to blame because of their habit of playing irrelevant themes.

“If you sing a song portraying love, everyone is touched in one way or another. But if it is on imaginary themes, then you will not last,” he said during his heydays in the early 2010s.

“What others might see as a problem, Bongo Flava artists come and go’ almost immediately, without maintaining or sustaining their fame. Like bubble gum, their music loses taste and appeal after a short period. This, in one way or another, means there is stiff competition for both appeal and market,” comments Ally Yahaya, a former trumpeter with DDC Mlimani Park Orchestra.

He argues that if other artistes didn’t come up with innovations, popular Bongo flava beats such as ‘Mtoto wa geti kali’ by Inspector Haroun, ‘Hii Leo’ by Crazy Gk and ‘Uko wapi’ by Ray C could still be aired today.

With all that, certain artistes deserve recognition as their works helped to reshape Bongo Flava into universal appeal and create the trackroad for their disciples.

After Mr Two, who managed to create the first model of hits done in syncopated Swahili poetry, Bongo Flava also owes a lot to Wagosi wa Kaya from Tanga who invented rap poetry that mimics Sambaa phraseology (Mkoloni) and Tanga Urban Swahili.

Mr Ebbo, who crafted a Maasaistyle rap and Dudu Baya, who added Sukuma-flavoured dancehall ragga.

Also deserving recognition in arming Bongo Flava with powerful fusions include Ray C, whose early music added elements of Indian Ghazals, TID, who created influential R&B(Zeze) and funk-styled Coastal beats (Siamini).