Bongo Flava@30 in Zanzibar pays homage to Africa’s first diva

BRINGING back on the same stage all its legends, Bongo Flava@30 Festival goes to Zanzibar archipelago tomorrow, after a series of concerts in Dar es Salaam, Mwanza and Dodoma cities.

The legends engaged in this concert, most of them commanded the Bongo Flava airwaves run in mid1990s includes Juma Nature, the second Tanzanian after Ibony Moalim, to publicly launch an album, and he will be there together with likes of Dudu Baya, Matonya, MB Doggy, Mheshimiwa Temba, Chege, Tundaman among the notable few.

It is from the Indian Ocean archipelago where Bongo Flava leaned its romantic literature, and that makes it stands above the rest in Swahili romantic poetry now aged over 120 years.

It is in the Isles where Siti Bint Saad ‘afrcanised’ Arabic and Indian music to make it danceable as one note it “Inama”, the Zuchu-Diamond duet. You can feel Siti Bint Saad in “Yalaiti” a Mwana FA-Lina Sanga collaboration or “Subalkheri Mpenzi” composed by Bakari Abedi and remastered as Aslay- Nandy romantic ballad.

This tour of the Isles will also apen the lids on the source of the romantic artistry Zuchu and Diamond performed in “Inama” as it revisits the legendary Siti Bint Saad and the Ikhwaan Safaa era.

“…. When it stands come to me with a pomp, you bend down, you stretch up, you touch it, do it as if you’re coming down……” these are some of romantic words of Zuchu in “Inama” and in there is a real taste of Siti Bint Saad approach. Here are some comments from Youtubers on “Inama”.

From Lorine Nzingo, “Am I the only one who loves this relationship I love you guys.” Benard Wasonga adds, “nini…unainamaa…unainuka… unaigusa……Platnumz…Zuchuchu.”

“The video itself is therapy..after spending all the money on Christmas…dah. December to remember,” says Dolphin Adola. Tumah Anderson adds: “Is it a crime to view 20 times? ooh boy I can’t get enough, take your flowers girl.”

From Cameroon,Lorie Britney Makongou Mfoka says: “Camerounaise qui aime les musiques de ZUCHU sans comprendre “She nailed it!” adds Tulipe-G8u “Façon j’aime cette zuchu là,” cmments Clarisse Musingo.

“I love zuchu,” adds Shelmith Shel. “Zuchu is an African Queen,” says Spok_pizzo. “……Leo yako sikukuu nikupakulie minyama, upite na huku wasiokupenda wakere sana, unijie kwa mbwembwe … my favourite verse,” notes Joshua Mwendwa It’s worth to consider that the Isles band music culture was founded in1905 by Nadi Ikhwan Safaa (also known as Ikhwani Safaa Musical Club or Malindi Taarab), which exists today as the oldest traditional taarab orchestra in Zanzibar and Africa.

It was founded as an initiative by the Sultan Sayid Barghash to establish cultural and recreational clubs.

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The band originally performed Egyptian and Arabic music before transitioning in the early 1950s to compose and play classic Swahili taarab poetry (mashairi) with traditional string and orchestral instruments. Zuchu seems like modern-day Siti Bint Saad from what she demonstrates in her music.

Through her music she was also an anti-colonial activist, feminist and Swahili cultural icon of 20th century. She produced over 250 phonograph records throughout her lifetime, becoming the first East African vocalist to release commercial recordings in the 1920s and 1930s.

She also added a brand-new dance and pantomime component to taarab music called “natiki,” which was inspired by Indian dance.

She was a trailblazer as a female performer in the genre during a time when men artists controlled the industry.

Her musical career peaked between 1928 and 1939, but she continued to perform until her death in 1950. More female performers started appearing in the previously all-male singing clubs after she died.

Zuchu-Diamond romantic duet as evidenced through “Inama” performance, looks like a Coastal Swahili-Tanzania Mainland affair even now. Siti’s father, Saadi, was a Nyamwezi of Tabora, and her mother was Zigua from Tanga.

Both parents were born in Zanzibar to enslaved families, and they worked on clove plantations and in the creation of fine pottery.

Similarly to what majority of Bongo Flava artists do today, gossip and arguments happening in the neighbourhood where Siti and the other band members lived, worked and played often found their way into songs.

During her heyday, no ceremony was judged successful, be it a wedding or the celebration of a birth, among Zanzibar’s elite, without Siti’s performance, according to one author.

They received many invitations, especially from the Sultan and the Omani Arab elites, and to perform at various weddings and other celebrations. In 1928, she was the first artist from East Africa to make a phonograph recording.

Abdulkarim Hakim Khan, His Master’s Voice representative in Zanzibar arranged for Siti and the other band members Budda Swedi, Maalim Shaaban, and Mbaruk Alsam to fly to Bombay to record.

It was Siti Bint Saad who influenced Bi Kidude in Africanising core elements of Arabic and Indian music. In professional language, Siti Bint Saad reshaped taarab by keeping away the Arabic-influenced maqamat scales to retain a pure Bantu look.

“Muhogo wa Jang’ombe” which is Bi Kidude’s most popular hit, was originally performed by Siti Bint Saad, according to varous sources in Zanzibar.

“Muhogo wa Jangombe” has been a seminal hit after wearing off Arabic magamat scale to become Coastal Swahili Segere or Sega as labeled in French Speaking countries of the Indian Ocean. Armed with mixolydian mode, “Inama” fits well the SegaSegere classification.

Sega or Segere (Tanzania) style rocked the French world in early 1990s when Mauritius’ Denis Azzor hit,: “Li Lala” made a huge global appeal in the 1990s as a Sega music masterpiece, but all its notes takes everything from “Muhogo wa Jangombe”.

Sega has been a popular music genre from the Indian Ocean Islands of Reunion, Mauritius, Comoro, Seychelles, and Madagascar.

In an interview with one of the French magazines, Dennis Azor claimed Sega originated from Zanzibar and this puts Bi Kidude’s “Muhogo wa Jang’ombe” and Azor’s” Ala li la” on the same house as cousins.

Her seminar hit “Muhogo wa Jang’ombe” which was later re-mastered by Judith Wambura (Lady JD) remains the model of Segere or simply Mwambao style to mean music Swahili people of the East African coast.

Among the most popular hits styled in Sega- Segere style,include “Aiyola” by Harmonize, “Waache Waoane” by Chege, and “Nasema Nawe” by Diamond featuring Taarab Queen, Khadija Kopa.

Still wearing the same “Muhogo wa Jangombe” coat, a true Sega was brought to Tanzania in 1978 by the then Seychelles Army Captain, David Filo who teamed up with Mwenge Jazz members to record “Aiyo Panga” at Radio Tanzania Dar es Salaam (RTD).

Like Segere, Sega is danced without the feet ever leaving the ground, instead, the rest of the body moves and that corresponds well with Segua Segua, a dance style Tabora Jazz Band developed in the early 1980s.

Over 250 songs were recorded by Siti and her band for various labels. Like what Bongo Flava is doing today, Siti succeeded in elevating the status of Kiswahili and, by extension, Kiswahili speakers, by recording in the language.

The commercial selling of Siti’s voice contributed to the development of the Zanzibari dialect of Kiswahili, which the British later promoted as “standard” Swahili throughout East Africa.

Taarab was a fine type of music, but other Bantu musical genres were still played and were well-liked.

Siti’s recorded voice served as a metaphor for Zanzibar’s influence as a modernising force that disseminated taarab music and new technology from Tanganyika to Southern Arabia, Uganda, Kenya, the Belgian Congo, and Somalia.

The old proverb “When the pipes play in Zanzibar, they dance on the lakes” has fresh meaning thanks to Siti’s albums, which have brought Zanzibar back to its previous splendour.

Siti Bint who died on July 8, 1950, remains a legend in the taarab music and many others still sing in her style, including Fatuma Binti Baraka (Bi Kidude) was the leading exponent up until her death in 2013.