Enjoy dance music, feel women’s joy, agony

DAR ES SALAAM: IT was cold inside the main studio of the Radio Tanzania Dar es Salaam when Engineer James Mhilu switched the light to green, beckoning the band to start recording when a beautiful lady moved hesitantly to a microphone along with the other three male vocalists, but couldn’t sing.

“Sir, I can’t sing in key G, please let me do it in key F, ” said the lady while she breathily touched her chest.

The songbird was Rahma Shalli, and the band on stage was Mwenge Jazz. They were about to record Usilie Bob Ferry, a hit composed by the band’s multi-instrumentalist, Farahani Mzee (Bob Ferry).

It was in 1985 when Mwenge Jazz recorded the song in the Misakato Programme presented by ‘Uncle’ Julius Nyaisanga, who was the encyclopedia of Tanzania dance music.

Playing in the all-male dance band was an arduous job for female singers in those years as opposed to taarab, a coastal Swahili music genre whose vocal part was most often dominated by female singers and backers.

As stated later by the former Mwenge Jazz saxophonist, Luiza Elia John, Rahma Shalli panicked before she started to sing her part in the song alongside the lead singer, Mabruki Mohamed.

Since then, the number of female musicians has increased, and today, there are many of them on stage.

The massive entry of women singers in dance music began in the early 1980s following the success of Mpongo Love’s Ndaya, Tabia Mwanjelwa’s Maisha ni Kifo and Mbilia Bell, who served Afrisa International came with her eponymous hit, Eswi Yo Wapi , the big hit of 1983.

By the mid-1980s, the number of women singers increased, and among the notable arrivals were Emma Mkello, who partnered with Eddy Sheggy in Mlima ya Kwetu, Kida Waziri, Nuru Mhina(Baby White), Nana Njige who performed with Magereza Jazz and later Luiza Mbutu, Amina Ngaluma and Khadija Mnoga ‘Kimobitel’

As better explained by the Mlimani Park Orchestra leader and tutor, King Michael Enock, women singers were sought in songs that express women’s feeling, be it joy or agony.

But since most bands didn’t employ female singers or vocalists, men had to sing their parts.

Mlimani Park Orchestra’s Kassim, a song recorded in late 1978, you can hear Hamisi Juma(Maalim Kinyasi) trying to sound like a woman in his dialogue with Muhidini Gurumo, who acted as Kassim the spender.

Still, men singers did well in representing the women’s voice in most of the recorded songs.

Most popular, however, is Mamou composed in the mid-1980s, and that song brought the voice of bassist Mpudi Zinza Passi Deca on stage when he imitated a voice of a troubled Congolese woman.

With a suave voice, Mwenge Jazz used the George Mpupua to lure Mwanahawa to return to Ujamaa village. The song was recorded in 1976 before Rahma Shalli joined the band eight years later.

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Today, with the huge support of the state- of-the- arts instruments, sequencers, midi gadgets and computerized sound banks at a stake, having women singers or vocalists is no longer an issue.

While women singers were rare in the band music, solo artistry, as seen today through the music of the new generation music including Bongo Flava and gospel music, has a plenty of them today with Zuchu, Ray C, Snura, Lina Sanga, Maua Sama, Lady Jay D, Mwasiti, Nandy, Abigael Chams and Fina being the most notable.

Women voices have been scarce in Tanzania dance music during the radio days, but some of the issues are still vibrant today.

Siwema by Marijani Rajabu is an old hit that still rocks the audience today.

Siwema penned Marijani and his Dar International Orchestra warns a town lady that beauty is worthless if your behaviour is rotten, and Lady Jay Dee re-mastered it in a woman voice.

With all that, there are scoresof artists who deserve recognition as their works helped to reshape the female voice.

Luiza Mbutu’s Kuolewa expressed a true feeling of the newlywed woman. Her excitement and sorrow after parting ways with her parents, family, and friends.

Also deserves a recognition in arming Bongo Flava with powerful fusions include Ray C whose early.