ZANZIBARA 5
HOT IN DAR: THE SOUND OF TANZANIA 1978-83 (Buda Musique 860184)

I've been excitedly awaiting this release since I saw it mentioned months ago and I was not disappointed. During this period (1978-83) East African music was on fire. Bands from Congo were erupting all over Central African airwaves and when the competition got too hot in Kinshasa, many of them moved to Uganda, Kenya or Tanzania. The local bands either absorbed the new musicians or picked up ideas from them to preserve their own market share. Three of the biggest bands in Tanzania were Mlimani Park Orchestra, Dar International and Vijana Jazz. I heard them on the radio in East Africa at the time and when I returned to the West sought out the albums that occasionally turned up in my relentless quest through the record bins of Paris, London, Washington, etcetera. I amassed a mountain of cassettes that formed the basis of one of my discographies on this site. I also have singles by Mlimani and Vijana Jazz that are talismata or fetish items -- not in the sexual sense, but "inanimate natural or cultural objects believed to have magical power." One of the most magical songs of Mlimani "Visa vimenichosha (I am sick of this story)" kicks off this comp. It sets the mood for an hour of transcendent bliss. In the West we have different musics for different age groups and social classes but in places like the Dominican Republic, Haiti and much of Africa, everyone from toddlers to geriatrics are hip to the current sound, and it is all-pervasive. Muziki wa dansi, as this sound is called in Kiswahili, was ubiquitous in East Africa at that time. Not just because of bands that played all night concerts, but every radio was tuned to the same state-controlled station which was also the place where bands would go to record, so whenever a band had a new hit it would be blasting from every corner. LPs are of course a scarce commodity in East Africa. Every time I tried to buy one I was offered a cassette tape instead, and not just any cassette but a cheap one that had been dubbed in hi-speed from a questionable master on a well used tape deck. Consequently most of the music from this era -- such as the Ahadi cassettes which were essentially sanctioned bootlegs from the radio station's master tapes -- are muddy. Werner Graebner, the compiler AND engineer on this set, has remastered these tracks so they are sparkling in their clarity.

Dar International was formed in 1978 from members of NUTA Jazz. Band-leader was guitarist Abel Balthazar and he hired singer Cosmas Tobias from Dar Jazz. But ego clashes caused the band to fracture and several, including Balthazar, left to form Mlimani Park, again filling the ranks from the former members of NUTA including singer Hassani Bitchuka. The longest track on here is Dar's "Uzuri wa asili (natural beauty)" which clocks in at over 9 minutes. It has a great organ underpinning and floats on dreamily, till the guitars get their groove on. While some of the guitar styles are Zairois, the singers kept local traditions alive and this was important especially in the rhythms they adopted. Mlimani was famous for its Sikinde style (also the title of a hit included on the essential Tanzania Dance Bands vol 1, compiled by Graebner for Monsun Records in 1989), and they had a great arranger in saxophonist Michael Enoch who arranged the battles between three trumpets and three saxes that form a key component of their complex style (so Graebner tells us). Vijana Jazz is represented with one song, "Niletaka iwe siri (I wanted it to be our secret)", a Cosmas Tobias song done during his brief stint with them. This is guaranteed to make you want more, leaving the door open for another compilation devoted solely to Vijana Jazz. The booklet is wonderful, with rare photos, complete lyrics in translation and a fine essay by Graebner.

ZANIBARA 3
UJAMAA: THE 1960s SOUND OF TANZANIA (Buda Musique 860142)

We can now add "Ujamaa" to our Swahili vocabulary with "Uhuru," "Baraka," "Harambee," and so on (If you want to sound really white try "Moja pilsner baridi ingine, tafadhali"). "Ujamaa" means African Socialism, based on values of family and community, and was the resolve of the 1967 Arusha Declaration. (Though given the 2007 Arusha Declaration to stop fighting between the Sudanese government and rebel armies it's a wonder "Ujamaa" survived at all.) But in 1967, the newly independent Tanzania went into a period of self-sufficiency and nation-building that included state-sponsored bands such as NUTA Jazz and lesser-known bands of the police, army, bus service, etc. The music is similar to Congolese, even covering Cuban-derived styles like the kiri kiri of Docteur Nico, except in Tanzania the music is a bit more laid back: there's multiple guitars and percussion, but the sax is a lead instrument and the singing is usually choral rather than solo. There's also taraab influences in the singing of bands like Atomic or Morogoro Jazz. Other Congo influences were brought by musicians from Eastern Congo looking for a gig in a less-crowded marketplace, but there are also thumb-piano traditions that were adapted into pop music all over Central and East Africa in the 60s, as documented by Hugh Tracey.

In the 1950s Megs Shag, owner of a record store called Assanand's in Mombasa, started recording local bands with a reel-to-reel recorder and a single microphone. But after independence such private enterprises were banned and the national radio station became the sole venue for bands to record. Bands made an annual pilgrimage to the station in Dar Es Salaam to record monaural tapes, which were ostensibly for radio play, but some were snuck out to Kenya where they did a brisk trade as cassettes.

Today these Tanzanian dance bands are legendary, thanks to releases like MUZIKI WA DANSI (Africassette) and reissues on the Dizim, Monsun, and Popular African Music labels. Featured on this reissue, compiled by Werner Graebner, are Atomic Jazz, NUTA Jazz and Morogoro Jazz. There are also two tracks from Jamhuri Jazz and one from Dar Es Salaam Jazz. The two Jamhuri tracks appeared on Jamhuri Jazz Band vol 3 (Tamasha CD2012). They also appeared, with three of the other tracks on HITS OF THE 60s (Polydor 508), a truly rare album; Mbaraka's "Nimechoka" was on UKUMBUSHO vol 11; the NUTA tracks were on OLD IS GOLD: ZILIZOPENDWA (Polygram 557), one of my treasured LPs. But that only accounts for a handful. What this represents is a gold mine of classic Tanzanian music, sounding as good as new. The complete personnel are listed, the lyrics are translated, the sound is restored impeccably, and there are great historic pictures of the bands, maps, ephemera, and other photos. Now I don't want to start ranting in the middle of this panegyric but I have an issue that needs to be raised: the tendency of (mostly white, I suspect) people to treat this music with a colonial mentality. "It's great, so let's just put it on the net for anyone to hear." This devalues the music. I am not saying it should be the exclusive province of people with great wealth who can buy the copies that turn up on EBAY, I am saying this music should be respected. Before throwing it onto a blog it should be researched and properly documented. Optimal copies should be tracked down. Anyone downloading should pay nominally for the privilege and the money should be put in escrow to go to the descendants of the composers. Then there will be some parity with Western artists who get their royalties. I am sick of seeing sites with crappy-sounding singles ripped from cassettes and a note saying, "This is cool, I don't know anything about it but look here..." and a link to my pages. I've given up asking these clowns to respect my copyright, but ultimately they will kill the demand for CDs (& their crucial liner notes) and there won't be anyone, like Budamusique, taking the trouble to produce a magnificent package like this. You have to buy this, for the music, for the package, and to safeguard the future of the music!

SAMBA MAPANGALA & VIRUNGA
AFRICAN CLASSICS (Sheer Sound SLCD149)

Samba Mapangala was part of the wave of Congolese immigrants who brought their music to East Africa in the 70s when the Kinshasa scene became overloaded with talent. He played in some bands in Nairobi, notably Les Kinois, and was thinking of going home to recruit a new band when he decided to make a few recordings first, and so he took a mixture of guys he had played with or knew from the local music scene into the studio in Nairobi, and Virunga was born. Virunga is a dormant volcano, the third highest peak in Africa, in northeast Congo near the Ugandan border. Giant arborescent heather grows there and it's so quiet you can hear the creak of bamboo growing! But Virunga the band requires you turn up the volume. Though Samba Mapangala veered off into the Quatre Etoiles realm when he was in Paris, producing a series of albums that were indistinguishable from Four Stars' other Paris productions, there is a distinct Virunga sound, and we are treated to over an hour of it on this bright compilation. Three of the cuts appear for the first time, so this will be a must-have for Kenyan music fans, as well as people who dig Congolese dance music, because Virunga straddles both benga and soukous with their high-energy music.

Doug Paterson has done a great job of remastering the sound so it is clear as a bell, and I suspect this was not easy on the three old tracks that he dug up for this set. He also went back to sources to improve the sound of some songs that have been previously on CD, but with flat dynamics. I was fortunate to hear the band at the Starlight nightclub in Nairobi in 1983 and consequently became a life-long devotee of their music, as well as of their splinter groups. I can't believe I actually saw Moreno, Coco Zigo Mike & Fataki Lokassa on stage, though of course I had no idea who they were then; just that I loved the sound. Though there are several Virguna CDs on the market, the Roots album only had 4 songs from the Nairobi days, intercut with tracks from Paris when the sound had switched to soukous. I don't like the alternating sequencing on that disc, so here's the first chance to hear a great continuous selection of genuine golden oldies, and not a slack track on the front or the back. Among the new entries is "Mabiala"-- a praise song for a diplomat, and not a paean to the great Prince Youlou. It really tears up the floor. "Sister Ali" is a love song by Mandala Muisa. "Fonseka" is another praise song for a Starlight nightclub regular. In addition there are two songs from the Feet on Fire LP, "Sungura" and "Vidonge," & two of the big hits from Virunga Volcano, "Malako" and "Yembele." Both of these albums in their entirety are solid, but the inclusion of tracks previously only released in Africa is truly welcome. Three more, less familiar tracks, round out the set, and confirm what we knew, Virunga really were one of the Classic African bands.

SAMBA MAPANGALA
UJUMBE (Sterns/Earthworks STEW43CD)

Since forming in Kenya out of Les Kinois around 1981, Virunga has toured Africa, Europe (in 1991) the USA and Canada (in 1995 and 1997). Samba Mapangala settled in the USA (before our crypto-fascist boy president lowered the boom on alien artists). In the interim Mapangala flirted with the Paris scene and finally has put out an album devoid of the Parisian traces of programmation and le synth terrible. The album, UJUMBE, is a breath of fresh air into the soukous scene. It has Real Horns on one track; there's acoustic guitar and a drum kit! The superb production is by the Quatre Etoiles' Bopol (who plays rhythm guitar), Nyboma sings harmony and Komba Bellow, also of Four Stars, is on drums. From Nouvelle Generation de Viva la Musica we find Caien Madoka on lead guitar and Boss Matuta on bass. It's an all-star effort and right on form. Everything coasts along effortlessly and I take back all I said about soukous being dead (It was just having a bad dream). Samba sings "Pesa Mambo Yote" during "Ufunguwo" -- a lyric that was a hit for Nairobi Matata Original back in the '70s. The words explain that without money you have few friends: money is the key to respect and life! "Ujumbe" means message in Kiswahili and the message here is Samba Mapangala is back on top.

INGOSI STARS
LANGONI (daqui EE02EE)

This is Luhya Music from Kenya, subtitled "from village to town". It is traditional music, played on traditional instruments, and is a rewarding slice of vibrant folk music. While listening I kept hearing echoes of the Georgia Sea Islanders and other black American music, but I think there is a thread that unites all great folk music no matter its origin. The album is a testament to the perseverance of the producer, Denis-Constant Martin, who first met the performers in Kenya in 1980 and never forgot the impact of their wry songs about life in the slums of Nairobi. Returning in 2000 Martin ran into Mzee William Ingosi Mwoshi again, quite by chance, and arranged for him to perform in France at the Festival des nuits atypiques. This was most fortunate for the Kenyan because he was in an advanced state of cancer and on arrival in France was hospitalized and an operation quickly performed which saved his life. Ingosi plays the shiriri, a one-stringed fiddle. He was a favourite performer of Jomo Kenyatta and wrote a much-loved song about Independence, "Mwana wa mbeli (the first born)" with which the CD opens. His pal, Joshua Mwami, master of the itunga, or Luhya lyre, had passed away since the producer first encountered them, but Ingosi's son, Jackson who has mastered the guitar, also plays the 8-stringed lyre with great accomplishment. This thoroughly enjoyable disc is handsomely packaged and includes all the song lyrics in translation.

MAESTRO KING KIKI
RAISA JAKAYA M. KIWETE (13s planet 006 UK)

Nothing groundbreaking from King Kiki here, but it's nice to hear one of the old-timers still putting out quality material. His sound at times reminds me of early eighties Afrisa of Rochereau, but is unmistakably Tanzanian rumba (from the golden era). However it is a new recording and he has a bunch of compatriots from the Dar Es Salaam music scene in his band providing the mellow ambience. Like many others, Kiki started out playing in a band as a lad in Lubumbashi, Congo, in 1958, aged 11. As a fan of Cuban as well as Congolese Rumba he graduated from band to band, including Super Fauvette, Safaris Nkoy, African Fiesta of Dr Nico, and Maquis du Zaire. The latter of course moved to Tanzania and became huge, but in 1979 he left to form Orchestra Safari Sound. He sings in seven languages and his band plays in as many styles, though all of them have that wonderful horn-and-guitar driven groove. I could do without the synthesizer on here, but it is minimal. The vocals are strong, the songs about love, harambee, unity, and the old rumberos. 13s Planet Records has put out a range of great East African music by some of the surviving bands, this one is not to be missed.

KING KIKI
ZILIZOPENDWA (Ujamaa Records URKIKI01, from Stern's)
EMBALA SASA SHIKA BREAK (no cat no, from Natari)

Some things definitely get better with age: whisky, cheese, and Tanzanian "muziki wa dansi" among them, and some music is so hard to find that when you do find it you have to grab it. Swahili rumba is one of the most enduring and wonderful sounds. The drumming is light, the guitars lyrical, the vocals heartfelt, the saxes bleat prominently. I am constantly tweaking my East African discographies and discovering more and more music from the classic bands of the 70s and 80s, but there are a few survivors still making music in the tradition. Over a decade ago RetroAfric put out the great Shikamoo Jazz volume one and I have been hoping for the sequel ever since. At the same time Dakar Sound put out Leila by Bana Maquis, a group comprised of survivors from the great Maquis du Zaire. The 11 cuts on King Kiki's Zilizopendwa: Maestro of Tanzania compilation from Ujamaa demonstrate the range of his talents as performer and songwriter and underline the prominence he still holds in the Dar Es Salaam club scene. For four decades, he and fellow Congoman Ndala Kasheba (who died in 2005 at 58) were in and out of the great ex-pat bands like Orchestre Safari Sound (then Safari Nkoy) in Tanzania. Kiki toured East Africa first in the 60s with Orchestre Fauvette, sang with African Fiesta Sukisa for a spell, then, moving to Dar Es Salaam, he played with Maquis du Zaire, and then formed his own band King Kiki Double "O", all of whom are sampled on the Zilizopendwa compilation. Inevitably, in the context of classic rumba, there are comparisons to be made to Franco and Mbaraka Mwinshehe: the Zilizopendwa album has a great staggered Franco lead as the musical leitfmotif for the opening cut (though they shout out Jean Bosco Mwenda, which may be a more accurate touchstone for their sound, as he is one of the giants of the finger-picking style derived from likembe). The success of Congolese musicians in East Africa was due to the immense popularity of Franco and other bands: local bands imitated the Kinshasa sound and so when authentic Congolese musicians showed up they were treated as royalty. The more than 200 musicians from Eastern Congo that headed to Dar Es Salaam in the 1970s were also familiar with Kiswahili and could adapt their snappy rhythms and sweet melodies to the local taste. Strife drove musicians out of Kivu and Katanga, but if they made it to their own capital they couldn't survive without rich patrons and an inside grasp of the politics of the club scene, so many of the bands went to Burundi or Uganda. But then there was Idi Amin and other serious obstacles to their continued success, so Tanzania was an optimal destination. The music evolved away from the Congolese rumba into its own sound that evokes warmth and happiness with the pulse of it. It conjurs feelings of dancing the night away in a sweat while insects batter against preternaturally bright lights in the dim air, as smells of cooking mingle with kerosene, paraffin from lamps, and the rich red earth that is not far away from the tiny bit of civilization perched tentatively on African soil with its toes in the Indian Ocean.

INTRODUCING KENGE KENGE
ACOUSTIC ROOTS OF KENYAN BENGA (INTRO07CD)

How wonderful that World Music Network has decided to issue some genuine folkloric music instead of sticking with the safety of tried and tested formulaic pop music from Africa. I don't imagine this will break sales records but it's a really monumental album. There's continuity with the Benga Beat that was popular in the early 80s but also a deep-rooted tradition that goes back to the 50s and beyond. In fact I note references to older tunes which can be heard on the Mother Lode: Hugh Tracey's recordings made in the 50s in his peregrinations around East Africa. It's acoustic Luo music and there's no guitars (apart from a bass perhaps), so don't expect it to sound like Shirati Jazz at first listen. The group is about 20 years old, their name means "Fusion of small, exhilarating instruments"! Originally the Catering Levy Trust Choir, they were government men who collected hotel taxes. While the choir sang religious and patriotic hymns, the band were more into exploring the roots of Luo music and evolved away from the functionaries to be an independent professional band. The Luo come from the area around the bottom of Lake Victoria, close to Tanzania, who were influenced by Bantu music from the Congo on the other side of the great water (It looks like an ocean and has waves crashing on the shore). They use flutes, animal horns, the orutu (a one-stringed fiddle), nyangile (a gong), and hand drums and they rock. It's great to know this music exists & is so vital. The fiddle and the flute may not seem like exciting instruments but there is some virtuoso playing, excellent drumming, and it's well recorded. It stands alongside such other neo-traditional gems such as Classic Swede Swede (from Congo) and Zagazougou (from Ivory Coast). While it shows evolution from the Luo roots heard & recorded by Tracey, there is continuity in most instruments (the Luo lute is extinct) and when they sing about Jimmy Rogers ("Chemirocha") in the last track my joy abounds and their journey home is complete.

MSONDO NGOMA
THE BEST OF MSONDO NGOMA (Ujamaa Records, available through STERNS)

Subtitled "The true living legends of East Africa," this is quite a remarkable, not to say magic disc. Tanzanian music is some of the finest, most enduring popular music to come out of Africa. Sure there are fads for soukous, bikutski, salsa africana, mbaqanga, but they seldom last more than a lustrum, a decade at most, so it's no small wonder that this group has endured. Broad-gauged studies of the constellation of Tanzanian popular music in the last thirty years inevitably end in necrological bric-à-brac as junior currents shoot forth from the mainstream only to vanish. However a modicum of attention to current releases will reward the listener with this many-splendored opus. The trail-blazing band was formed in 1964 as NUTA Jazz Band, named for the National Workers Union. Their ZILIZOPENDWA or OLD IS GOLD albums on Polygram (POLP 557, 621) are classics. (The latter was available on Tamasha CD and might be found as a download now.) Their lead singers Hassani Bitchuka and lead guitarist Abel Balthazar defected to form Mlimani Park and the group reformed as Juwata Jazz. In 1991 the two defectors returned to the ranks and the band crystallized as OTTU Jazz for their new sponsor, the Organization of Tanzanian Trade Unions. You will recognize "Tupa Tupa" as it's on MUZIKI WA DANSI. Here it's a different take, a sharply silhouetted safari over familiar terrain carried off with flair. The songs are in Swahili, the sound is old school rumba, with horn choruses, mingling guitar licks, and fine solos and vocals.

OTTU JAZZ
PIGA UA, TALAKA UTATOA (Ujamaa Records, available through STERNS)

This album came out a couple of years ago but was in scarce supply. If you can find a copy, grab it. If you like classic Tanzanian dance band music (and who doesn't?) then you will love this. It's from the third incarnation of the band that started in the 60s as NUTA Jazz, became Juwata Jazz, then OTTU Jazz and is now Msondo Ngoma (see above). 65-year-old Muhidim Ngurumo is the band leader; he shares lead vocals with TX Moshi William. They have several guitars including the great Saidi Mabera on lead (he joined the band in 1973 and was leader through the 1980s), bass, drums, a conga player and two trumpets. The group was formed in the era when big organizations bought instruments & hired a band who were salaried employees, playing for company gigs; Mlimani Park, Tancut Alimasi and Vijana Jazz all worked to this formula. The six cuts are relaxed ten minute jams with a song, exposition, and jam. And, of course, the twin trumpeters come to the mike at the right moment to take it through the roof & up to the heavens. It's great someone is still making the classic East African rumba: bits of it glimmer up from time to time but here is a major dose that makes an essential companion to the Msondo Nogma album.

LES MANGALEPA
ENDURANCE (RetroAfric 21CD)

Another African classic from RetroAfric. This one doesn't have so much rare stuff as it's drawn from CDs which can be found on the Tamasha label and bought from biashara.biz online. Still, if you haven't plunged into the available four CDs of Mangelepa, this is a wonderful sampler, including many big hits. The first four tracks are their CD NYAKO-KONYA (originally ASLP 2004): "Embakasi," "Maindusa," "Mimba," & "Nyako konya" (on CD from Tamasha TAM0032). This is the cream of the crop. Originally the backing band for Baba Gaston, they left Congo looking for work in Tanzania and after a couple of hit albums as Baba National they split from Gaston and formed les Mangelepa. They waded in between the big guns, Mbaraka Mwinshehe, Maroon Commandos, Simba/Super Wanyika, Virunga, Super Mazembe, and others, to establish themselves as a top act. For some reason RetroAfric consistently mis-spell the name of the band. I await enlightenment on this as I can't believe it's a typographical error. However the name is a corruption of the french "Marquez les pas" or mark time, referring to military bands, as the Kenyan sound has that snicking snare drum laying down the beat. There's also great trombone, sax and a pair of trumpets as well as fine lead guitar by band-leader Bwamy Walumona, and mi-solo from Ambassadeur and Petit Mustang. Lately I've been completely immersed in the ex-pat Congolese Tanzanian sound so it's hard to be impartial. This is more of that great zippy stuff, with sharp melodies, fabulous guitar interplay (sweetened by Boss Flangers) and light percussion that keeps you coming back for more. I even found I have two Baba Gaston LPs and a hit single buried in my archives, which came to light as a result of my Tanzania album web pages, so that was a treat. One of Les Mangelepa's hit songs included here is "Walter," dedicated to a devoted fan. Funnily enough I had a devoted fan of my radio show called Walter so it strikes another happy chord. "Malawi zikama" and the last track "Kanemo" (which have applause grafted on) are harder to find than the rest of the album. I am sure Retro knows the great work done by Gunter Gretz at Popular African Music, however they should also be aware of what's going on at Analog Africa, who have surpassed them in terms of packaging recovered lost gems of African music. I hope Retro will accept the challenge and put a bit more effort into finding really rare music and giving us the sumptuous packaging that makes the difference between a burned CD of some old cassettes and a truly desirable package.

SAMBA MAPANGALA & ORCHESTRE VIRUNGA
SONG & DANCE (Virunga Records 002)

Orchestre Virunga was one of the great Kenyan dance bands of the early eighties. I have a strong affinity with this band because I saw them at the Starlight Club in Nairobi back in the day, and also climbed the Congolese volcano they are named after! Their singer, Samba Mapangala, was of Congolese origin and moved to Washington, DC in the mid-1990s. However they tour and record in Europe more than the US. He has recorded with some of the Four Stars before and teams up with them again for this stellar outing. You may think the Four Stars are extinct, but this is not so. When Kekele was formed, to recreate the classic acoustic Congolese rumba sound, their producer, Ibrahim Sylla, kicked Bopol out of the group. I will never forgive him for this, but they accepted his argument that otherwise it would not be a new band. However the interplay between Bopol & Syran is one of the most kinetic pairings of the last 25 years and you can't stop electricity from arcing. While there are many guitarists on here, the classic pairing of Syran and Bopol is key. The other solo guitarists -- Caien Madoka and Dally Kimoko -- sound like surrogate Four Stars in their contributions. Nyboma adds his sweet harmonies too so in many ways this is a classic Quatre Etoiles outing. I think the real key is the presence of Bopol who has been on Samba Mapangala's other albums and co-written some of the songs. They don't try anything new (apart from reggae on "Pangen Uzazi"), which is refreshing: they just deliver dance-music with real panache. The melodies are beautiful, with lots of light airy riffing in the arpeggiated Dr Nico style. Komba Bellow plays drums and Deba Sunga slaps the conga. As an added bonus there's Jimmy Mvondo on sax. I hear a synth in there dimly but no one is credited with playing it (probably too ashamed to admit it). This is a consummate party record, sweet and up-tempo.

ROUGH GUIDE TO MUSIC OF TANZANIA (RGNET 1158CD)

I've discovered this irritating fact about the Rough Guides. They start with a classic song, then track two is some godawful hiphop dreck to show contemporary youth trends. (Elvin Jones once said he liked hiphop because it pissed-off the older generation and challenged the status quo. I retain the right to be among the grumbling old fogies.) This latest offering follows the formula and has two tracks that can be put in the mute filter (X Plastaz and Dataz: you could almost predict this from their names); otherwise it's a wonderful hour of comforting music from Tanzania, which still has a flourishing music scene. Werner Graebner of Dizim Records is the selector and he explains how the great dance bands of the past have dwindled down to only one or two. Sad, because this is a sound I dearly love; however I have my two drawers of FLATIM cassettes from the golden age to console me. Old favourites Vijana Jazz are up front with "Tambiko" (aka "Tambiko la Pamba Moto"). one of their late 80s hits. Mlimani Park Orchestra is here too, turning it on with their trademark spiraling guitars behind the distinctive voice of Hassani Bitchuka. The were formed as an offshoot of NUTA Jazz in 1978 and are still the darlings of the Dar Es Salaam club scene. NUTA was formed in 1964, and has survived, but is now know as OTTU Jazz Band for the Organization of Tanzanian Trade Unions that sponsors the band. Other styles are still vibrant. A wonderful folkloric piece is performed by Saida Karoli (one of the thrills of this recording). She broke through with her debut album in 2001, and the ballad on here, "Omukaile Kilinjwi," will make you keen to hear the whole thing. One of my favourite cuts is present: "Lukinzi" by the Master Musicians of Tanzania from the album MATESO [Terra CD104], but on hearing it the Duchess muttered the dread disyllable "New Age!" It's the great Hukwe Zawose & his trio on thumb pianos caught in a wonderfully meditative session. The album was originally issued by Triple Earth in 1985 as TANZANIA YETU then extended to an hour for the CD release in 1989.

Another big element in Tanzanian music is the coastal Taraab sound with its Arabic scales, emanating from Zanibar, represented here by Ikhwani Safaa Musical Club, a century-old big band still coming on strong. Zanzibar was a separate country until the First World War when Britain took Tanganyika from Germany and joined it to Zanibar, running both until independence under Julius Nyerere (a leftist committed to self-determination for Africa) in 1961. I heard a BBC news report that Tanzania is the only country in Africa expected to have an increase in rainfall due to global warming, which will mean a boost in crops, animal-life, and of course trade, tourism and economic prosperity. With all the passion for old Juju and Nigerian funk music leading to a flood of reissues of West African music, I keep hoping the punters will develop the same craving for the equally stimulating old Tanzanian sound. I am surprised that this is the first Rough Guide to Tanzania, but Graebner has done a fabulous job and delivered the goods without falling into predictability. It's essential.

THE LEGACY OF MBARAKA MWINSHEHE MWARUKA

Morogoro Jazz, led by the great Mbaraka Mwinshehe, ruled the East African airwaves in the sixties and seventies. They adapted local folk music including Taarab from the East Indian Community settled along the coast. The arrival of the electric guitar changed their sensibilities and regional styles, like Benga from Kenya, were also filtered into their sound, along with pop tunes from the British hit parade and American R&B.

Mbaraka Mwinshehe learned guitar as a teenager, and led the band from the late sixties until he left to form his own band, Super Volcano, in 1973. But in January 1979, Mwinshehe died in a car crash on the treacherous Nairobi-Mombasa highway where herds of wild animals and flocks of goats pose as much of a driving hazard as overloaded market trucks and frustrated motorists trying to speed on the potholed road.

MBARAKA MWINSHEHE & MOROGORO JAZZ
MASIMANGO (Best of Tanzania 1969-72) (Dizim)

Dizim Records has gathered twelve tracks from the Morogoro Jazz band in the volume MASIMANGO (Best of Tanzania 1969-72). The beats are heavily in the Cuban style, though influences from British pop (the Shadows) and American R&B can be heard. Mwinshehe's innovative guitar playing is showcased as he strums behind the bridge, swoops on the neck, deadens the strings to play percussively, or finger-picks in the style of likembe (thumb-piano). He learned to sing from hearing Salim Abdullah, who left Morogoro to found Cuban Marimba band (whose music is the subject of another release on the same label), so his singing has a strong Islamic feel to it. More Islamic traces can be sensed in the haunting sax playing by arranger Kulwa Salum. After Mbaraka Mwinshehe's death, Polygram put out of series of ten LPs by the Super Volcanos [left] and it is hoped Dizim will continue to go through this material for future issues. Mwinshehe's arrangements are occasionally reminiscent of OK Jazz, and he is often called the Franco of East Africa, but there is nothing like the roiling intensity of a Tanzanian dance band.

MBARAKA MWINSHEHE MWARUKA
SOLOIST NATIONAL 1968-1972 (Tamasha CD TAM501)

I can't get enough of Mbaraka Mwinshehe. He was known as the "Franco of East Africa" for his presence, his guitar playing and his spellbinding success as a performer. The sound on a few of these tracks is a bit rough, as they were taken from 45s, but it's a marvelous exposition of that rumba sound with snaking guitar lines, punchy horns and a long laid-back groove that stretches to the dusty horizon. This one jumps right in with "Bivelina" and goes into another smoker, "Tambiko ya wahenga." This CD covers the early career of Mbaraka when he was with Morogoro Jazz Band, before he left to form Super Volcano. It only duplicates two of the tracks on MASIMANGO (Dizim Asili Series vol 2): "Tutakuja gombana" and "Matusi ya nini," where they sound heaps better. The latter is an important track because it discusses the rivalry between Morogoro Jazz and Salim's Cuban Marimba Band, another band from the same small town in Eastern Tanzania. It was from them that Mbaraka learned his singing style which is actually Islamic in origin and has a nice descant to it. His partner in the band was Kulwa Salum on chorus and arrangements who also plays the sax that is such a great addition to the vocals and a counterpoint to Mbaraka's dazzling guitar solos. Mbaraka played many instruments and the biggest influence on his guitar playing is the likembe or thumb piano. Apart from wonderfully lyric passages he often creates a percussive style for a rhythmic effect that is quite mesmerizing. Sometimes his guitar even sounds like a marimba (I guess he's hammering on the strings with both hands). On "Vijana wa Afrika" he introduced lap steel guitar and the zoops and whoops are clearly derived from Docteur Nico's African Fiesta rather than country and western or Hawaiian sources. Maybe Werner Graebner, who produced the Dizim release, will get involved and track down the master tapes or find a way to remaster these tracks but, until then, here's your chance to hear some classic Tanzanian music.

MBARAKA MWINSHEHE
"KIFO CHA PESA" UKUMBUSHO VOLUME 6 (Tamasha CD TAM POLP564)

"Ukumbusho" is Kiswahili for "remembrance," but you probably don't recall these discs, compiled from singles and released posthumously in East Africa. I hadn't heard of Mbaraka Mwinshehe before his tragic death in 1979, then one day, in Down Home Music in El Cerrito in 1984, I found a stack of LPs on the Polydor label that compiled his works. I bought one -- Volume Three -- and took it home. It was stunning so I returned to the store a week later to buy another and found they were all gone and there was not much likelihood of restocking them. This began a quest to find more of Mbaraka. It turned out two of my friends had also bought single albums so I was able to trade them for cassettes and spread the joy a little further. Then I found someone with two cassette releases and we constituted a secret society of Mbaraka fans in San Francisco! There's a hypnotic quality to the music that locks into a groove with big bulbous horn arrangements and Mbaraka playing contrapuntally to the theme in his guitar solos, not unlike Franco with whom he is often compared, though the music is definitely East African rather than Congolese. These recordings were made with Super Volcano, after he split from Morogoro Jazz Band in 1973, but the sound is essentially the same. The songs are all about 5 minutes long but they really seem to stretch out (though I suspect there was a second part to many of them). The players are so confident that it doesn't take them long to break it down and give Mbaraka space to work his magic. The album opens with "Afadhali Umerudi" a nod to James Brown-style funk with a classic drum-break bridge and "stuck" rhythm guitar while the band members yell back and forth, whistle, and urge on Mbaraka who returns followed by the horns in full throat. Sadly it seems to be just part 1 of this gem. There's as much of the Swahili sound familiar from Les Wanyika as the Congolese sound of OK Jazz. The last track "Unaulizwa" is a Cuban-style piece that is sort of a speed cha-cha and highly original.

MBARAKA MWINSHEHE
UKUMBUSHO VOLUME 7 (Tamasha CD TAM POLP566)

This disc includes several mega-hits of Mbaraka Mwinshehe, though it clocks in at less than 40 minutes. There's that out-of-tune-sounding horn chorus but some excellent solos from sax and clarinet, choppy mi-solo guitar, and drummer riding the edge of his snare and berating the high-hat. "Penzi lako hatari" leads off the set and fades at an interesting point leading me to think there must be a part 2 that only appeared on the 45. One of Super Volcano's biggest songs is next: "Picnic ya volcano," You might imagine an outing to Kilimanjaro with a case of Tusker pilsner and some "kuku"-- fried chicken-- but it's about the Super Volcano tour of East Africa, from Zambia to Ethiopia. This has an extended breakdown with banter and a few wild trumpet sorties before gearing up for a steaming outro. Curiously one of the vocalists yells "Piciniki, oyé" and gets the reply "Oyé!" This was the "chorus" on an Orchestre Micky Micky single at the same time and it's a funny borrowing (except the original was "Micky Micky oyé!"). They name-check Vata Mombasa, so he may have swelled their ranks for a spell. Another classic, "Nipeleke nikashuhudie," keeps up the momentum. The "B" Side of UKUMBUSHO VOL 7 has two more hits, "Watalii" and "Regina" and ends with both parts of the slow rumba, "Expo 70," a song with "Sayonara Osaka," "Konichiwa," "Arigato gozaimas," and other expressions in Japanese, commemorating their trip to Expo 70. It's sad that none of this material turned up on the Tanzanian Dance Bands releases from Monsun, John Storm Roberts' TANZANIA SOUND or the ROUGH GUIDE series, but it's great that it is finally resurfacing. The former owners of Polygram were notoriously protective of their material to the extant that they would let no one license any of it. Sonically this has the best quality of the three Tamasha CDs (including the previous discs reviewed above) and if you are wondering where to start, jump in right here and revel in the roiling sounds of the Super Volcano.

MBARAKA MWINSHEHE & Orchestre SUPER VOLCANO

UKUMBUSHO VOL 1 (Tamasha; orig: POLP 536)

MTAA WA SABA (Tamasha; orig: Ukumbusho vol 2 POLP 537)

PESA NO 1 (Tamasha; orig: Polydor POLP 544)

You probably know the story: Mbaraka Mwinshehe was the biggest star in East Africa in the 1970s, recording in the Polygram studios in Nairobi but touring all over Kenya and Tanzania where he was hailed as a worthy home-grown rival to Franco. But touring was his downfall, as he died in a car crash on the treacherous roads of East Africa (I was in a car on that Nairobi-Mombasa road that hit a herd of goats, not damaging the car too badly but giving the goatherd an unexpected dinner). After his death some 80 of Mwinshehe's singles were issued on LP and have since become one of the grails of East African pop music lore. I've already reviewed vols 6 & 7, and Soloist National, as well as a compilation on Dizim called MASIMANGO which actually remastered the sound, and includes some of the tracks presented here. Here we have volumes 1 & 2 and an out-of-series album which all have duplicated tracks, so beware and don't download the same tracks over and over!

Ukumbusho ("Remembrance") volume 1 includes 7 tracks: of these "Mapenzi ya nitesa" and "Dr Klerruu" are repeated on PESA No 1. The opener, "Shida (problems)," can also be found on POLP512 The Last Recordings of Soloist National (1979). "Dr Klerruu" is a tour-de-force of guitar playing: Mwinshehe dampens his strings and creates a bright pizzicato sound almost like a thumb piano. The ragged horn chorus limps along behind him.

Mtaa wa saba has the worst sound quality of the three; the title track is virtually unlistenable, the rest is overmodulated. I have a rip from vinyl which is hot but still better than the sound on Tamasha's reissue which probably came from one of those legendary clapped-out dubbing decks that were used in dusty dukas to dub albums in high-speed mode on the cheapest possible tapes. As I said on my Polygram discography page, "Jacinta," "Urafiki" and "Pole dada" are also on POLP 500, a rare Morogoro Jazz album; "Vijana wa Afrika" (which features slide guitar reminiscent of Dr Nico) is also on Soloist National POLP 501; Pole dada" is also on UKUMBUSHO vol 11; "Mtaa wa saba" is on POLP 512 (The Last Recordings) and POLP 517 (The VERY Last Recordings). -- I am not making this up. -- Where there's a demand you fill it, right? Why they duplicated tracks is anyone's guess, it wasn't due to a shortage of material. (But there is a real shortage of photos of MMM, so that is the same picture on all three covers!)

Nevertheless this is great stuff and you have to grab it where you find it. Tamasha seems to have gone out of business now, and no doubt there are MP3 downloads in piss-poor bitrate available from some of those online sites, but the LPs do turn up second hand.

CHIRIKU MANET & VIJANA JAZZ (Tamasha)

It took me some time to realize I know this singer, in fact I already have 5 cassettes by him. That's because I know him as Hayati Hamed Maneti. Calling him C. Manet makes him sound like a French impressionist ("And now, my impression of Maurice Chevalier --- Sank heaven..."). As with Mbaraka Mwinshehe, there was a burst of releases after the death of Maneti in 1990. And they were also called "Ukumbusho," 'Best of," and "Last Recordings." All we know of the group is that Hamet, I mean Maneti was the composer and lead singer. The band was created out of the youth wing of the Chama cha Mapinduzi political party. In 1978 they were allowed to use foreign currency and so bought a synthesizer and drum machine, which of course impacted their sound (in mostly negative ways). Three of the founding members were Hamza Kalala, Issa Chikupele and Manitu Musa. Lead guitarist Kalala, who left in 1986, went on to found Bantu Group in 2000. Of the second track, a comment on the Dalston Oxfam Shop blog says, "Vijana Jazz became a household name with "Niliruka Ukuta" ("I jumped over a wall"), in which the narrator tells the story of his love affair with a woman who didn't reveal her true marital status. He ended up having to jump over a wall to save his life when the woman's husband nearly caught them." That's the second track here. Again the sound is a bit muddy. By track 3, "Magdelina," which showcases the guitars, the band seems to be loosening up. In fact the middle part of this album is more like a great concert than a suite of songs. The vocalists yell exhortations and the guitars cut loose on some wild riffing. "Koka" has an immediacy which is unusual in recordings -- outside of Africa. It's a jamming track, and only 4 minutes long. I would say Mbaraka is as much an influence as Trio Madjesi. These four cuts in the middle of the album are mostly jump in at the deep end jams. The only long number "Zenaba" is more like the early work of Remmy Ongala, starting out at a leisurely pace. Then they bring us back to earth with a structured final song.

ABBU OMAR & Orchestra MAS SYSTEM
MAWAZO
SIMU YA MAPENZI

Two four-track albums generate 73 minutes of very pleasant music from this artist. He is Tanzanian, though Doug Paterson says he now live in Japan. Classic Benga riffing, sizzling hi-hat, harmony vocals, horn accents, no doubt tearing them up in Tokyo. Apparently these are new recordings. Omar (a.k.a. "Professor Junior" perhaps a reference to Vata Mombasa, who was known as the Professor) previously surfaced as half of the dueling guitars on one of the best reissues of the year: Issa Juma & Super Wanyika Stars' World Defeats the Grandfathers, which Sterns published in May 2010. That album was a real treat and so here is instant gratification in more of the same! Well, Issa Juma is dead & the other band members have gone their separate ways, but the driving guitar and horn sound is there. Big pieces of the Music of Africa jigsaw puzzle fall into place! The Wanyika sound survives and thrives -- in the Ginza! Omar name-checks Ringo Star but I doubt if it's him on the second guitar, more likely a comic reference to the drummer. Philip Lodero, chef d'orchestre, is also name-checked. "Rudi nyumbani (going home)" is also a Baba Gaston song title. "Dunia ina mambo (the world is crazy)" could also be an oldie. All the songs clock in at nine minutes: the A side B side formula for a good groove. Did I mention there's horns too! Would be nice to know who is singing on here. The second album is called "Simu ya mapenzi" which Google translates as "phone sex"-- then a little icon pops up and says "Listen"! Very funny.

ARUSHA JAZZ
MAMA SUZIE (Tamasha)

Another "Budget Beater" i.e. cheap production. This was a 1973 cassette release by the band that was formed by the three Kinyonga brothers, Wilson, George & William. By 1971 they had moved to Mombasa and changed the name of their outfit to Simba Wanyika. They still recorded under the Arusha Jazz name from time to time, up until 1973. Some of the hits of Wanyika, such as "Pamela" and "Marceline" were orginally done as Arusha. The first two songs here were the sides of a single that was a huge hit for the band, "Mary Mtoto," one of my faves, (here labelled as "Mary Mama") has Simba Wanyika referenced in the lyrics, as do "Eliza wangu (My Eliza)," "Mbaya wako rafikiyo (Your naughty little friend)," and other songs. The opening A-side B-side pair is reason enough to get this disc, perfect combination of shuffling drums, blasting traffic-jam horns and an aetherial guitar solo which descends at the bridge as the vocalist mutters under his breath. "Jose twende Zaire (Jose, let's go to Zaire)," which sounds like it should be called "Mama Josefina," is a great Congo-inspired smouldering jam. But mostly it is distinctly Kenyan and features a tambourine that keeps up a pulse like insect night sounds. This one is well recorded. Note: Doug Paterson warns that the Simba Wanyika album Barua ya Mapenzi with "Maselina" (available from Tamasha also) seems to be missing one channel, so skip that one.

HABEL KIFOTO
GOLDEN VOICE OF HABEL KIFOTO AND MAROON COMMANDOES (Tamasha CD TAM5019)

You probably haven't heard of this singer/guitarist, Habel Kifoto, but you undoubtedly know of the Maroon Commandoes as one of the hippest bands ever to come from military ranks. Formed out of the 7th battalion of the Kenyan army, they had a hit in 1971 with "Emily," but then in 1972 their bus was in a crash in Kenya (sound familiar?) and many of the group died. They reformed six years later and started scoring hits with "Charonyi ni wasi" (which is included here; it's also on KENYA DANCE MANIA), "Riziki haivatu" (also here) and "Amua nikuachi kazi" which appears on the Rounder comp THE NAIROBI BEAT. They affect the big Congolese-style horn section and blistering guitar work. Kifoto has a great throaty almost hoarse voice and this is a relentlessly up and dancing album. The Kenyan aspect is heard in the ticking hi-hat and the arpeggiated mi-solo part with a Flanger on the "sweet" setting. "Ovivu mbaya" has the pleasant addition of organ. There are no liner notes but a 1989 LP I own has a photo of ten band members and songwriting credits go to James Onyango & D. Kibe as well Habel Kifoto. There are great melodies and great harmonies and many of those magic moments I love when everything simmers down to percussion, bass and mi-solo and then slowly comes back to a full boil.

JAMHURI JAZZ BAND

HITS OF JAMHURI JAZZ BAND "WANYAMA WAKALI" (Tamasha CD TAM5005)

VOLUME 2 "BUDGET BEATER" (Tamasha CD TAM2011)

VOLUME 3 "FADHILI WAPI KWA MWANA-ADAMU" (Tamasha CD TAM2012)

Jamhuri Jazz is another outfit that played a key role in the spread of the Congolese rumba sound throughout East Africa in the early seventies. According to a discography of the Wanyikas by John Beadle on Prof Endo's site, "Jamhuri Jazz was founded in Tanga, Tanganyika in the late 1950s, and was one of the more popular Tanzanian music groups. Wilson Peter Kinyonga & George Peter Kinyonga joined it in 1966 and played with it for the next four years before leaving in December 1970 to found Arusha Jazz Band... During the later 70s several of its members, including Omar Shabani, were recruited by the Kinyongas to their group Simba Wanyika."

These three CDs are packed with hits; each is over an hour in length and they are smooth. It's hard to pick one as best. Volume One starts with two slamming grooves back to back "Nafisa" and "Pendo Pesa": the latter has a long break which you imagine is going on forever, then is resolved with a little bleating sax. Superb guitar, great harmonies, catchy melodies, and all sounding crystal clear which is a rare bonus for material of this era. It's true that many bands recorded at the studios of Radio Tanzania but apparently a lot of the master tapes have been pilfered or decayed with forty years of dust and humidity.

Volume Two (subtitled "Budget Beater") has 14 tracks. There is a wider variety of musical styles on this one. The first four songs were released as singles from the Nairobi branch of Philips in 1970; other tracks come from cassettes and greatest hits albums released later. "Shingo ya Upanga" is the Benga sound; followed by "Toyota," a commercial for the Japanese car maker in classic Congolese rumba style (Songs about car dealerships are prevalent in Congolese music); there are frequent mentions of Toyota and VW Azda sprinkled throughout Jamhuri's repertoire! This one is light and sprightly with dancing guitar. Though the group's roots are Tanzanian the sound is more Congolese from that golden era of African Fiesta, Negro Band, Vox Africa, Les Bantous, etc.

Volume 3 is likewise a mixture of tracks and also high quality music in good fidelity. An article in the Kenyan Daily Nation from May last year discussed how Zilizopendwa (or "Old favourites") are big in East Africa now, so we are not alone in digging this classic sound. Mlimani Park Orchestra and others are playing their old tunes and crowds at clubs and weddings are calling for songs by Les Wanyika and Samba Mapangala. While the youth rush off to hip-hop and other misguided crazes, it's good to know the golden era is getting some appreciation in its home soil.

NUTA JAZZ BAND
OLD IS GOLD VOLUME 2 (Tamasha CDTAM CPOLP621)

Subtitled "Twenty Years Ago," this album came out about 1987 on vinyl. There are no liner notes and I cannot find out much about this superb group, but they are part of the Rumba Invasion that stormed East Africa in the 60s. I found a few facts in Ronnie Graham's World of African Music which is Volume 2 of the Stern's Guide to Contemporary African Music. (Volume one was the Da Capo Guide to Contemporary African Music & I cannot figure why they didn't just revise and expand volume one instead of creating a whole different half work. Isn't it time someone paid Mr Graham to rewrite the whole thing as one book with illustrations?) According to Graham, NUTA was formed in 1964. He lists their Zilizopendwa album (Polydor POLP557 1987) and key members Joseph Lusungu and M'nenge Ramadhani. In 1977 they split up and the original members formed Juwata Jazz Band. The defectors, singers Ilassani Bitchuku and Muhiddin Maalim and guitarist Abel Balthazar, formed Dar International which then evolved into the long-running DCC Mlimani Park Orchestra. It's a tangled web but this album could be called the roots of Mlimani Park if you need a handle on the sound. It's very rich, with great sax, fine guitars and high energy. It's not as well recorded as the Jamhuri albums but just as crucial. There are two versions of a song called "Msondo" and both are striking and quite different. It's a study in how a working band can evolve a great song in performance.

[LES WANYIKA]
PAULINA (Tamasha CDTAM002)

It doesn't say Les Wanyika on the cover, rather it's called THE BEST OF PROF. OMAR SHABANI AND JOHN NGEREZA, so you have to know your East African music trivia to scope out this one. This is a very satisfying release as it has the originals of "Paulina" and "Pamela" (recorded in 1979 and 1980) which were reprised on AMIGO (Clifford Lugard CLP001) in 1998. It's great to hear them in their original form. This album is firmly in the Swahili camp with Tom Malanga's bass high in the mix, and drummer Rashid Juma abusing the superficial parts of his kit behind the intertwining guitars. Les Wanyika were Tanzanian expatriates in Nairobi who quit Simba Wanyika of Wilson Peter Kinyonga and George Peter Kinyonga. Les Wanyika first hit with "Sina Makossa" around 1979, one of their greatest songs. Ultimately, the founders quarreled and rhythm guitarist Professor Omar Shabani was kicked out of the group in 1990 (He died in 1997). Lead guitarist John Ngereza won the power struggle but had never received any royalties for work he wrote while Shabani was group leader. Vocalist Issa Juma also left in 1980 to go solo (& recorded under different names, such as Super Wanyika, Wanyika Stars, Waanyika, Super Wanyika Stars), so there were several offshoots of the band, but I believe he is singing on these tracks, originally released as 45s. Juma died in the late 80s, John Ngereza died in 2000. This is a flash back to their early creative days and is as good as anything made in Kenya in the 1980s.

ORCHESTRA MAKASSY
THE ORIGINAL RECORDINGS (ARC music EUCD1909)

The wait is over. A legendary album that came out on Virgin records in 1982 has finally appeared on CD. In addition to the scorching music of the album, a perennial favourite in the Muzikifan household, there are bonus tracks, those magic moments that make you glad to be alive. Orchestra Makassy was first formed in 1975 in Kampala, Uganda by Zairean ex-pats. It was a 15-man band with a nightclub gig in Dar Es Salaam when it assembled in a Nairobi studio in 1980 for some young Brits who wanted to cash in on the Afropop boom that was happening thanks to King Sunny Ade. Mzee ("Elder") Makassy was the leader and principal vocalist of the band named after him; Tshimanga Assosa of Maquis Original contributed singing and songwriting skills (the songs are in Shona, Swahili and Lingala). Mose Se Sengo a.k.a. "Fan Fan" is often mentioned in connection with the band as he had been chef d'orchestre before striking out on his own, and he co-wrote two of the songs on the album, but the guitarists on the record are Aimala Mbutu and Alfani Uvuruge. Remmy Ongala passed through the band & you can hear the impact of these songs, particularly "Mke Wangu" and "Mume Wangu," on his own albums. The excellent, bustling Kasongo Shinga played bass, and there were two drummers, a tumbador, and four horn players, including Twalib Mohamed as trumpet soloist and Akuliake Saleh on alto sax. In short, a classic East African dance-band line-up. The opening cut, "Mambo Bado," by Assosa, did become a dance-floor hit, at least in the limited world in which I was deejaying. It still gets you going from the first note. "Kufisilika Sio Kalema" is another mover and shaker in the Virunga style. The ballad "Nakolela Cherie" that closes side one is a haunting ballad about a man whose wife has abandoned him and the kids. There is a bright guitar part in the style of "Fan Fan" and muted trumpet adding to the pathos. Most of the songs contain wry social commentary. Side Two opens with "Mosese," obviously penned by FanFan, about a man complaining to his fiancée, followed by "Athumani," a song in which a young married woman complains about her husband running around. The bass is high in the mix for the moody "Mke Wangu," another classic track in which the singer tells of a man who lavished material goods on his wife only to have her leave him. Periodically he says "No smoking!" or "Disco!" in English, seemingly exhortations to the guitarists who are working out. "Molema" by Fan Fan and Makassy originally ended the proceedings, & winds the set down beautifully, but here it's been moved up to make room for a couple of rare tracks that are not as outstanding as the nine on the album, but a pleasant extension. Now things end with "Mume Wangu," which sounds like a retake of "Mke Wangu."

"Mambo Bado" should have prompted the group to international stardom but, despite the care and attention lavished on the recording (for which we are eternally grateful), Virgin failed to promote them and they broke up. Platterbugs will note that there are four tracks on Mose Se Fan Fan's "Belle Epoque" (RETRO 7CD), including "Molema," recorded in Tanzania with the band when Remmy Ongala was frontman, and there's another album released in Kenya in 1984 MUZIKI ORCHESTRA MAKASSY that no one has!

ORCHESTRA VIRUNGA
VIRUNGA ROOTS VOLUME 1 (VS001)

Virunga was formed in 1981 by expatriate Congolese in East Africa and scored hits in the UK with their debut album, VIRUNGA VOLCANO on Earthworks. They continued recording throughout the 80s. In 1989 singer Samba Mapangala made the trek to Paris where he recorded new material with Les Quatre Etoiles, then the top soukous band, featuring the great Syran Mbenza on guitar, Bopol Mansiamina on mi-solo, Miguel Yamba on bass and Komba Bellow on drums. Because Samba's voice is similar to Nyboma's, these tracks sound exactly like Quatre Etoiles. In 1989, the liveliness of soukous had not yet become formulaic and it still sounds fresh on the Paris session until "Belle Femme," which has the plague of Paris: programmed drums and synths replacing horns. After their smash debut, Virunga did not get the acclaim they deserved, but this collection shows they were one of the top African bands of their era. All the songs are by singer Mapangala except a Mutuashi number called "Ntumba" by guitarist Django which is clearly riffing off "Mamu wua mpoy" of Mwamba Déchaud recorded by African Fiesta in 1963. One of the best tracks, "Losako," pays tribute to their contemporaries: Franco, Rochereau, Wemba, Empire Bakuba, etc. Though clearly Congolese pop you will enjoy the East African guitars. There's usually a zippy lead, modest mi-solo and a pumping bass, though eight guitarists are credited on the cover!

ROUGH GUIDE TO KENYA
(RGNET 1137CD)

There's a mistake on the new ROUGH GUIDE TO KENYA which amounts to a near-fatal flaw in an otherwise excellent compilation: someone messed up the sequence and ruined the flow of the music. As deejays know, a false move can wipe out all the credit you've built with the audience: You clear the dancefloor in one fell swoop, or cause hands to flutter towards the radio and twist knobs to clear the air of the noxious noise. Kenya is a complex country from a musical point of view, having several distinct styles of indigenous music: Benga, Swahili Rumba and Taarab being the most well-known, and of course there's a new wave, inspired by hip-hop and R&B. All in all a real challenge to a mixer trying to present a coherent patchwork from all these disparate bits of sound. The album starts familiarly enough with a Benga gem: Queen Jane, with one of those complaining voices you love or hate, but then we get the new stuff right in our face and you might be inclined to dismiss the CD right from track 2. "Ting' Badi Malo" by Gidi Gidi Maji Maji might grow on you, but at first hearing it's quite alien to what you'd expect from Kenya. If it wasn't in Luo you'd think it was rap from New York. The other up-to-the-minute track is next: it's "Chereko" by Nyota Ndogo and this one did grow on me. Look for her to be a breakout star from this album. Then with a lurch we rip into the middle of Kakai Kilonzo's "Mama Sofia" part two. This is the legendary Kilimambogo Brothers of yore, doing what they do best, taking it to the bridge, and bringing it back in a ferocious jam. Well, good enough, but where is part one? Strange you should ask. Part one appears later like a lost duckling quacking in the middle of Lake Naivasha. What bloody micromanaging meddling twiddling idiot decided to cut this song in two and then have part two first?!! This is foolishness in the extreme. So, boot up your iTunes and start over with the raw material. The Kakai is the best thing on here and you may opt to buy BEST OF KAKAI VOLUME 1 (Shava CD 011-2) instead, to avoid dealing with the rude edit on the Rough Guide. But there are other things of interest, if you can stand the constant cutting from one mood to another. Suzanna Owiyo's "Kisumu 100" is a notable Benga outing, followed by the familiar Swahili rumba stylings of Golden Sounds. More Benga, another arab-sounding Taarab song, and we end up with a very rootsy Luo fiddle & pennywhistle group (which would have been a great transition track between the Benga and the Taarab) that leaves you wondering what just happened.

BANA MAQUIS
LEILA (Dakar Sound 2002968 1996)

This is one of the greatest East African albums of the last decade. Just when the old bands were fading away and being replaced by synthesizers and younger groups listening to too many outside sound (like Hip Hop -- shudder), a new album from the members of the Maquis Original restored my faith in great music.

Leader and vocalist Tshimanga Assosa started out fronting the hottest band in Kinshasa in the late 60s: Negro Succès of Bholen and Bavon Marie Marie, younger brother of the great Franco. After Bavon's tragic death in 1970, Assosa headed East and formed Les Maquis du Zaire in Tanzania. By the 1980s they had become the top band in East Africa, singing in Swaheli instead of Lingala, and renamed Maquis Original. Part of the reason for the great success of Tanzanian bands was the studios of Radio Tanzania in Dar Es Salaam which were the main venue for recording and broadcasting the music of the local groups. (Four of the Maquis' hits from the eighties can be found on MUZIKI WA DANSI [Africassette 9403]). Assosa left briefly to join Mzee Makassy in the orchestra that had one phenomenal album, AGWAYA, released by Virgin in 1982. He wrote their hit "Mambo Bado," but when Virgin failed to promote the group and the album foundered, Assosa went back to Maquis. A succession of great guitarists passed through the band until 1994 when Assosa regrouped as Bana Maquis (or the Maquis Kids). From the opening notes you know you're home. The songs are brilliant; the ballad "Afrika Amuka (Africa, wake up)," could move you to tears. A timeless classic.

CUBAN MARIMBA BAND
NGOMA IKO HUKU (Dizim Asili series vol 1 ASILL 4701 2)

The reissued Mbaraka Mwinshehe album on Dizim left me gasping for more, so I decided to check out the Cuban Marimba Band release NGOMA IKO HUKU on the same label, though somewhere I have a couple of cassettes by them. Salum Abdallah fronted this band which has nothing to do with Cuba and doesn't feature marimbas! It was just a catchy name, he thought. This CD focuses on the period 1955 to 1965 (when Abdallah, like Mwinshehe, died in a car wreck). There's a taarab feel to the vocals and the guitar is reminiscent of other coastal ngoma dance styles with the fingerpicking emulating sanza patterns. There's a sort of clavé rumba beat that leans to cha-cha-cha and a mix of percussion including shakers, scraped Fanta bottle, congas, and other beaten metallic things. A South African kwela feel permeates a couple of tracks but the classics, like "Wanawake Tanzania" or "Ndiyo hali ya Dunia," are definitely in the Tanzanian mode. Spare, with great guitar, moody sax and plaintiff vocals. Again this is a well-researched, nicely packaged and thoroughly enjoyable release. The sound has been remastered, and the admirable work of Werner Graebner in pursuing these releases deserves recognition and support. It may not be something you'll run out and buy, which is a shame because it will probably go out of print, but it certainly will enhance your collection and enjoyment of East African pop if you do get around to it.

GOLDEN SOUNDS BAND
SWAHILI RUMBA (Naxos World 76055-2 2004)

This may become a lost gem of Kenyan pop for two reasons. The label has reportedly gone back to classical and given up on world music so are not promoting the album, and the band broke up soon after the CD was recorded. Naxos World was an attempt to do a budget line of world music, sampled from all over the globe. Their fatal flaw was in budget packaging too: the covers are undistinguished and unlikely to spur impulse buyers. Golden Sounds Band deserved better. The band leader, Twahir Mohamed, was a very talented arranger as well as sax player. He came from Tanzania in 1984 and featured in Orchestre Virunga during their heyday at Nairobi's Starlight Club. He started Golden Sounds but economic necessity finished off the band even before their CD reached the street. After Golden Sounds he started a new band, but he died in January of this year. As the producer told me, "there isn't a band in East Africa that hasn't lost members through TB or AIDS-related illness." Surprisingly, the music is bright and upbeat (I hesistate to say "infectious"!) Because of the overwhelming influence of Congolese music over the last 40 years, Swahili pop might even be considered a subset of Congolese rumba, but there are enough indigenous rhythms to distinguish it: quite often a backbeat used to start a song. Mostly it rides a sloppy clave beat, and the seben is treated differently as it doesn't increase the tempo so much as fatten the sound. But much of the album suffers from Diblo-itis, a tendency to endless repetition of guitar phrases which works on the dancefloor but not for listening. However it is redeemed by the sax player. The choruses are rich and melodic and as a bonus the topical song lyrics are translated. This album is another reminder of how great Kenyan pop can be: a sparse but joyous music from a country fiercely backsliding into desperate economic times.

ISSA JUMA & LES WANYIKA STARS
SIGALAME 2 (AFRI CD008)

In Kenya the recordings often sound "fried," through poor acoustics in the recording session or beat-up speakers in the band's amplifiers. Issa Juma was possessed of a wonderful hoarse voice to match his band's sound. The band first hit with the screaming ten-minute scorcher "Sina Makossa" (found on KENYA DANCE MANIA) in 1979, but success caused them to fragment. The core group, led by Wilson Peter Kinyonga, remained Simba Wanyika (Lions of the Wilderness), while Issa Juma's faction were known variously as Wanyika Super Les Les (under Professor Omar who wrote "Sina Makossa") and Les Wanyika Stars, when Issa broke away. To add to the confusion, a third group was called Super Wanyika Stars. The various Wanyika groups, coming originally from Tanzania, were among the biggest attractions in Kenya releasing over 100 singles among them in the 1970s. In 1984 Juma scored a hit with "Pole Pole (Slowly)" and again in 1986 with "Sigalame 2" and both of these tracks, along with four other choice singles were licensed by English label Discafrique for a 1990 international issue. The sound is clean, with the emphasis on the snap of the snare drum, the odd rimshot and the ticking of the cymbals keeping a nervous tension while the expository lyrics in the opening section set the scene for the jam in the second half of each song.

KAKAI KILONZO AND LES KILIMAMBOGO BROTHERS
BEST OF KAKAI VOL ONE (Shava CD011-2)

Kilimambogo Brothers (Brothers of Mount Mbogo) were one of the great Kenyan dance-bands of the eighties, when Benga swept all before it and the songs had that magical two-part structure to fit on a 45 rpm record. The A side was the exposition of the lyric and the B side was the rave up when the band went into a "take it down to the bare bones" bridge then built back up to incendiary height with two guitars fighting for the lead, a thwopping bass and ticking high-hat and snare adding a martial urgency to the proceedings. The guitarists (Kakai, George Onyango, and Francis Kavuu) trade leads while one arpeggiates frenetically in the background, inverting chords and investigating new melodic excursions. A Hawaiian-style slide periodically appears which sounds like unwinding strings, a novel effect. Kakai was a heart-throb too. Though a native Kamba speaker, he wrote his songs mostly in Swahili to reach the broadest East African audience. His lyrics are very entertaining: about the wife who brings home other men while her husband is at work, the man who wants to return his bride to her father because she's a drunk and disturbs the neighbours, the heartbroken lover who cries ("woi woi woi") for his departed Sherina, or the daughter who went abroad to study and never came back. Such little story-fables endeared him to the fans and he even adapted folklore, which people would have recognized, as fodder for his tunes. At their peak they were rivals of Les Wanyika, but Les Kilimambogo Brothers folded in 1987 after the death (at 37) of Kakai. In their career, the band recorded about 36 singles and issued ten cassettes. The only other documentation of them in the West is the last track on GUITAR PARADISE OF EAST AFRICA (Earthworks 1990) and an LP on the PAM label: SIMBA AFRICA. This is a choice collection of their best songs.

KAKAI KILONZO & KILIMAMBOGO BROTHERS
BEST OF KAKAI VOLUME 2 (Shava CD017)

If soukous is the rock and roll of Africa, then Benga is the Country and Western music of that great continent. Around 1980 Benga was peaking and even began to get distribution in England thanks to visionary labels like Discafrique and Globestyle who put it out there to compete with Stiff Little Fingers, Young Marble Giants and Clock DVA for the adventurous record-buying public. Though it began in the mid-60s among the Luo-speakers in Western Kenyan, Benga quickly spread to Nairobi and Mombasa, and by the 1970s was popular enough to be recreated in other dialects. In 1972 18-year-old Kakai met the other musicians who would form Kilmambogo Brothers and began to study guitar and write songs about the everyday trials and tribulations of life. His songs, written at first in Kamba and later in Kiswahili, began to appear in 1974, and after successful appearances on Voice of Kenya radio he sold the copyrights to raise money and start Kilima Mbogo Brothers Band. This second collection of their hits is from a wider time-period than volume 1, covering their earliest recordings which were 4 minute songs and extending up into the mid-1980s when they were able to take advantage of the 45 rpm single format for an 8 minute workout. Though most of the songs are under 5 minutes, they do manage to get to the crucial breakdown where the momentum is sustained by the rhythm for a spell as the lead guitar and vocalist regroup for a final blast. Sadly, Kakai died in 1987 right at the peak of his popularity. His songs are really catchy. From the start of "Punguza ulevi" you will be singing along "Susanna-ye, Susanna-ye, Susanna wacha nikwanbie-ey" and then delight in the lyrics (printed in the original and translation): "Susanna is it drunkenness or love? Give up that bush alcohol you are drinking, you are emaciated and dirty, covered in snot and tears from so much beer"!! (My paraphrase.) At over 8 minutes, this is a small masterpiece. "Bibi yangu nakupenda (My wife, I love you)" really does have a Country twang to it. The songs have been lovingly remastered and sound crisp and clear. If you enjoyed volume 1, which is all A- and B-sides from their mid-80s hits, you will really dig more of the Kilimambogo Brothers.

OCHIENG KABASELLEH & LUNNA KIDI
SANDUKU YA MAPENDO (Equator Sounds)

SANDUKU YA MAPENDO is the second CD reissue of material from Ochieng Kabaselleh & Lunna Kidi outfit. The first was FROM NAIROBI WITH LOVE, and both are distributed in the USA by Equator Sounds. The songs are all sung in Luo but share the familiar qualities of Swaheli music. (Crispy fried vocals, jangly guitars, snaky leads, sussurating high-hat, pumping bass). All the tracks start slow and have the seben where at 4 or 5 minutes into the song they kick into overdrive for a dance floor workout with added sax.

REMMY ONGALA
THE KERSHAW SESSIONS (Strange Roots CD004 BBC Enterprises 1995)

REMMY ONGALA
MAMBO (RealWorld 92129-2)

(Since I wrote this in 1992, it has become evident that no matter how strong an artist's work is there is a glass ceiling that prevents most African acts getting the exposure they deserve. The marketing gods occasionally allow a Youssou Ndour or Salif Keita to have a moment in the spotlight then become tired of them and claim they've heard all there is to hear from Africa.)

ORCHESTRA SUPER MAZEMBE
GIANTS OF EAST AFRICA (STEW45CD Stern's/Earthworks)

VARIOUS ARTISTS
GUITAR PARADISE OF EAST AFRICA (Earthworks/Virgin EWV21)

VARIOUS ARTISTS
MUZIKI WA DANSI (Africassette 9403)

Technical problems plagued one of the tracks however, so it was that Rick Steiger of Africassette stepped in and reissued the album as MUZIKI WA DANSI. Doug Paterson licensed the same songs in 1991 but it took him several years to find a label to put them out. They dropped "Nasononeka" by Maquis Original and added Mlimani Park's "Edita" and Juwata's "Usia kwa Watoto."

According to Paterson, up to the 90s, Radio Tanzania did almost all the recording in the country. "The problem was not the Radio Tanzania recordings or the fact that it was all mono. Rather, it was the quality of the copies that we got in Nairobi that was the issue. According to Werner Graebner, the RTD archives are in bad shape now. The tapes are disintegrating and/or being stolen."

That there was a wealth of great unreleased material in the Tanzanian state archives is not in doubt. With any luck, the missing or surviving material can be reconstituted into acceptable form and find its place in the market. This CD is just a taste that should see this country get its due in the top ranks of African pop.

VARIOUS ARTISTS
NEW AFRICAN COMPOSERS VOLUME ONE (Limitless Sky Records)

I must be in an odd space musically, or maybe it's the weather -- not that it's cold here in California, just dark. But nothing is getting me moving. I checked out NEW AFRICAN COMPOSERS and kept thinking, This is new? It sounds like African music of twenty years ago. In fact about halfway through I was having déjà entendu hearing Ndala Kasheba doing "Kokolay" because it sounded like Afrisa International circa 1980, and that is followed by Achigo Band doing "Tebo," a cover of Sam Mangwana's cover of "Maria Tebbo" by Adou Elenga. Not that there's anything wrong with old-school African music, but if you are going to set your band up against the legends, you'd better be as good as Shikamoo Jazz or Bana Maquis, two Tanzanian dancebands of veterans formed in the last decade.

Maestro Ndala Kasheba sounds like he's caught in a time-warp. It's that big horn-rich sound of Rochereau at his peak, or other Tanzanian bands of the late 70s/early 80s. Not surprisingly Kasheba led Orchestra Safari Sound and this harkens back to their heyday. "Mpaka Manga," based on a Congolese folk tune, is the most Rocheroid song. The four tracks included remind me a lot of the old OSS I love from cassettes on the Flatim Records label. In 1985 the band split in two, with half joining up with musicians from rival Mlimani Park Orchestra to form International OSS and Kasheba keeping control of the older band which was quickly eclipsed.

Achigo Band is another regrouping on the New African composers anthology. Led by Nguza Viking, formerly guitarist with Maquis Original, they turn in an epic 9-minute version of "Watanzania watu wa amani" which is reason enough to get this compilation, unless you want to wait for their own album of which this is the title cut.

Yekete Beat Band, high-energy with out-of-tune horns, also come from Tanzania. There are no stand-out musicians or singers, maybe due to the mix, but I would certainly dance to them in a club.To round out the collection, there are two mbira-led tracks by Garikayi Tirikoti which are pleasant, and an acapella religious ballad by Delphin Mununga.

It may be some time before someone puts out an anthology that ranks with Monsun's 1991 compilation TANZANIA DANCE BANDS VOLUME 2, but Limitless Sky have made a step in the right direction.