Swahili Music

[Gormur]

Can someone recommend some Swahili music? Traditional music would be best.

[Alcadras]

i have a song called "na wewe milele" performed by Ray C.i will upload it tomorrow.

[Roberta]

Can someone recommend some Swahili music? Traditional music would be best.

What do you mean by "traditional" ?

The Swahili language is spoken by people all over East Africa but most of them as a second language. The Swahili culture is only on the coast of Kenya and Tanzania. So if you want traditional music such as ritual music, you are limiting yourself to a small geography.

There is popular music in Swahili language. It became really popular in the 70's with groups like Les Wanyika, Simba Wanyika, then in the 80's and 90's Mlimani Park Orchestra, Remy Ongala playing East African rhumba; and now there is Rap and Hip Hop of course

If you describe what you are interested in I can point you. Or send you some stuff.

Roberta

[Gormur]

Well I was aware of where it was spoken, since I have two Kenyan buddies here who speak it, but they don't seem to know about any "traditional music" either...besides the ritual music you mentioned, things like that.

I have "The Rough Guide to African Rap" CD: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... c&n=507846

I got it due to my curiousity in Swahili and some of the other languages featured...

I would really be interested in whatever is out there with regards to vocal music using the Swahili language.

Asante,

Gormur

[Roberta]

Ok - here is an attempt to describe the types of music that are sung in Swahili language. Once I started I couldn’t make it any shorter. I didn’t want to leave anything out.

Since the Swahili language evolved as a trading language between the Swahili people on the coast of East Africa and its islands (Zanzibar, Lamu etc) and the Arab traders; the first people to sing with it would be these peoples. This music is called Taarab. http://www.mwambao.com/tarab.htm

In the 1940's Tanzania, along with its neighbor Zaire, responded enthusiastically to the influx of Cuban music hitting the market. This corresponded with the availability of radio. Tanzanian groups began playing music influenced by this Cuban rumba with lyrics in Swahili. This rumba was likely so popular because it was familiar. “Rumba is both a family of music rhythms and a dance style that originated in Africa and traveled via the slave trade to Cuba and the New World.” [from Wikipedia, Rumba.] . At the same time, the music contained echoes of the old ngoma, local village events involving drumming, singing and dancing. One of Tanzania’s most popular groups was the Cuban Marimba Band under the leadership of Salim Abdullah until he died in 1965. Abdullah’s protégé, Mbarka Mwinshehe, further evolved the music with his band Morogoro Jazz Band.

In the 60’s with the advent of independence and the declaration of Swahili as the official language. By the 1960s, Congo music had replaced Cuban pop as the major foreign influence on Tanzanian bands. Groups like Orchestre Maquis Original and Orchestre Safari Sound used horn sections like their predecessors, but the weave of guitars perfected in Congo music became prominent. Congolese musicians blended into the Tanzania scene, singing in the local Swahili and creating local variations on Congo music conventions.

Up to this time music with Swahili lyrics was experimented with in Kenya but hadn’t really stuck. Tanzanians would perform there, but Tanzanian bands were state supported and had no incentive to settle in Kenya. The exception was Simba Wanyika who took up Kenyan residence in 1971. Like most Tanzanian bands, Simba Wanyika played rumba with Swahili language lyrics. In contrast to the emerging benga style of the period, Simba Wanyika's music had a much gentler feel; smoother, flowing. The Simba Wanyika sound, as the prototype of Kenya's "Swahili music" proved to be quite popular and durable. Along the way, other Kenyan groups such as the Maroon Commandos and Nairobi Matata joined in with their own "Swahili" styles. While the Kenyan variety was already diverging from its Tanzanian roots, the border closure after 1977 may have speeded the process by further isolating musicians in the two countries. In 1978, a new "Wanyika" group, Les Wanyika, split off from Simba Wanyika and a short time later, a third group was created called variously, Super Wanyika, Wanyika Stars, Waanyika, etc. All of these maintained elements of the rumba/cavacha style with delicate rhythm guitar, congas, horns, etc. (although the latter group moved considerably in the direction of benga).

Meanwhile back in Tanzania - the dance scene – late 70’s, 80’s “Open the pages of Dar es Salaam's Swahili language daily Uhuru (called Mzalendo on Sundays) and you'll come across two or more pages of advertisements for live music: About 20 of these list the big names in muziki wa dansi (dance music) like DDC Mlimani Park, International Orchestra Safari Sound, Juwata Jazz, Maquis Original, Super Matimila, Vijana Jazz, etc. Add to these the lesser names and the various performances by groups that combine ngoma, taarab, and theater and you've got a live music scene hardly equaled in any of Africa's cities." http://members.aol.com/dpaterson/eamusic.htmThe dance bands are huge – 26 members. Lyrics are what the audience is looking for; the music comes second. But if a band can get both, then they are really hot.

Remmy Ongala who has been a major entertainer and also voice of social conscience on the scene since 1978. Really great stuff http://www.afropop.org/explore/artist_info/ID/32/Remmy%20Ongala/

In recent years, mainly from the mid-nineties, a new breed of young Tanzanian musicians has emerged and are coming up with popular tunes which are Tanzanian in composition. Bands like Twanga Pepeta have managed to create a new tune distinct from imported Zairean tunes and are competing with Zairean bands in popularity and audience acceptance. The Tanzanian artistes have devised a new style going by the name of [l]"Bongo Flava", [/l]which is blend of all sorts of melodies, beats, rhythms and sounds. The trend among the Tanzanian music consumers has started changing towards favouring products from their local artists who sing in Swahili, the national language.

As for traditional music – well it would be in lanagues like kigogo ad kihehe and kichaga if it weren’t for Hukwe Zawose. He took his traditional Gogo music and wrote some new lyrics in Swahili. Another Zawose legacy is the Sauti [l]za Busara [/l]http://zanzibar.net/zanzibar/sauti_za_busara/or Sounds of Wisdom – a 4 day Pan-Swahili music festival in Zanzibar. Here is another link. http://www.afropop.org/multi/feature/ID/347/Zanzibar-Sauti+Za+Busara-2004+Part+1

IF anyone would like to hear some samples of music sung in Swahili, send me a PM

[BRDParker]

Since the Swahili language evolved as a trading language between the Swahili people on the coast of East Africa and its islands (Zanzibar, Lamu etc) and the Arab traders; the first people to sing with it would be these peoples. This music is called Taarab. http://www.mwambao.com/tarab.htm

I checked out that mwambao site and found that I was able to listen to the songs on the site (by clicking the link to music... etc). I was interested in the lyrics. I tried to google them, but didn't find much. Are they all the same group or various samplings of taraab music? Anyway, thanks a lot