International Orchestra Safari Sound (sometimes shortened to IOSS) was a popular muziki wa dansi Tanzanian band from 1985 to 1992.
The band was founded by Tanzanian businessman Hugo Kisima, who also owned another popular dansi band, the Orchestra Safari Sound. In 1985 he decided to disband Orchestra Safari Sound and create a new ensemble with talented musicians hired from major dansi bands such as Mlimani Park. Kisima chose singer Muhiddin Maalin Gurumo, guitarist Abel Balthazar, and singer-songwriter Hassani Bitchuka as the leaders of the new band.
The major mtindo (style) popularized by IOSS was ndekule, a word that is both a reference to traditional Tanzanian war dances and to a species of snakes. The snake thus became the icon of the band.
In the 1980s IOSS and Mlimani Park dominated the dansi scene. This came to an end between 1987 and 1989 when Bitchuka and Maalim left. In the early 1990s a new entry in the band's personnel, guitarist Nguza Mbangu (formerly Orchestra Maquis Original) revitalized IOSS for a while; Mbangu established a new mtindo, rashikanda wasaa, and wrote a big hit song, Mageuzi. Despite this, Kisima decided to disband the band in 1992.
Simba Wanyika was a Kenyan-based band created in 1971 by Tanzanian brothers Wilson Kinyonga and George Kinyonga, and disbanded in 1994. Simba Wanyika and its two offshoots, Les Wanyika and Super Wanyika Stars, became some of the most popular bands in Kenya. Their guitar-driven sound, inspired by the Soukous guitarist Dr. Nico, combined highly melodic rumba with lyrics sung in Swahili. Simba wa nyika means "Lions of the Savannah" in Swahili.
As it is in other countries, the music in Tanzania is constantly undergoing changes, and varies by location, people, settings and occasion. The five music genres in Tanzania, as defined by BASATA are, ngoma, dansi, kwaya, and taarab, with bongo flava being added in 2001. Singeli has since the mid-2000s been an unofficial music of uswahilini, unplanned communities in Dar es Salaam, and is the newest mainstream genre since 2020.
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Bongo Flava is a nickname for Tanzanian music. The genre developed in the 1990s, mainly as a derivative of American hip hop and traditional Tanzanian styles such as taarab and dansi. Lyrics are usually in Swahili or English.
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Eddie Palmieri is an American Grammy Award-winning pianist, bandleader, musician, and composer of Corsican and Puerto Rican ancestry. He is the founder of the bands La Perfecta, La Perfecta II, and Harlem River Drive.
Saša Lošić "Loša" is a Bosnian and Yugoslav singer, guitarist, songwriter, composer and music producer currently residing in Slovenia. He is best known as the frontman of the highly popular pop rock band Plavi Orkestar.
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Samba Mapangala is a Congolese singer and bandleader who has been based in Kenya for most of his five-decade musical career, most notably there creating and leading Virunga, which has been one of the most popular bands in East Africa for more than 35 years.
Muziki wa dansi, or simply dansi, is a Tanzanian music genre, derivative of Congolese soukous and Congolese rumba. It is sometimes called Swahili jazz because most dansi lyrics are in Swahili, and "jazz" is an umbrella term used in Central and Eastern Africa to refer to soukous, highlife, and other dance music and big band genres. Muziki wa dansi can also be referred to as Tanzanian rumba, as "african rumba" is another name for soukous.
The Cuban Marimba Band was an influential Tanzanian big band from the city of Morogoro. It was founded in 1948 by Salum Abdullah, who had previously formed the Morogoro Jazz Band. For about twenty years, Cuban Marimba was one of the most popular muziki wa dansi bands in Tanzania.
DDC Mlimani Park Orchestra has been one of the most popular Tanzanian muziki wa dansi bands.
Morogoro Jazz Band, also known as K.Z. Morogoro Jazz Band, was a seminal muziki wa dansi band from Morogoro, Tanzania. The band originally played live at the clubs and bars of Morogoro and became very popular in the 1960s and 1970s, receiving considerable airplay from Tanzanian radio stations. The leader of the band was guitarist Mbaraka Mwinshehe, who dropped out of school to join the band in 1965. Coincidentally, the band was formed the same year Mwinsheshe was born, in 1944. The original lineup of the band featured Makala Kindamile, Joseph Thomas, Seif Ally, Daudi Ally and Shaabana Mwambe. Salim Abdullah, who would later found Cuban Marimba Band, was also an early member of the band.
Orchestra Maquis Original is a Tanzanian muziki wa dansi band, originally from DR Congo. Founded in 1970 and still active, it is one of the most long-lived dansi bands.
Msondo Ngoma is a Tanzanian muziki wa dansi band. Having been established in 1964, it is the oldest active dansi band in Tanzania.
Vijana Jazz Orchestra is a Tanzanian muziki wa dansi band that reached its peak of popularity in the 1980s. As with many other dansi bands of the times, it was sponsored by a government institution, namely the Umoja wa Vijana, i.e., the youth wing of Tanzania's ruling party Tanganyika African National Union (TANU).
Orchestra Safari Sound (OSS) was a major Tanzanian muziki wa dansi band in the 1970s. Along with Orchestra Maquis Original, OSS contributed to the evolution of dansi, introducing a slower-paced and more melodic style that further differentiated dansi from its ancestor genre, the Congolese soukous. The band was led by Ndala Kasheba, one of the most popular musicians in Tanzanian pop music.
Tabora Sound Band, formerly known as Tabora Jazz, is a seminal Tanzanian muziki wa dansi band based in Tabora, Tanzania and led by guitarist Shem Ibrahim Karenga. In the 1970s, their song Dada Asha was a major hit in Tanzania and East Africa. They disbanded in the late 1970s but efforts were made to revive the band. So, by early 1980s, it was active again but disbanded in mid 1980s following damage of the instruments by an electric shock. It was later reformed by Shem Karenga as Tabora Jazz Stars. Kassimu Kaluwona, the rythim guitarist of the former band also joined. The band was based in Dar es Salaam.They mainly played classic songs of the former band, Tabora Jazz Band.
Freddy Ndala Kasheba was a Congolese guitarist, singer, and bandleader who was based in Tanzania for most of his career. In 1969, he emigrated from Zaire to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He became the leader of the group Orchestra Safari Sound in 1979, and remained its leader until leaving after a dispute with the owner of the band's equipment. He then started his own band, Zaita Musica, in addition to pursuing a solo career. His reputation in Tanzania was such that he became known in Dar es Salaam as "Maestro Supreme".
IOSS can refer to: