Dodoma, officially Dodoma City, is the legislative capital of Tanzania and is the administrative capital of both Dodoma Municipal Council and the entire Dodoma Region, with a population of 765,179. In 1974, the Tanzanian government announced that Tanzania's federal capital would be moved from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma for social and economic reasons and to centralise the capital within the country. It became the official capital in 1996.
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.
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, with additional influences from reggae, R&B, and afrobeats, to form a unique style of music. Lyrics are usually in Swahili or English, although increasingly from mid 2000s there has been limited use of words from Sub-Saharan African music traditions due to the influence of Afrobeats and Kwaito with their dynamics usage of West African Pidgin English, Nigerian Pidgin or other Creole language.
Tanzanian Hip-hop, which is sometimes referred to Bongo Flava by many outside of Tanzania's hip hop community, encompasses a large variety of different sounds, but it is particularly known for heavy synth riffs and an incorporation of Tanzanian pop.
Following Tanganyika's independence (1961) and unification with Zanzibar (1964), leading to the formation of the state of Tanzania, President Julius Nyerere emphasised a need to construct a national identity for the citizens of the new country. To achieve this, Nyerere provided what has been regarded by some commentators as one of the most successful cases of ethnic repression and identity transformation in Africa.
As of 2021, there are 31 regions of Tanzania which are divided into 184 districts.
Joseph Haule, popularly known by his stage name Professor Jay, is a Tanzanian rapper, songwriter, politician and former member of the Tanzanian parliament for Mikumi constituency. He is one of the prominent representatives of the "Bongo Flava" Tanzanian hip hop subgenre, which mixes elements from both Western hip hop and the Tanzanian tradition.
Tanzania Music Awards are national music awards held annually in Tanzania. They are also known as the Kilimanjaro Music Awards or the Kili Music Awards after their sponsor. The awards were established in 1999 by the National Arts Council (BASATA) under the Tanzanian Ministry of Education and Culture.
Rehema Chalamila, popularly known for her stage name Ray C, is a musician from Tanzania. Her genre of music is afro pop specifically Bongo flava.
Wema Abraham Sepetu is a Tanzanian actress and beauty contestant who won the Miss Tanzania contest in 2006 Miss Tanzania. She represented Tanzania in Miss World 2006, which was held in Poland. She later became an actress in Tanzania.
Vanessa Hau Mdee, is a Tanzanian singer, rapper, television personality and radio host. Mdee is popularly known for being the first ever Tanzanian MTV VJ. She later rose to prominence as a radio and TV host, hosting Epic Bongo Star Search and Dume Challenge for ITV Tanzania before signing to B'Hits Music Group in late 2012.
Smile Communication Tanzania Ltd is a telecommunications network company in Tanzania. It was registered in July 2009 and began commercial operations in May 2013. The company is a subsidiary of Smile Telecoms Holdings, a South African telecommunications conglomerate, whose subsidiaries include: (a) Smile Telecom (Nigeria) (b) Smile Telecom (Tanzania) (c) Smile Telecom and (d) Smile Telecom (Uganda). Smile's first country of operation in Africa was in Tanzania. Smile Tanzania was the first company to launch commercial 4G LTE services in Tanzania and began its operations in the city of Dar es Salaam.
Elizabeth Michael(Lulu) (born April 16, 1995) is a Tanzanian actress.
Jokate Mwegelo is a Tanzanian politician and the District Commissioner for Korogwe District in Tanzania.
Rebeca Z. Gyumi is a Founder & Executive Director at Msichana Initiative, a Tanzanian NGO which aims to empower girls through education, and address key challenges which limit girl’s right to education. She has worked for over 8 years with Femina, a youth focused organisation, as a TV personality and youth advocate.
Yvonne Cherrie is a Tanzanian actress. In 2010 she won Zanzibar International Film Festival for the 'Best Actress' award. She was also nominated for 2011 Nigeria Entertainment Awards for Pan African Actress Of The Year. She is cited as the one of the best actresses and pioneers in the movie industry of Tanzania. She is also the founder of Act With Monalisa foundation which focus on to mentor and support young Tanzanian women with acting career guidance and a platform to showcase their talents and Director of African Women Arts and Film Festival (AWAFFEST).
Faustina Charles Mfinanga, popularly known by her stage name Nandy is a Tanzanian singer, songwriter and actress. She was born and raised in the town of Moshi, Tanzania in Kilimanjaro Region. She won the All Africa Music Awards twice in the best female artist in East Africa category in 2017 and 2020.
Irene Pancras Uwoya, is a Tanzanian actress, producer and entrepreneur she is best known for her career name Irene Uwoya and for her movie role Oprah. Beginning her professional career in 2007 along with others bongo movie actors such as Vincent Kigosi, Steven Kanumba and many more.
Zuhura Othman Soud better known by her stage name Zuchu, is a Tanzanian singer and songwriter born in Zanzibar. She is based in Dar es Salaam and signed to WCB Wasafi record label. She was awarded the Silver Plaque Button by YouTube for hitting 100,000 subscribers within a week. She became the first East African female artist to reach that milestone within a week. She also became the first East African female artist to reach 1 million subscribers on YouTube 11 months later. In 2020 Zuchu was named by AFRIMMA as the winner of the Emerging Artist Award.
Omary Ally Mwanga, known professionally as Marioo, is a Tanzanian singer, songwriter, poet, and music producer.
