External links
- Discography of THE "WANYIKA" GROUPS
- Simba Wanyika: Afropop Band
- Omari Shabani: Widow To Mark 12 Years Since Death of 'Sina Makosa' Composer
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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.
Wilson Kinyonga and George Kinyonga began as musicians in their hometown Tanga in Tanzania when they joined Jamhuri Jazz Band in 1966. They moved to Arusha in 1970 and formed Arusha Jazz with their other brother, William Kinyonga. During this period, musicians could travel freely between Kenya and Tanzania, and Kenyan popular music became heavily influenced by Tanzanian rumba musicians. In 1971 the Kinyonga brothers moved to Kenya and created Simba Wanyika. The band played at nightclubs and bars in the Nairobi area, and developed an enthusiastic following, and by the mid-1970s, they were well known throughout Kenya, thanks to hits like "Mwongele" and "Wana Wanyika". They had a harder sound than most rumba bands and were almost unchallenged in that area in Kenya due to the closing of the Tanzanian border in 1977.
The restrictions enforced on the Kenya-Tanzania border consequently led to the divergence of Kenyan popular music towards the emerging benga music. Simba Wanyika continued playing rumba, and was still quite popular when the band split in the late 1970s when rhythm guitarist Omar Shabani (commonly referred to as Professor Omar Shabani) took many of the band's musicians and forming Les Wanyika. In 1980, George Kinyonga also quit Simba Wanyika, taking more musicians with him to form Orchestra Jobiso. He eventually rejoined Simba Wanyika while still working with Jobiso on side projects. Simba Wanyika later changed their name to "Simba Wanyika Original" to prevent confusion with Les Wanyika and its splinter group, Super Wanyika Stars.
Simba Wanyika regained its popularity in the mid-1980s, releasing many hits and touring Europe in 1989. They disbanded in 1994, but several offshoots of the band still continue to play.
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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.
The music of Kenya is very diverse, with multiple types of folk music based on the variety over 50 regional languages.
Congolese music is one of the most influential music forms of the African continent. Since the 1930s, Congolese musicians have had a huge impact on the African musical scene and elsewhere. Many contemporary genres of music, such as Kenyan Benga and Colombian Champeta, have been heavily influenced by Congolese music. In 2021, Congolese rumba joined other living traditions such as Jamaican reggae music and Cuban rumba on UNESCO's "intangible cultural heritage of humanity" list.
Soukous is a genre of dance music originating from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo. It derived from Congolese rumba in the 1960s, with faster dance rhythms and bright, intricate guitar improvisation, and gained popularity in the 1980s in France. Although often used by journalists as a synonym for Congolese rumba, both the music and dance associated with soukous differ from more traditional rumba, especially in its higher tempo, song structures and longer dance sequences.
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.
Benga is a genre of Kenyan popular music. It evolved between the late 1940s and late 1960s, in Kenya's capital city of Nairobi. In the 1940s, the African Broadcasting Service in Nairobi aired a steady stream of soukous, South African kwela, Congolese finger-style guitar and various kinds of Cuban dance music that heavily influenced emergence of benga. There were also popular folk songs of Tanzania and Kenya's Luo peoples that formed the base on benga creation.
Joseph Athanase Tshamala Kabasele, popularly known as Le Grand Kallé, was a Congolese singer and bandleader, considered the father of modern Congolese music. He is best known for his role as leader of the band, Le Grand Kallé et l'African Jazz, in which capacity he was involved in a number of noted songs, including Indépendance Cha Cha.
Les Wanyika is a prominent band with Tanzanian and Kenyan members based in Nairobi, Kenya. It was formed in 1978 when drummer Rashid Juma, guitarist Omar Shabani, bassist Tommy Malanga, saxophonist Sijali Salum Zuwa and Phoney Mkwanyule left the Simba Wanyika Band. They were joined by guitarist John Ngereza and vocalist Issa Juma.
George Peter Kinyonga was a Tanzanian born musician who later migrated to Kenya together with his siblings Wilson Kinyonga and William Kinyonga.
Jamhuri Jazz Band was a dance band founded as the Nyamwezi Jazz Band in late the 1950s in Tanga, Tanzania when the country was known as Tanganyika. At the time dance bands were known as "jazz bands" in East Africa, even if they did not play jazz music. It was renamed the Jamhuri Jazz Band in 1966 on the orders of the government of Tanzania because of the tribalism indicated by the word "Nyamwezi". It gained nationwide popularity. Jamhuri Jazz played a key role in the spread of the Congolese rumba sound throughout East Africa in the early seventies.
Congolese rumba, also known as African rumba, is a dance music genre originating from the Republic of the Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo. With its rhythms, melodies, and lyrics, Congolese rumba has gained global recognition and remains an integral part of African music heritage. In December 2021, it was added to the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage.
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.
Daniel Owino Misiani was a Tanzanian-born musician based in Kenya, where he led the Shirati Jazz collective. He was known as the "King of History" in Kenya; overseas and in Tanzania, he was known as "the grandfather of benga", which he pioneered.
The Kenya national rugby union team, commonly known as the Simbas, is the country's national team managed by the Kenya Rugby Union. The team plays in red, green, and black jerseys with black or white shorts. The Simbas represent Kenya in the Africa Cup and various other tournaments across the continent. They currently rank 34 in the World Rugby Rankings and fourth in Africa. Kenya is yet to qualify for the Rugby World Cup.
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.
Ramazani "Remmy" Mtoro Ongala was a Tanzanian guitarist and singer. Ongala was born in Kindu near the Tanzanian border, in what was the Belgian Congo at the time, and now is the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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.
Msondo Ngoma is a Tanzanian muziki wa dansi band. Having been established in 1964, it is the oldest active dansi band in Tanzania.
