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-2000ss 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.
Joseph Mbilinyi, known for his stage names Mr. II, Sugu and 2-proud, is a Tanzanian politician, human rights activist and rapper. He was also elected to the Tanzanian Parliament in 2010 and then 2015 to 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 there has been limited use of words from Nigerian languages due to the influence of afrobeats.
The Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) was the principal political party in the struggle for sovereignty in the East African state of Tanganyika. The party was formed from the Tanganyika African Association by Julius Nyerere in July 1954 when he was teaching at St. Francis' College. From 1964 the party was called the Tanzania African National Union. In January 1977 the TANU merged with the ruling party in Zanzibar, the Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP), to form the current Revolutionary State Party or Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM). The policy of TANU was to build and maintain a socialist state aiming towards economic self-sufficiency and to eradicate corruption and exploitation, with the major means of production and exchange under the control of the peasants and workers.
Tanzanian Hip-hop, which is sometimes called 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. There is some debate over whether Bongo Flava, which has emerged as a defined pop movement, can really still be qualified under the overarching term "hip hop" and not a movement unto itself, when it is beginning to develop a distinctive sound that differs from hardcore rap or, for example, the Maasai Hip hop of X Plastaz, who use the tradition of the Maasai tribe as the focal point for their sound and style. Tanzanian hip hop influenced the sound of the Bongo Flava genre. While Tanzanian hip hop retains many of the elements found in hip hop globally in terms of sound and lyricism, Bongo flava, derived from the Swahili word "ubongo", incorporates hip hop, Indian filmi, taraab, muzik wa dansi, and dancehall beats. It all began in the 1980s when Tanzanian teenagers were really interested in the American hip hop scene. At first, they took American beats and rapped to them. As the youth rapped, the hip hop in Tanzania began to develop into a mix of traditional and localized hip hop scene. As a result, it began a wave of interest from other people in Eastern Africa.
Juma Nature a.k.a. Sir Nature is a Tanzanian hip hop recording artist and record producer. He is the founder and member of a Temeke group called Wanaume, an informal group of rappers from the temeke side of Dar es Salaam. In his last album, "Bongo Flava: Swahili Rap from Tanzania", many of the lyrics which are in his tracks include current problems within his country. Some problems he raps about include, "HIV/AIDS, the difficulty of meeting basic needs, class and wealth barriers, and holding your head high despite everything". One of Nature's well renowned songs is "Umoja wa Tanzania" which talks about a celebration within Tanzania and the sense of unity that it has exemplified. “Utajijua” from Juma Nature's brand new album Ubinadam Kazi, is a song about people who like to poke their noses into others’ business.
Kwanza Unit (KU) was an early Tanzanian hip hop group. Its name means "First Unit" and it was formed in 1993 by a merger of several groups and solo artists. They started rapping in English, but later used Swahili as well.
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.
Dully Sykes is a Tanzanian musician who sings majorly in the bongo flava genre.
Zavara Mponjika or simply MC Rhymson is a rapper from Tanzania who was the founder of the Villain Gangsters and a founding member of Kwanza Unit.
Dataz is a Tanzanian rapper. She was born in 1984 on the shores of Lake Nyasa in Mbamba Bay. Later she moved with her parents to Morogoro where she began her primary education. When Dataz was attending her secondary school, Ifunda, her talent for music became apparent.
Radio Tanzania Dar es Salaam is a radio service in Tanzania.
Balozi Dola,a.k.a.Balozi or Dolasoul, is a self-proclaimed “socially conscious” hip hop artist from Tanzania.
Saleh J, prominent Tanzanian hip hop pioneer, was born in Dar es Salaam as Saleh Jaber.
The annual Yo Rap Bonanza, created in the early 1990s in Tanzania, was a rap talent show organized by Kim and the Boys with Ibony Moalim and was sponsored by local Indian merchants. The first show was made in 1993 and the second and last was in 1995. Kim and Ibony were key figure on this event. It is generally recognized as the first major hip-hop competition in Tanzania. The talent show attracted large crowds with its diverse and unique delivery of rhymes from different artists.
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.
Sauti za Busara is an African music festival, held every year in February in Zanzibar, Tanzania. It is centred in the Old Fort, with fringe events taking place at the same time around Stone Town - including a carnival street parade (Beni).
Jhikoman is a well-known Tanzanian reggae artist. He has served as an active musician since 1994 and toured extensively in both Europe and Africa. He combines acoustic reggae with African music. Jhikoman sings in English, Swahili and mother tongue Kinyasa.
Carola Daniel Amri Kinasha is a Tanzanian musician. She is proudly "Tanzanian and forever Maasai" and is a pioneer of traditional fusion in Tanzania. An accomplished performer, Kinasha is also an activist fighting for the basic rights of musicians in her country. She has worked extensively on campaigns to bring music education back into the schools of Tanzania. In 2000, Kinasha was recognised by the MA Africa Awards in South Africa. Her music crosses cultural boundaries, from Tanzania to the Congo, a unique blend of the traditional with the present.
