HOME

The main venue for this kind of music in Dar Es Salaam in 2019 was the hostel bar Slow Leopard, that hosted live music every Thursday. Situated in posh Masaki, known for its restaurants, coffee shops, and nightclubs, Slow Leopard was as Kifimbo would say full mzungu space. That is to say that the clientele consisted mostly of white people, tourists, and expats. Especially the Thursday evenings seemed to be popular expat get-togethers. We attended these shows quite regularly among other afro-fusion musicians who seemed to be there almost every week either to play or to support friends. Just before the end of my time in Tanzania, we played a MAN Kifimbo show in Slow Leopard also, which was also the album release concert for Mwana Mkala.

Live original music concerts are not currently a big thing in Tanzania and the people organizing shows are struggling to keep things going. Most of the live shows that I attended were either organized in tourist venues or organized by Western organizations like Alliance française or Goethe Institut. Nevertheless the most popular music in Tanzania right now, Bongo Flava, the local electronic dance music style, gathers wide audiences to live shows, and many bars and clubs are hosting live bands playing covers of old afro-pop.

The best prospects for afro-fusion bands seem to be international, for this kind of music gets more attention in African music festivals and world music festivals around the world than locally. That being said, I think Kifimbo’s music, in particular, has a good chance of getting a wider audience in Tanzania, for even though his musical style is not of the current mainstream, his songwriting is very catchy and relatable and the style of his music includes many aspects deeply loved by East Africans: afro-pop, reggae and traditional.

Kifimbo and the musicians called the style of their music ”Afro-fusion”. In practice it means music played with band instruments (drum kit, guitar, bass, keyboard) and some traditional Tanzanian instruments (mainly percussion) with influences from different styles, African and Western. Kifimbo’s music is a fusion of reggae, afro-pop, and Tanzanian traditional music. Kifimbo’s music is very energetic, it is all about the fire. Around Dar Es Salaam there were several artists and bands performing somewhat similar afro-fusion. Some of the musicians in the Dar es Salaam afro-fusion scene had some kind of education in music or dance and most of them were playing in several groups. Some key players, like Kikombe who played the drum kit in MAN Kifimbo band, seemed to play in almost all of the groups, usually named after their lead singer.

3.1 AFRO-FUSION IN DAR ES SALAAM

NEXT