Figure 2.20. Kifimbo dancing to his song "Sema Basi" at the ghetto. This part of the song has a Makonde traditional rhythm.
Kifimbo is a trained traditional musician and dancer, and this affects his music greatly. In traditional African music, music and dance are very much intertwined. Origin of this music is in the social events of the community, that might have the function of general recreation, communal ceremony, or rites connected to specific festivities in the ritual calendar (Nketia, 1965, p. 91). Music and dance are inseparable parts of these events, and descriptively Swahili speakers use the same verb ”cheza” for both activities, as is the case in many other African languages also (Halonen, 2018, p. 5; Small, 1999, p. 33). The drum rhythms and dance steps interlock with each other, comment on each other and improvise reciprocally. Drummers and dancers are often engaged in a linguistic activity through rhythm and movement where its possible that ”the drummer may give directions to the dancer, quote proverbs, praise individuals and so forth” (Nketia, 1965, p. 99). In some dances, it’s impossible to separate dancers and musicians, for all participants of the music might be doing both; changing roles or using percussive instruments while dancing (Small, 1999, p. 36). The connection of music and dance was very visible in afro-fusion concerts I attended, both as a spectator or as a musician at our MAN Kifimbo shows, a few times even as a dancer on the dancefloor. When performing, Kifimbo dances all the time, even when he is singing, and when he’s not he might get quite performative with the dance steps. Usually, in the afro-fusion shows at some point, there emerges a special connection between a percussion player and a certain dancer. They engage in improvisational conversation of movement and rhythm, while the audience forms a circle around them.
The dance performance groups, like the ones Kifimbo has been a part of, are the modern professionals of traditional dance in Tanzania. They are performing the communal dances, but taking them to the next level in terms of choreography and theatricality. Professional dance groups usually practice and combine a variety of different dances from different ethnic groups. Hence Kifimbo knows many different traditional dances from all around Tanzania including Zaramo, Makonde, Ngoni, Chaga, Sindimba, Mangaka, Chikocha, Msewe, and so on. Making his own music, it has given him a great amount of inspiration and material to use in his songs.
Another trait of Kifimbo’s music that connotates more strongly to traditional African music than anything else, is the ”call and response” form he uses a lot. This form, where the lead singer is answered, usually by a choir by a consequent section of roughly the same length, is very common traditional African vocal music (Ekwueme, 1974, p. 46-47; Small, 1999, p. 34). This is a very interesting element in Kifimbo’s style because while the call-and-response patterns in almost all the songs sound very natural to the music, they are not so common in reggae.
Here are some examples of Zaramo traditional dance and music, and the final track of Mwana Mkala album, "Nunu". Kifimbo told me that the rhythm of "Nunu" is inspired by Zaramo rhythms. "Nunu" is also a fine example of Kifimbo's use of call and response.
"Nunu", track 9 of Mwana Mkala. The song's lyrics are about envy. It's inspired by a real-life situation where some of Kifimbo's friends had been bitter and jealous at another friend's wedding with a European woman. Kifimbo is saying, that we should all be one, and not be jealous of one another running to the witch doctor to curse the people we are jealous at, for the neighbor who is doing good today might be the one helping you tomorrow.