Bongo Flava

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Bongo flava
Stylistic origins Hip hop, Tanzanian music
Cultural origins 1990s Tanzania
Typical
instruments
Bass guitar, drums, guitar,
keyboards, percussion, vocals
Regional scenes
Dar es Salaam
Bongo flava is the nickname for Tanzanian hip hop music. The genre developed in the 1990s,
mainly as a derivative of American hip hop, with additional influences from reggae, R&B,
afrobeat, dancehall, and traditional Tanzanian styles such as taarab and dansi, a combination that
forms a unique style of music.
[1]
Lyrics are usually in Swahili or English.
The name "bongo flava" is a corruption of "bongo flavour", where "bongo" is the plural form of
the Swahili word ubongo, meaning "brain", and is a common nickname used to refer to Dar es
Salaam, the city where the genre originated. In the bongo flava, the metaphor of "brains" may
additionally refer to the cunning and street smarts of the mselah (see below).
[2]

The term "bongo flava" was coined and first mentioned in 1996 by Radio One's 99.6 FM (one of
the first private radio stations in Tanzania) Radio Dj Mike Mhagama who was trying to
differentiate between American R & B and hip hop music through his popular radio show known
as 'DJ Show' with that of local youngsters music that didn't have, at that time, an identity of its
own. DJ Show was the first radio show that accepted young Tanzanian musicians influenced by
American music to express themselves through singing and rapping. He said on air, "After
listening to "R & B Flava" titled 'No Diggity' from the United States,here comes "Bongo Flava"
from Unique Sisters, one of our own." After he said that on the show, the term "Bongo Flava"
stuck.
The earliest and most reliable account of how "Bongo flava" found its way onto Tanzanian
airways has Taji Luindi at the heart of the story. Taji Liundi also known as Master T, the original
creator and producer of the Dj Show program had already started airing songs by fledgling local
artistes since late 1994. Mike Mhagama later joined the popular program as an under-study to
Master T. He went on to produce and present the show alone after Master T had left Radio One
in 1996. "Bongo flava" existed well before the first audio or video recordings. The youth in Dar
es salaam were rapping at beach concerts(organized by Joseph Kusaga who owned Mawingu
Discothque, later Mawingu Studios and now Clouds Media Group), local concert halls and
taking part in the first official rap competition called Yo!Rap Bonanza series that were promoted
by DJ Kim "And the Boyz" Magomelo.
Some of the youth were organized with fancy names, some were solo or formed impromptu
groups at the event to get a chance to grab the mic. An icon of the open performance artistes in
the early 1990s was Adili or Nigga One. The first influential dub artiste of the genre was Saleh
Jabir who rapped in Kiswahili over the instrumentals of Vanilla Ice's, "Ice Ice Baby", he was
solely responsible for making Kiswahili a viable language to rap in. His version was so popular,
it broke ranks by receiving mild airplay in the conservative National Radio Tanzania. The first
official rap song to grace the Tanzanian airwaves.
One of the earliest groups to actually record and deliver a CD to Radio One for airing was
Mawingu band, an outfit that became hugely popular in early 1994. They recorded at Mawingu
Studios. Its members were Othman Njaidi, Eliudi Pemba, Columba Mwingira, Sindila Assey,
Angela, Robert Chuwa, Boniface Kilosa (a.k.a Dj Boni Love) and later Pamela who sang the
famous hook of their breakout first RnB/Rap single "Oya Msela". The song was so popular and
ahead of its time that the Msela label stuck. 'Msela' is the Swahili word for 'ruffian'. Mawingu
Band was arguably the pioneer of the RnB flavored type of Bongo flava. Dar Young Mob were
the first real hip-hop stylized group to record with Mawingu Studios under budding producer Dj
Boni Love. They were the first group to have their rap single aired on private radio in Tanzania.