Katapila Ngoma started in 1980, with 15 musicians playing traditional drum and dance music of the Pogoro tribe, from Morogoro region of mainland Tanzania.

Around 1986 they added more cultural traditions to their regular repertoire, including sindimba, lizombe and others. From 1990 their fanbase started to explode, when they developed a new "Sangula" style, incorporating guitar and keyboards with the more traditional drums and shakers.

The group is based in Dar es Salaam, where they often perform for government functions and weddings. The group has released one album to date on cassette, with eight songs that have become almost legendary. This release sold like hot cakes and is now almost impossible to find! We hope their show at Sauti za Busara will encourage the group to make more recordings to be available soon!