Artists

Since their formation in 1978 Mlimani Park Orchestra have always been one of Tanzania's most popular bands, easily verified by audience turnouts and radio airplay. 40 years on, Mlimani Park Orchestra are still at the top when it comes to Tanzanian muziki wa dansi.

The band set out with a read more

This is Tanzania's equivalent of Congo's TPOK Jazz or Zaiko Langa Langa. As OTTU Jazz, and in various other guises, Msondo Ngoma Music Band has been around since 1964, with the current leader Maalim Gurumo, being the only original member left.

Being the oldest surviving band in East and Central Africa, read more

Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Naxx Bitota discovered her passion for music at the age of 9 and dreamed of making a career out of it. She pursued this dream by joining several choirs of different styles: gospel, traditional, classical and folk music in the Congo and then read more

Peter Msechu was born in 1988 in Kigoma region, in the northern part of Tanzania close to the border with Burundi. He started singing aged ten when his father took him to join Kigoma Lutheran Church Choir, where at the time his father was the choir teacher.

[[[Peter’s mother read more

When 20-year-old singer Samba Mapangala boarded the riverboat for Kisangani in 1975, little did he know where it would really be taking him. The young vocalist, one of a quartet of singers in the Kinshasa dance band Saka Saka, was heading with his mates for a tour of Eastern Zaire. read more

Of all the bands that immigrated to East Africa, Super Mazembe has stood the test of time.

Super Mazembe started in 1969 in Likasi, near Lubumbashi, DRC as Super Vox. On tour in neighbouring Zambia during 1970, the band met Nashil Pichen Kazembe, a diehard supporter of one of read more