Download Latest Bongo Songs 2023
Septimio Sallah
The name "Bongo" of Bongo Flava comes from Kiswahili usually meaning brains, intelligence, cleverness but can also mean mentally deranged.[5] Bongo is the augmentative form of Ubongo, Kiswahili for Brainland.[6] Flava is a Kiswahili term for Flavour.[6] Ubongo is a term originally use, and in Tanzania still used, for the city of Dar es Salaam.[5] Outside Tanzania, Ubongo is often referring to Tanzania.[6] Ubongo as a term originated from a speech by President Nyerere in the late 70's during a very difficult time following both the global fuel shocks of the 70's and the Kagera war against Uganda. Mwalimu Nyerere spoke that only a nation using brains (using Kiswahili Ubongo for Brainland) could, and would, overcome the difficult challenges Tanzania was facing. Unfortunately things became even worse for Tanzania, and by the early 1980s Dar es Salaam was calling itself mostly by the name Jua Kali (hot sun/world is spinning/dizzy) but also Ubongo. The term Ubongo was being used as a clever way to say both, survival in Dar es Salaam required brains and intelligence, but was also full of mentally deranged people.[5][7]
Bongo Flava is a large divergent evolution of muziki wa kizazi kipya, meaning "music of the new generations", which originated in the middleclass youth of Kinondoni District of Dar es Salaam between the mid-1980s and 1990s.[10] 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 artists by late 1994. Radio hosts Mike Muhagama and Taji Liundi led the way in radio support of local artists.[11] Mike Mhagama eventually joined the popular program as an under-study to Taji Liundi and also went on to produce and present the show alone after Taji Liundi left Radio One in 1996.
Today, "Bongo Flava" is the most popular musical style amongst the Tanzanian youth,[16] something that is also reflected in the vast number of TV and radio programs dedicated to this genre as well as the sales figures of bongo flava albums.[17]
While "Bongo Flava" is clearly related to American hip hop, it is also clearly distinguished from its Western counterpart. As the bongoflava.net website puts it, "these guys don't need to copy their brothers in America, but have a sure clear sense of who they are and what sound it is they're making". The sound "has its roots in the rap, R&B and hip hop coming from America, but from the beginning, these styles have been pulled apart and put back together with African hands". Recently, with the increase in popularity of Afrobeats in East Africa most Bongo flava songs have adopted the sound especially the 3+2 or 2+3 drum pattern of afrobeats but retaining the arabesque melodies of taarab thus resulting to a reduction of hiphop influence in the genre.[23]
The typical "Bongo Flava" artist identifies with the mselah. It is in this sense that, for example, members of the hip hop crew Afande Sele call themselves watu pori, i.e., "men of the savannah". A sort of manifesto of mselah ideology is given by the song Mselah Jela by Bongo flava singer Juma Nature, who defines the mselah, amongst other things, as an "honest person of sincere heart".[24] Following the tradition of western hip hop (as represented by the pioneering hip hop group Afrika Bambaataa), bongo flava lyrics usually tackle social and political issues such as poverty, political corruption, superstition, and HIV/AIDS, often with a more or less explicit educational intent, an approach that is sometimes referred to as "edutainment".[25] Afande Sele, for example, have written songs that are intended to teach prevention of malaria and HIV. However, this has changed in recent years and increasingly many commercial Bongo Flava songs deal with topics such as love, heartbreak, success and hardship. This change in topic remains a point of contention between the earlier generation who saw the rise of Bongo Flava, and the new generation who tend to prefer catchy and club ready songs.[26] Whether this is due to globalisation and western influence or due to a change in listener's taste, is the question at the centre of the debate. Some Bongo groups are very popular within their ethnic group; one example is the Maasai X Plastaz who developed their own subgenre known as "Maasai hip hop".[27]
My friend recently got a set of bongos and ive been trying to think of some songs that we could play using them, but can only think of a few (better living through chemistry by qotsa and planet caravan by sabbath). Any suggestions?
Few people understand the language of love better than bongo flava artists. Their grasp of vernacular places them on a different level compared to other artists singing in Swahili. Perhaps this explains the popularity of this Tanzanian genre, whose standard-bearers include Diamond Platnumz, Zuchu, Harmonize, Rayvanny and Nandy, among many others.
Their risqué lyrics, delivered with unstinting imagery, are the reason these hits have become love anthems for a generation. And with the artists churning out song after song, bongo flava will no doubt continue to be the staple of East African radio in 2023.
Music In Africa has made a selection of bongo flava songs that are ruling the airwaves and blowing up the streams this year. Be sure to bookmark this playlist as we update it with more music throughout 2023.
For maximum effect, the whole cast is intended to perform most of the songs and dances on stage as chorus, whether they are in the preceding drama or not. Of course this is at the discretion of the director and can depend on available space.
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