"Jambo Bwana" (in Swahili "

Hello ''Hello'' is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826. Early uses ''Hello'', with that spelling, was used in publications in the U.S. as early as the 18 October 1826 edition of the ''Norwich C ...

Sir") is a Kenyan pop song also popular in Tanzania. It was first released in 1982 by Kenyan band

Them Mushrooms Them Mushrooms is a musical band from Kenya, playing mostly Chakacha, some Benga and also some reggae. They are most famous for the Swahili 1982 song ''Jambo Bwana''. The band is composed of Teddy Kalanda, Henry Ndenge Saha and Ben Mutwiwa. T ...

, and later covered by a number of other groups and artists, including

Mombasa Roots Mombasa Roots (or Mombasa Roots Band) are a Kenyan Afro pop music, afropop/hotel pop musical group. They have recorded some of the most successful hit singles in Kenyan pop music, such as ''Disco Chakacha'' and ''Kata''. Their most famous album i ...

, Safari Sound Band,

Khadja Nin Khadja Nin (born 27 June 1959) is a Burundian singer and musician. Nin was born in Burundi, the youngest of a family of eight. Her father was a diplomat. She studied music at an early age like most of her brothers and sisters. With her except ...

, Adam Solomon, Mani Kollengode, and the

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group

Boney M. Boney M. was a German-Caribbean vocal group that specialized in disco and funk created by German record producer Frank Farian, who was the group's primary songwriter. Originally based in West Germany, the four original members of the group's o ...

Some versions come under different titles, such as "Jambo Jambo" and "Hakuna Matata". "Jambo Bwana" has been largely adopted as a hotel pop song, targeting a tourist audience. Its lyrics includes several common phrases and greetings in Swahili, such as ''habari gani? nzuri sana'' ("how are things going? very well") and '' hakuna matata'' ("no problem"). The original version by Them Mushrooms also included lines celebrating Swahili language,

reggae music Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use th ...

, Africa, and "mushroom soup" (a reference to

psilocybin mushroom Psilocybin mushrooms, commonly known as magic mushrooms, are a polyphyletic informal group of mushroom, fungi that contain psilocybin which turns into psilocin upon ingestion. Biological genera containing psilocybin mushrooms include ''Psilocyb ...

s).Lyrics of "Jambo Bwana" by Them Mushrooms
with English translation. There are several mistypes in the text, including "Africa" instead of "Afrika", and "kwell kwell" instead of "kweli kweli".

Popularity

"Jambo Bwana" by Them Mushrooms was a huge commercial success, selling over 200,000 copies between 1982 and 1987 and getting

platinum certification Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

in Kenya. As a consequence of this popularity, many other bands covered the songs, in some cases with a similar success; the version by Safari Sound Band, in particular, is one of the most played songs in tourist venues in

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

.Them Mushrooms at BigQ Unlimited
The use of the Swahili phrase "hakuna matata" in

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's "

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance, it ...

" might be a reference to the chorus of the song. Them Mushrooms released the song in several of their albums, and both their version and cover version of the songs are found in many compilation of African pop music, including those dedicated to parties and children (such as the ''

African Playground African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

'' CD published by Putumayo Kids). The song was featured in the 2019 film Where’d You Go Bernadette, directed by Richard Linklater and starring Cate Blanchett.

Covers

Some of the covers of "Jambo Bwana" come under different titles and have modified lyrics. The

version, released in 1983, is entitled "Jambo - Hakuna Matata" and lyrics are in English and almost completely different; only the "jambo bwana" and "hakuna matata" lines have been preserved. The Safari Sound Band version "Jambo Jambo" has the central part of the lyrics changed, with references to reggae and mushrooms being replaced by other tourist-oriented common Swahili phrases such as ''Kenya ni nchi nzuri'' ("Kenya is a beautiful country"). In 2016, a cover was made by Kenyan musician Mani Kollengode.

Partial list of "Jambo Bwana" versions

Boney M. version

In 1983, German group

released "Jambo - Hakuna Matata".

Liz Mitchell Liz is a female name of Hebrew origin, meaning "God's Promise". It is also a short form of Elizabeth, Elisabeth, Lisbeth, Lizanne, Liszbeth, Lizbeth, Lizabeth, Lyzbeth, Lisa, Lizette, Alyssa, and Eliza. People * Liz Balmaseda (born 1959), Pulit ...

provided the song's lead vocals, backed by

Reggie Tsiboe Reggie Tsiboe (born 7 September 1950) is a Ghanaian-British entertainer, dancer and one of the singers of the disco group Boney M. between 1982 and 1986 and later between 1989 and 1990. In 1982, Tsiboe originally replaced the dancer Bobby Farrel ...

Frank Farian Frank Farian (born Franz Reuther; 18 July 1941) is a German record producer, musician, singer and songwriter, who founded the 1970s disco-pop group Boney M., the Latin pop band No Mercy and the pop band Milli Vanilli. He frequently created vo ...

Marcia Barrett Marcia Barrett (born 14 October 1948) is a Jamaican-British singer and one of the original singers with the vocal group Boney M. Early years Barrett was born in Saint Catherine Parish, British Jamaica; her parents brought her to Croydon, Eng ...

, Cathy Bartney, Madeleine Davis, and Judy Cheeks. The single was intended to be included in the group's untitled seventh album, to be released in the fall of 1983, but didn't happen. Several mixes of "Jambo" were made. The 4:06 mix (as featured in the accompanying music video) was only released in Spain and Portugal. A 3:39 edit was released elsewhere. The full 7:44 version was only released on the Spanish and Portuguese 12" singles - the German 12" single (despite crediting the timing 7:42 on the label) was actually an edit of 5:35. In France, an even shorter edit 5:15 was released.

References

{{authority control Swahili-language songs Kenyan songs 1983 singles Boney M. songs 1982 songs Hansa Records singles