Mombasa Roots (or Mombasa Roots Band) are a Kenyan

afropop African popular music (also styled Afropop, Afro-pop or Afro pop), like African traditional music, is vast and varied. Most contemporary genres of African popular music build on cross-pollination with western popular music. Many genres of po ...

hotel pop The music of Kenya is very diverse, with multiple types of folk music based on the variety over 50 regional languages. Zanzibaran taarab music has also become popular, as has hip hop, reggae music, soul, soukous, zouk, rock and roll, funk and E ...

musical group. They have recorded some of the most successful

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

s in Kenyan pop music, such as ''Disco Chakacha'' and ''Kata''. Their most famous album is '' Lele Mama''.

History

The band was founded in 1977 by the "Juma Brothers" from Mombasa, i.e., Suleiman Juma (keyboards, vocals), Saeed Juma (band manager) and Ebrahim Juma (guitar). They were later joined by Mahmood Siraj (guitar and vocals), Hassan Malambo (trumpet and vocals), Tamrat Kabede (drums), and a fourth Juma brother,

Ahmed Ahmad ( ar, أحمد, ʾAḥmad) is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other spellings of the name include Ahmed and Ahmet. Etymology The word derives from the root (ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from the ve ...

(guitar, saxophone, vocals). The band played live throughout Kenya, achieving a great popularity.V. ''Sweet Sounds of Honey Out of Africa'' In 1987 they recorded for

Polygram PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...

their debut album, ''

Msa Mombasa MSA or M.S.A. may refer to: Organizations and businesses Public services and agencies * China Maritime Safety Administration, a PRC Coast Guard * Maritime Safety Agency, now the Japan Coast Guard * Indonesian Maritime Security Agency * Pakist ...

'', from which hit singles ''Disco Chakacha'' and ''Kata'' were taken. As many Kenyan bands, Mombasa Roots mostly played live in great hotels. This gave them some popularity among European and

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

n tourists and foreigners in general, as well as the opportunity to play abroad (most notably in Germany, Switzerland, Canada, Dubai, and Oman). In 1999 they recorded a successful CD, '' Lele Mama'', that included some tracks from ''Msa Mombasa'' as well as previously unreleased material. Despite their success, Mombasa Roots experienced much personnel rotation. Most of the founding members left between the 1980s and the 1990s: drummer Katebe relocated to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, trumpeter Malambo left the music business, Mahmood Siraj moved to another band, and Saeed bought a farm. In 1990 also Ahmed Juma left the band and moved to the United States to study as a sound engineer. When he returned to Kenya, he founded one of the first digital recording studios in the country, Sync Studios. Suleiman, founding leader of Mombasa Roots, left in 2005 and went to live in Canada. All these were replaced over the years by a number of other musicians, including Jacky Freeman (vocals),

Salim Karama Salim, Saleem or Selim may refer to: People * Salim (name), or Saleem or Salem or Selim, a name of Arabic origin * Salim (poet) (1800–1866) * Saleem (playwright) (fl. 1996) *Selim I, Selim II and Selim III, Ottoman Sultans *Selim people, an e ...

(drums),

Hassan Swaleh Hassan, Hasan, Hassane, Haasana, Hassaan, Asan, Hassun, Hasun, Hassen, Hasson or Hasani may refer to: People *Hassan (given name), Arabic given name and a list of people with that given name *Hassan (surname), Arabic, Jewish, Irish, and Scottis ...

(keyboards),

Edward Toya Farrar Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sax ...

(guitar) and Mohamed Khalifa (percussions). For a while, the personnel also included the

Nazareth Sisters Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...

, a female duet from Mombasa, as well as Saeed Tito,

Catherine Wekesa Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria. In the early Christ ...

Adam Solomon Adam "The Professor" Solomon (born 1 January 1963 in Mombasa, Kenya) is a Juno Award-winning composer, guitar maestro, and singer. Solomon began performing at an early age, playing the kivoti (flute) and the kayamba ( shaker) at village celebrati ...

, and

Susan Kahumbu Susan is a feminine given name, from Persian "Susan" (lily flower), from Egyptian '' sšn'' and Coptic ''shoshen'' meaning "lotus flower", from Hebrew ''Shoshana'' meaning "lily" (in modern Hebrew this also means "rose" and a flower in general), ...

Discography

* 1987: ''

'' ('' Jambo Bwana'' / ''Msa Mombasa'' / ''Mama Sofia '' / '' Malaika'' / ''Kata'' / ''Disco Chakacha'' / ''Reggae Sound of Africa'' / ''Kasha Langu'' / ''Karibishe'' / ''Mezea Tu (Lele Mama)'') * 1999: '' Lele Mama'' (''Ngongoro Ngongoro'' / ''Imbube'' / ''Karibuni'' / ''Reggae Sound of Africa'' / ''Kasha'' / ''Mombasa Island'' / ''Meli'' / ''Malaika'' / ''Karibishe'' / ''Mama Sofia'' / ''Lele Mama'' / ''Jambo Bwana'' / ''Disco Chakacha'' / ''Kata'')

Footnotes

References

* ''Sweet Sounds of Honey out of Africa''

a
Big Q Unlimited
{{Authority control Kenyan musical groups Mombasa 1977 establishments in Kenya

History

Discography

See also

Footnotes

References