Msondo Ngoma (formerly known as NUTA Jazz Band, renamed Juwata Jazz Band, and then OTTU Jazz Band) is an influential and long-lived
Tanzanian
muziki wa dansi band. Having been established in 1964, it is the oldest active dansi band in Tanzania.
History
The band began in 1964 and was originally named "NUTA Jazz Band", after its sponsor, the National Union of Tanganyika (NUTA), which was the main
Tanzanian trade union. In the early years of dansi, the NUTA Jazz Band was very influential both artistically and in terms of financial organization; namely, it was one of the first dansi bands to constitute itself into a "cooperative" of salaried musicians (a model that would become widespread in the 1970s).
In the 1960s, NUTA Jazz Band was led by
trumpeter-singer
Joseph Lusungu and
saxophonist Mnenge Ramadhani
Msondo Ngoma (formerly known as NUTA Jazz Band, renamed Juwata Jazz Band, and then OTTU Jazz Band) is an influential and long-lived Tanzanian muziki wa dansi band. Having been established in 1964, it is the oldest active dansi band in Tanzania.
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, who defined the
brass-centered sound of the band.
NUTA Jazz Band held its position as one of the major Tanzanian dansi bands throughout the latter half of the 1960s and most of the 1970s. In 1977 it experienced a major change in personnel, with many of its most talented musicians (including
Muhiddin Maalim
Msondo Ngoma (formerly known as NUTA Jazz Band, renamed Juwata Jazz Band, and then OTTU Jazz Band) is an influential and long-lived Tanzanian muziki wa dansi band. Having been established in 1964, it is the oldest active dansi band in Tanzania.
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and
Hassani Bitchuka
Msondo Ngoma (formerly known as NUTA Jazz Band, renamed Juwata Jazz Band, and then OTTU Jazz Band) is an influential and long-lived Tanzanian muziki wa dansi band. Having been established in 1964, it is the oldest active dansi band in Tanzania.
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) leaving the band to form a new ensemble,
Mlimani Park Orchestra. In 1977, the band changed its name to "Juwata Jazz",
[Perullo, p. 395] after the
Swahili
Swahili may refer to:
* Swahili language, a Bantu language official in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes
* Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa
* Swahili culture
Swahili culture is the culture of ...
name of its sponsor (NUTA), ''Jumuiya ya Wafanyakazi Tanzania''. About at the same time, guitarist
Saidi Mabera
Msondo Ngoma (formerly known as NUTA Jazz Band, renamed Juwata Jazz Band, and then OTTU Jazz Band) is an influential and long-lived Tanzanian muziki wa dansi band. Having been established in 1964, it is the oldest active dansi band in Tanzania.
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became the new leader of the band. He wrote several of Juwata's hit songs of the 1980s. After Mabera, both Maalim and Bitchuka (who rejoined the band in 1991) became leaders. Maalim is credited with one of the major hits of Juwata in the 1990s, ''Usia kwa watoto''.
The band changed its name again in 1991 from Juwata Jazz to OTTU Jazz,
when the trade union that sponsored it was renamed
Organization of Tanzanian Trade Unions
An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose.
The word is derived from ...
. The band is still active as "Msondo Ngoma" (''
msondo
The msondo (or msondro) is a type of drum played in the Swahili language, Swahili-speaking world, including Zanzibar and Comoros. It is featured in the region's genre of taarab or twarab music.
Construction
The Zanzibari version is described as "a ...
'' being a Swahili drum
), performing regularly at the TCC Club in
Temeke for example,
and is the oldest active dansi band in Tanzania. This is reflected by its motto ''baba ya muziki'', "father of music".
Notes
References
*
{{Authority control
Tanzanian musical groups