Recalling Wagosi Wa Kaya Lyrical Activism
Music tells us about our society. Artists, through various forms of artistic methods of expression tell us about contemporary societal issues. I grew up listening to Bongo Flava music. My first contact with Bongo flava was when my dad bought a cassette tape of Professor Jay’s album: Machozi, Jasho na Damu. My dad loved music. He also had numerous cassette tapes of Dolly Parton, Michael Bolton, Celine Dion, Abba and many other western and African music. He loved the romantic music. Whenever he travelled to the city, he always come with different cassette tapes which he played in his National Panasonic Stereo player. He imbued in me the love for music at a very early age.
I never thought or wanted to be a musician but I really enjoyed music and musical lyrics at a very early age. I wanted to understand the meaning of lyrics. I also came to love Swahili poetry — mashairi. I paid more attention to the words, the wordplay in the music, the careful balance of rhymes (vina), meters (mizani), and of course the vibwagizo, and the use of metaphors. I really enjoyed the deep meanings of words and phrases in the music. I also admired the artistic use of language and linguistic styles. The album by Professor Jay was profound. The lyrical style employed by Professor Jay in that album revolutionized music in Tanzania. With songs like Ndio Mzee, Jina Langu, Bongo Dar es Salaam, Yataka Moyo, Niamini, Tathmini, Professor Jay, who is now an opposition MP shaped modern day Tanzania rap and Hip-hop. I will write more about Professor Jay’s music later on.
As I continued to grow up, I began to really be fascinated by the music style of Tanga based duet of Dr. John and Mkoloni of the group Wagosi wa Kaya. They composed numerous songs that touched on the various societal ills in Tanzania. Tanga Kunani (What’s up Tanga) was their entry song (wimbo uliowatoa). In this song, they highlight the plight of their hometown Tanga. They recall with nostalgia the good old days of the once thriving old port city. They narrate how the town has lost its prestige yet it was once a thriving industrial and agricultural town. The song also highlights various societal plights of living in Tanga. Among other things, one thing that comes out very clearly in the song was the tension among the natives (Waswahili) and the settlers (the Arabs and Indians) who are business owners in Tanga.
The Wagosi wa Kaya duet also composed the track Trafiki song. In this track, they address the day-to-day traffic issues on the road. Using a unique staccato music style, they highlight the everyday nuisance by the traffic police. When this song was released in the early 2000s it sparked interest and debate at a time when traffic officers were harassing motorists. In yet another protest song, the duet sang the hit song Wauguzi “Nurses” in which they chided the healthcare system in Tanzania. In this track, the plight of the sick and pregnant women is narrated through a rhythmic composition. For example, in one verse, the artists narrate how a pregnant woman suffers at the hands of a carefree nurse and an incompetent doctor. In this track, a message was being sent to the government of the day to look into the healthcare issues in the country’s hospitals and medical facilities.
The group which has since stopped singing released yet another thought-provoking song in 2015 titled Gahawa (Arabic coffee). In this song, they employ a conversation style as they debate the current issues affecting the country ranging from development, politics, corruption among other social problems. The set of the music video is in typical Swahili meeting point, better known in Kiswahili as kijiweni (base). The duet is joined by colleagues in an evening coffee (gahawa) with Swahili confectionary kashata as they discuss the politics of the day in Tanzania. Typically, in these street barazas, members of the kijiwe meet to play local games such as dama (draughts), dhumna (dominos), bao and karata (cards). In the song, they show concern about the stalled constitutional reform process at the time, the rise in the standards of living and the suppression of rights in Tanzania. In the video clip, the artists are seen holding and possibly reading and debating Nyerere’s Ujamaa book in light of the contemporary challenges. What is worth noting in this song is the sophistication in the use of language and imagery to pass a revolutionary message — a running theme in all their songs.
