JAGWA MUSIC TANZANIA

2009 only / all years

Jagwa Music Tanzania style mchiriku / urban / roots festivals Sauti za Busara 2005, 2006, 2009 recordings (cassette-only releases available in Tanzania):, Tulia Mke Wangu (1998), Bai Bai Abiola (1998), Mauaji Ya Kinyama(1999), Liwalo Na Liwe (2000), Tumechoka Hoi (2000), Jela Haina Mwenyewe (2001), Shughuli Gharama (2002), Nguzo and many more. Feb 2009 Fri 13, 12:00am Old Fort - Mambo Club From the poor suburbs of Dar es Salaam, Jagwa Music play a style of music with chakacha roots known as mchiriku. The group features minimal instruments including a hand-held Casio keyboard, a few drums, whistles and a battered old stool beaten with sticks for extra percussive flavour. Jagwa Music guarantees to set any concert venue ablaze with explosive performances that always keep the crowds jumping and bouncing from start to finish. Their stage show is awesome – a non-stop gymnastic workout choreographed with skill and sensitivity, combining theatrics, acrobatic prowess, no small amount of humour and more energy than an atom bomb. Song lyrics are embellished on the spot with spontaneous commentary, depending on what’s going on in the news and who’s around in the audience. Usually combined with witty observations about the daily struggles of survival in a world surrounded by injustice. For example, in Shangazi Mbaya (A Cruel Aunt), the singer comments: I did not want to say, but today I say it in the open What aunt did to us I will say in the open, the bad things she did to us, Wanting to rob our inheritance, Shamelessly she pretended not to know us in the court. Aunt is cruel, but her plan did not work God did not allow her The court found out…. We have the right to inherit our late father’s wealth These days when you tune in to most local radio stations you can now hear a lot of Tanzanian music. So-called bongo flava, in Swahili language, but the rhythms and melody is more USA than EA. You never hear mchiriku on the radio, despite its popularity with the urban youth. Radio presenters allege this is because mchiriku was always considered to be kihuni – music for poor people and associated with drinking and bhang-smoking. For Jagwa Music, things look set to change. In October 2005 the group performed at the Sage Centre, Gateshead (UK) at the World Music Expo (WOMEX) where many delegates greatly appreciated the group’s refreshing energy and rawness, rarely seen these days in Europe where African music is often sanitized by the “world music” fashionmongers. The group is now receiving enquiries from festival promoters all around the globe and it’s looking like mchiriku music will finally gain the international recognition and respect that it always deserved. Jagwa Music & Jahazi Media are currently working on a new recording for international release in summer 2009. African Clyde (22x32)Acrylics ($450) This is the case in the African series of oil paintings, some of which are exhibited here at worldoneartist.com. Other works employ delicate brush work. His paintings are spontaneous, poetic, impressionistic, realistic, and even surreal in their spiritual impact. All of them demonstrate the passion that Jibril has for art, something that drives him to often paint all night without stopping. His African Series celebrates the emotional and spiritual quality of the people of Africa. Egyptian Kingdom (24x30) Acrylics ($250) "All and sundry knows that Egypt is the terra firma of the pyramids, those mountains of granite which stand like windswept landmarks on the distant horizon of olden times. However remote and mysterious they seem, they tell us much of their own story. They tell us of a land which was so thoroughly prearranged that it was possible to pile up these gigantic mounds in the lifetime of a single king, and they enlighten us of kings who were so rich and powerful that they could force thousands and thousands of human resources or slaves to toil for them year in, year out, to quarry the stones, to drag them to the building site, and to shift them with the most primitive means until the tomb was ready to receive the king. Sports day/oil and Acylics When creating this image, my thoughts were to paint and design an image that would lead all of the athletes the right direction towards there dreams. Many athletes tell there selves, "Basketball is to hard or I can't do this sport because of this and that". Well once this painting is placed is your hands, you will automatically know that you can do anything you put your mind to as long as you are focused and most of all... believe in your self Sports Day 1 ($400) Sports Day 2 ($400)