Ngoma music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Before colonization, ngoma was the dominant form of culture throughout the Great Lakes. During colonization, ngoma was outlawed as colonial administrations viewed it as unchristian and holding back the civilization process. Tanzanians created a new form of ngoma called mganda in the hope that it would appeal to the colonial administrators. Mganda ngoma adopted the costumes of western military uniforms and dress. It also adopted some of the military instruments. This would eventually become a form of big band music. Eventually, the first clubs opened in Dar es Salaam and Tanga for these mganda ngoma bands to perform. Their music began to be played on the radio and recorded in studios. Mganda ngoma music exploded in popularity and has become known as dansi (dance jazz) today. After independence, the government of Tanzania (TANU) placed a very strong emphasis on returning to traditional ngoma. While this was somewhat successful, TANU was never able to fully achieve the goals set out by Nyerere’s inaugural address. Even TANU still used dansi and kwaya as primary tools for education, national and political purposes. One dance may include aspects of as great a variety of tribal and geographic ranges as possible to appeal to as broad an audience as possible, particularly elders, while also using many inspirations from other genres such as dansi or bongo flava to appeal to the youths. Additionally ngoma has modernized its use of instruments. Many traditional instruments are no longer available or possible to make. Today modern manufactured instruments and gear, such as guitars, keyboards, microphones, and amplifiers are usually used.

NG on Music Theory Print

Ngoma music

History#