RECALLING A BALD HEADED FIGURE FROM THE PAST...

I was at a Malawian party at the Commonwealth club in Pall Mall, South West London last weekend. Malawians are the mellowest people and throughout my life I have been around them. For several decades they have become part of our Tanzanian communities. I even co-founded a band called Sayari with a Dar es Salaam based Malawian musician thirty years ago. Unlike other Africans who tend to have an accent when they speak Swahili, Malawians blended easily.
History has messed us, culturally. Before the division of the continent in 1884 we were close knit tribes. Separation of Maasais in Kenya or Tanganyika; Lwoos in Kenya or Uganda; Makonde in Mozambique or south Tanzania was imposed. What separated people in Mbeya and Nyasaland (which came to be called Malawi) were the lake and a divisionary mandate during the scramble for Africa.
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Mind you these territorial splits are world wide. They have been causing uncomfortable tensions between South and North Koreans or amongst East and West Germans until the Berlin wall was smashed in 1990. I wish more walls would be broken down. The world would be a better place. It is this particular division of communities and nations that has caused so much conflict and estrangement in our lives. At the height of animosity there was even a possibility of war between us and Malawi because of Lake Nyasa.
As I child I would hear the derogatory remark:
“Wee Mnyasa nini?” (Stop behaving like a Mnyasa, meaning a Malawian refugee).
Globally, it is widely spread. Against the Irish, Jews, Pakistanis (Pakis), Arabs in France or Nigerians and Jamaicans in London. Prejudice the word, discrimination the result.
“Mnyasa” was such a distinct form of abuse in Tanzania forty years ago that it would be levelled against opposition leaders of the government like the late Oscar Kambona, the biggest and direct critic to CCM and President Nyerere.
It’s true that Malawians were fleeing the iron rule of the late strongman Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda; the man with a bald head.
Young Citizen readers born after 1980 might not know Kamuzu Banda. Like most leaders who led Africa after the surge of independence from 1957 to 1965 having freed themselves from colonial rule, Dr. Banda was well educated. We had Dr. Nyerere, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Dr. Jomo Kenyatta, even Sir Seretse Khama; doctors of philosophies, master of their own destinies. But how many of these “doctors” really delivered the fruits of independence?
Dr. Kamuzu Banda managed Malawi from 1964 until 1994. He was hailed as a hero by some of his people and a tyrant by others. In 1971 he declared himself President for Life. Is that unusual in Africa? How many leaders have stepped down willingly through free and fair elections?
Anyway, I am at this Malawian party in London; I see a guy in a suit who reminds me of the late Dr. Kamuzu Banda.
“Mulibwanji?”
“Tulibwinu.”
After stumbling through my scanty Kinyanja vocabulary the bald headed gentleman also shows off his equally limited Kiswahili knowledge.
“Habari bwana!”
Ice broken, laughter bubbling, it is time for me to drop the bomb. I cannot help it and my big mouth let slip the rubbish sentence.
“You remind me of Dr...”
I see the man in a suit recoiling as if I have said I fancy his wife.
“Don’t start!”
What the hell is he thinking?
“I know what you are you going to say,” he whispers.
His face drops, the smile fades away, he turns sombre as if we are in the middle of a serious cabinet conference in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi.
“You know what? You are the third man to have said that. It is starting to worry me.”
I pretend to be naive.
“Is it a bad thing?”
He shakes his head. “A bad thing? That was not a good man at all.”
I watch the jovial fellow in a suit shrinking like trousers that have just been washed and still soaking wet; he is suddenly looking sad, forlorn and unhappy. I am not sure why he has reminded me of Crazy Baldhead a reggae tune written (ironically at the height of Dr. Kamuzu Banda’s rule in 1974) by Bob Marley, the legendary Jamaican musician.

-London, Tuesday, 1st February, 2011.
Published in Citizen Tanzania:
http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/editorial-analysis/-/7912-recalling-a-bald-headed-figure-from-the-past

INTERVIEW WITH AUSTRALIAN BASED MUSICIAN DAVE MARAMA

Latest floods in Australia and Brazil have caught news headlines. One of East African citizens I spoke to early this week is guitarist Dave Marama who left Dar es Salaam in 1991 to live in Australia. His CD “Do Anything, Go Anywhere” with the Public Opinion Afro Orchestra was recently nominated for ARIAS which is the Australian equivalent of USA Grammy Awards. The album pays homage to late Nigerian musician Fela Kuti who died in 1997.  

FM: Tell us about the floods...

DM: The situation especially in Queensland is dire. Today the river has subsided so relief to the people affected by this disaster. A lot of clean up is currently taking place and we are wishing for a quick recovery to the people and economies of Queensland and New South Wales.
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Do you like it there?

I am settled and one has to reconcile with their immediate nest. Yes, we have a reasonably large Tanzanian community in Australia, let alone Melbourne. Good to catch up for a good laugh and that Bongo sense of humour...

What do you do?

I am a Lawyer by trade but have largely worked in Community Development, CUSO (Canadian University Services Overseas) and its equivalent here in Australia where I was managing the Zimbabwean and Mozambican programs when I arrived. I later worked for RMIT University for 18 years and my last position was with Monash College both leading institutions in Australia. Musically, I was connected to the African scene immediately upon arrival. I have played with various bands since: Clan Swahili, Musiki Manjaro and currently the Public Opinion Afro Orchestra which plays Afro Beat.

Young people in Tanzania do not quite know you as you come from the Seventies generation one of the most significant era of our music.

You are right, the 1970’s saw the emergency of good music and rise of Soul, Funk, Rock, Rumba, Afro Beat, talk about Jimi Hendrix, Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Wilson Pickett, James Brown, Aretha, The Temptations, George Benson, BB King, Franco, Fela Kuti, Lipua Lipua, Fauvette,  Buddy Guy, Sparks, Maquis du Zaire, Groove Makers, Tonics, NUTA Jazz, Rifters and many more.  I was influenced by this sudden surge of synergy. I played guitar since 11 years young in Arusha and Dar around 16 years. Arusha and Dar were  booming with music so I  played with the Funky Mob, Hijackers, Shades of Time in Arusha and Dar Comets, Sound of Hope, Watafiti and managing Tatu Nane  in the 1990’s.

Any nostalgia?

I love Tanzania my spiritual home and Malawi my home country. I have a special affinity to Tanzania for its hospitality and the care extended to so many refugees who landed there. President Nyerere is my hero for having extended that Liberation principle to us in reverse of the oppression that was going on in Malawi then. I always wanted for the situation in Malawi to change, it did not and I had to make a decision with my family to leave for Australia, where there was good provided education for the kids. This was not an easy decision as I love my Ugali, Samaki choma and the energy Africa delivers top soul and heart.

Many overseas African musicians are forced to do jobs they do not like (e.g. cleaning, security guards, etc) because it is not easy to make a living through music. What is your take on that?

  The issue is how do you survive and make a name? Obviously hard work, discipline, vision, team playing if in a band, choose right groups, drop the ego, and be patience. Honestly speaking, it is not easy to survive as a musician unless you are really good? And make it in Africa then here. If you are really good, do not waste your time go to New York and hit it big like Richard Bona, Angelika Kidjo and Lionel Loueke...

Would you advice young Tanzanian musicians to go overseas and try their luck?

Yes if you are good, go for it. Recently I had the privilege of meeting my friends from In Africa here in Melbourne. They are doing really well. Read the contacts understand the business do not just say Napaa Majuu; there is No Majuu without plan and talent. 

More info on Marama visit: http://www.thepublicopinion.net

-London, 18th January, 2011.

 Also published in Citizen Tanzania

http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/editorial-analysis/20-analysis-opinions/7455-meet-australia-based-tanzanian-musician-dave-marama.html