One of the guaranteed activities in any big school events that began in the 50s was ‘jiving’. This was a music and dance event to the tune of the then-popular South African songs. Jiving competitions began at the level of the inter-class competition and went on to interschool competitions. The school jiving clubs went on to start the school jazz bands. Most famous musicians of the 60s and 70s began their music careers as jiving artists. Mbaraka Mwinyshehe and Patrick Balisdya are some very successful musicians who began as jiving artists in their school days.
In the photograph Mkwawa High School students’ jiving club, who were known as The Skylarks Jiving Group. One of the dancers Danford Mpumilwa (fifth left) later became the lead singer of the school’s jazz band Orchestra Mkwawa. In his later years he went on to own his own band The Serengeti Band.
