Today, we continue our journey of remembering various bands across the country; today, let’s go to the Mbeya region. Let’s start with a history of Mbeya District. Before 1927, this district was known as the Igali District. The town of Mbeya began to gain prominence after the discovery of gold in various areas surrounding the town starting in 1906, a situation that continued for nearly twenty years, attracting visitors from every corner of East and Central Africa, all the way to the Comoros Islands. People came to Mbeya seeking wealth.
Wherever there are many young people, especially those seeking money, there is never a lack of musical entertainment. Unfortunately, not much has been documented about the entertainment of that time, but we have good information on the situation from the 50’s.
John Benedict Mugogo Mwakangale, who preferred to be called JBM, was a well-known politician in the struggle for the independence of Tanganyika and later in the politics of seeking African unity. He did significant work and eventually was part of the first Cabinet of independent Tanganyika under Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere, and was appointed the first Minister of Labour. He was also the MP for the Southern Highlands (today the regions of Iringa, Rukwa, Njombe, and Mbeya). Along with all that, JBM was also a great lover of music. In 1958, he travelled to Zambia, then called Northern Rhodesia, to purchase music instruments for his band, the Free Mwakangale Jazz. While there, he met a music group from Luanshya Province, the Three Brothers Band; they were very good. Mwakangale asked them to move to Tanganyika and join his band, the Free Mwakangale Jazz. The Free Mwakangale Jazz Band was based in the town, given the name Neu Langenburg by the Germans, but is now known as Tukuyu. Along with Michael Enoch, there were two other musicians from Zambia, Ben Jack and Saiz Vera.
There is an amusing and saddening story about the incident that brought the end of Free Mwakangale Jazz. In September 1958, Free Mwakangale Jazz travelled to Mwanza, where the first meeting of leaders involved in the movement for independence for East and Central African countries took place. It was at that meeting that the Pan-African Freedom Movement of East and Central Africa (PAFMECA) was born. After arriving in Mwanza, the band performed several shows in celebration of the birth of PAFMECA. One day, these young men hired a pickup to transport their equipment to a venue, perhaps at that time due to being unfamiliar with the area, or perhaps not yet knowing Kiswahili well enough. After loading the instruments into the pickup, the driver asked them to wait while he went to get fuel. They allowed him. When he left, he was never seen again, and that was the end of Free Mwakangale Jazz.
The musicians found themselves stranded in Mwanza. Fortunately, after a short while, they got a job playing music in a band in Mwanza. One day, while on stage, a representative of the Dar es Salaam Jazz Band, Bi Limi Ally, who was in the process of looking for a lead guitarist for her band, heard Michael Enoch playing. She went and asked him to join the Dar es Salaam Jazz Band. Michael agreed but insisted that his colleagues, Saiz Vera and Ben Jack, must also be in that band. After being issued train tickets to Dar es Salaam, their Mwanza employer raised an objection, which even reached the police, but eventually Michael Enoch and his friends landed in Dar es Salaam Jazz Band, the band he was in for almost the next 20 years and took it to the height of its success.
Another band from Mbeya was the TANU Youth League Jazz Band. Understanding the importance of entertainment, the then ruling political Party, TANU, established youth bands in almost every district, and Mbeya was not left behind; all the bands were known as TANU Youth League bands. The Mbeya band recorded several songs, including some sung in Lingala! One of its most popular songs was Nampenda Firida Mwenye Macho Mazuri (I Love Firida with the Beautiful Eyes).
There was another band which was said to have arisen from the demise of the TANU Youth League Jazz Band; it was called the Lemi or Remi band.
Another band that existed in Mbeya was called Azimio Co Bantou Jazz Band. For Mbeya natives looking carefully at their picture below, they will see it was taken outside one of the houses that were government staff quarters, which were near Ghana Street; perhaps that was where this band’s base was.
