The Political Dilemmas of Tanzania’s Music Artists

Muziki wa Samia is a simple album. Its foundation is familiarity of sound and repetitive, catchy lyrics. The songs are easily digestible, albeit very on the nose with lyrics like, ‘taifa lishasema ni Samia tena,’ (the nation has declared that it’s Samia again) alluding to the re-election of the current president in the upcoming 2025 elections. The opening track, ‘Tanzania’, is a percussion-backed track that samples the national anthem it’s named after. The sixth track, ‘Mama Teacher’, is a reworking of his own hit track ‘Teacher’ released in 2022 that fans will easily remember. ‘Tuna Tamba Nae’, ‘Anatekeleza’, and ‘Kazi Iendelee’, are heavily infused with Congolese sounds, a staple of the local music scene. In fact, in ‘Kazi Iendelee’, he features Congolese music icon, Awilo Longomba, and samples the hit track ‘Coupé Bibamba’. The last track, ‘Wanajisumbua’, which the Tanzanian artist first dropped in 2020, taps into Singeli, a high-tempo genre amalgam of taarab, mchiriku and vanga that is native to coastal Tanzanian communities and has recently become a beloved Tanzanian export. The album casts a wide net, featuring many of the country’s leading music genres, and subsequently catering to their listeners too.