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Making the Modern: Contestations over Muziki wa Dansi in Tanganyika, ca. 1945–1961

2011; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 70; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00020184.2011.628800

1469-2872

Maria Suriano,

Anthropological Studies and Insights

Abstract This article focuses on muziki wa dansi (dance music, i.e., 'urban jazz' and ballroom dancing), a genre that became extraordinarily popular in post-1945 Tanganyika, primarily in towns. While musicians and aficionados, mainly 'young' townspeople, embraced this music and related dances as a means for shaping cosmopolitan and 'modern' identities, most African 'elders' condemned ballroom dancing and dancers' conduct. By drawing on oral sources, combined with the Swahili press, this article seeks to grasp conflicting views of modernity made visible through the study of muziki wa dansi. Keywords: muziki wa dansi Tanganyika/Tanzanialate colonial periodleisure studiescosmopolitanismAfrican modernitiesurban culturessocial conflictsSwahili cultureSwahili pressoral history Notes This article is part of a larger project on the socio-political role of dansi in colonial and postcolonial Tanzania. Tanganyika, a British mandate, achieved independence in 1961 and was renamed Tanzania in 1964, after its union with Zanzibar. My interviewees are mostly former male musicians and dancers from Dar es Salaam, Morogoro, Mwanza, Tanga and Tabora; they were in their teens, twenties or thirties in the 1940s and 1950s. Issues related to oral history and memory are not discussed and problematised. Likewise, here I will not examine a number of key themes related to dansi, from the reshaping of the body to urban venues in which dansi was performed. For social clubs (mutual aid societies) affiliated to jazz bands, see Graebner 2000:304–10, 2007; Leslie 1963 Leslie, J. A.K. 1963. A Survey of Dar es Salaam, London: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar]:101–2; Tsuruta 2003 Tsuruta, T. 2003. Popular Music, Sports, and Politics: A Development of Urban Cultural Movements in Dar es Salaam, 1930s–1960s. African Study Monographs, 24(3): 195–222. 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Popular Music, Sports, and Politics: A Development of Urban Cultural Movements in Dar es Salaam, 1930s–1960s. African Study Monographs, 24(3): 195–222. [Google Scholar]; for late colonial Kenya, see Atieno Odhiambo 2003 Atieno Odhiambo, E. S. 2003. "Kula Waya: Gendered Discourses and the Contours of Leisure in Nairobi, 1946–63". Edited by: Zeleza and Veney. [Google Scholar]. For the 'fluid and liminal quality' of the term 'generation', see Burgess 2005 Burgess, T. 2005. Introduction to Youth and Citizenship in East Africa. Africa Today, 51(3) Youth and Citizenship in East Africa:vii–xxiv [Google Scholar]:viii. For age in East Africa as often 'deceiving', see Burgess 2005 Burgess, T. 2005. Introduction to Youth and Citizenship in East Africa. Africa Today, 51(3) Youth and Citizenship in East Africa:vii–xxiv [Google Scholar]:xxi, endnote 3. Welfare Centres, later renamed Community Centres, were a post-war British social engineering initiative of the social development department created in most towns to provide demobilised African soldiers and 'detribalised' townspeople with 'healthy', western-oriented pastimes. Contrary to colonial expectations, in the 1950s ballroom dancing and drinking became the most popular activities in these centres (Geiger 1997 Geiger, S. 1997. TANU Women. Gender and Culture in the Making of Tanganyikan Nationalism, 1955–1965, Portsmouth: Heinemann. [Google Scholar]:28;31). For ngoma see Bakari 1981; Geiger 1997 Geiger, S. 1997. TANU Women. Gender and Culture in the Making of Tanganyikan Nationalism, 1955–1965, Portsmouth: Heinemann. [Google Scholar]; Martin 1982 Martin, S. H. 1982. Music in Urban East Africa: Five Genres in Dar es Salaam. Journal of African Studies, 9(3): 155–63. [Google Scholar]. Taarab originated in Zanzibar at the turn of the 19th century; it encompassed a blend of Egyptian, Indian and Swahili elements (see Askew 2002 Askew, K. M. 2002. Performing the Nation. Swahili Music and Cultural Politics in Tanzania, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. [Google Scholar]). Interview, Gideon William Banda (former saxophonist, Kwiro Jazz), Dar es Salaam, 6 February 2009. Although African string instruments predate the contact with the west, the 'box' guitar was seen as a 'western', hence quintessentially 'modern' and 'urban', instrument (see Atieno Odhiambo 2003 Atieno Odhiambo, E. S. 2003. "Kula Waya: Gendered Discourses and the Contours of Leisure in Nairobi, 1946–63". Edited by: Zeleza and Veney. [Google Scholar]:163–3; Low 1982 Low, J. 1982. A History of Kenyan Guitar Music: 1945–1980. African Music, 6(2): 17–36. [Google Scholar]; Ranger 1975a Ranger, T. O. 1975a. Dance and Society in Eastern Africa, 1890–1970: The Beni Ngoma, London: Heinemann. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]:15). For Senegalese Cuban-inspired music and modern identities, see Shain 2002 Shain, R. 2002. Roots in Reverse:Cubanismo in Twentieth-Century Senegalese Music. International Journal of African Historical Studies, 35(1): 83–101. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]:84. See Kwetu 22 November 1938. Interview, Ally Kleist Sykes (former trumpet player, Merry Blackbirds), Dar es Salaam, 4 February 2009; Mzee is a term of respect for an old man. One of the first TANU members, mzee Ally Sykes is also the former patron and trumpet player in the South African-inspired Merry Blackbirds orchestra that throughout the 1940s-50s took different names: the Skylarks, Swingers and Shelly Merry Makers. Banda interview. Interview, Mustafa Ally (former guitarist, Scout Rumba), Mwanza, 7 September 2005. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Interview, Amani Hamisi Magongo (former dansi admirer), Mwanza, 20 September 2005. Likewise, in colonial Senegal, 'the advent of couples dancing' represented 'a radical departure for cultures where group dancing at community-wide venues had been the norm' (Shain 2002 Shain, R. 2002. Roots in Reverse:Cubanismo in Twentieth-Century Senegalese Music. International Journal of African Historical Studies, 35(1): 83–101. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]:93). For 'modern' music and changing gender relations in Congo, see Gondola 1997 Gondola, Ch. D. 1997. "Popular Music, Urban Society, and Changing Gender Relations in Kinshasa, Zaire". In Gendered Encounters: Challenging Cultural Boundaries and Social Hierarchies in Africa, Edited by: Grosz-Ngaté, M. and Kokole, O. H. London and New York: Routledge. [Google Scholar]. See Social Welfare Office Report, 1946, TNA 540 3/70; Baker (1934 Baker, E. C. 1934. "Report on Social and Economic Conditions in the Tanga Province". Dar es Salaam: Government Printer. [Google Scholar]:99); Askew (2002 Askew, K. M. 2002. Performing the Nation. Swahili Music and Cultural Politics in Tanzania, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. [Google Scholar]:92). Magongo interview; interview, Abbas Kleist Sykes (former guitarist, Merry Blackbirds), Dar es Salaam, 22 February 2009. Report on Social Development in Tanganyika, 1950, PRO CO/859/220/10. TNA 540 3/70. Interview, Suleiman Bakari Majengo (former saxophonist, Dar es Salaam Jazz), Dar es Salaam, 18 January 2009. Interview, Daisy Sykes (born Mwamvua binti Mrisho; former dansi admirer), Dar es Salaam, 3 November 2000. Interview, Hassani Rashidi Ngoma (former guitarist, African Jazz), Tanga, 28 January 2009. For Rhodesian dance styles (mitindo ya Rhodesia) in Usambara, see RWS Kiango, 'Twendeni "Boto Dansi" Usambara' (Let's go 'Boto dansi' in Usambara), article in Mwafrika 18 March 1961. Although the popularisation of dansi in semi-rural contexts is well beyond the scope of this article, it is worth noting that in the German period, migrant workers from neighbouring regions 'were recruited to work on the plantations in and around Tanga, lending to it a cultural diversity unique among coastal towns of the time' (Askew 2000 Askew, K. M. 2000. "Following in the Tracks of Beni: The Diffusion of the Tanga Taarab Tradition". Edited by: Gunderson and Barz. [Google Scholar]:22). On Marijani Rajabu's 'Mwanameka', released in 1981, see Beck (1992) Beck, R-M. 1992. "Women Are Devils! A Formal and Stylistic Analysis of Mwanameka". In Sokomoko. Popular Culture in East Africa, Edited by: Graebner, W. Amsterdam: Rodopi. [Google Scholar]; Mekacha (1992) Mekacha, R. D.K. 1992. "Are Women Devils? The Portrayal of Women in Tanzanian Popular Music". In Sokomoko. Popular Culture in East Africa, Edited by: Graebner, W. Amsterdam: Rodopi. [Google Scholar]. Informal conversation, Aisha Rajabu (Marijani Rajabu's daughter), Mwanza, 9 September 2005. For possible comparisons with 1950s and 1960s Angola, see Moorman 2008 Moorman, M. J. 2008. Intonations. A Social History of Music and Nation in Luanda, Angola, from 1945 to Recent Times, Athens: Ohio University Press. [Google Scholar]. Literate women were infrequent. I did not find any poem or letter on dansi authored by a woman. Due to the few Africans with a mastery of English, Swahili newspapers may reveal more about local ideas than their English counterparts. For more on the Swahili press, see Suriano 2011. Since in southern Africa a similar genre became popular much earlier, debates about jazz 'morality' can be found in the African print media in the 1920s; ballroom dancing, initially organised by white people and elite Africans, by the 1930s had spread to 'ordinary' Africans, such as mineworkers (Ballantine 1991 Ballantine, C. 1991. Music and Emancipation: The Social Role of Black Jazz and Vaudeville in South Africa between the 1920s and the early 1940s. Journal of Southern African Studies, 17(1): 129–52. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Despite some similarities between dansi and southern African jazz, the latter lacked the wide use of Afro-Cuban rhythms (Martin 1982 Martin, S. H. 1982. Music in Urban East Africa: Five Genres in Dar es Salaam. Journal of African Studies, 9(3): 155–63. [Google Scholar]:160). Mambo Leo (Current Affairs) was a governmental monthly magazine issued between 1923 and 1963. Its circulation reached 50,000 copies in the mid-1940s (Sturmer 1998 Sturmer, M. 1998. The Media History of Tanzania, Ndanda: Ndanda Mission Press. [Google Scholar]:52, 61). Some of the material in this section appeared in a slightly different form in Suriano 2011. Kwetu (7 June 1942), quoted in Iliffe (1979 Iliffe, J. 1979. A Modern History of Tanganyika, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]:392). Kwetu (Home) was an African-owned periodical widely used by African elites to discuss socio-political issues (see Anthony 1983 Anthony, D. H. III. 1983. "Culture and Society in a Town in Transition: A People's History of Dar es Salaam, 1865–1939". PhD dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison [Google Scholar]:174-9). 'Kuimbana dansini hakufai' (Patronising others in dansi [songs] is deplorable), letter to Mambo Leo August 1945. 'Vijana tunaharibika kwa dansi' ([We] young men are being derailed by dansi, letter to Mambo Leo January 1947. The term vijana is particularly associated with male youth. Poem in Mambo Leo August 1948. Rumba (plural marumba): the Swahili name of one of the dance styles accompanying dansi. In contrast, Tsuruta uses rumba for 'dance music which accompanied Western ballroom dancing (dansi)' (2003:201). Cases of shared authorship are not rare in press poetry composition. 'Dansi ni ngoma duni, wajuao kufikiri' (Dansi is a worthless dance, for the wise), poem in Mambo Leo April 1953. Note the English loan words kigauni (from gown) and bia (European beer): it is not unlikely that the poet used such vocabulary to criticise dansi as too western. For the connection between alcohol consumption, the rise of nightclubs, and new social behaviours in colonial Ghana, see Akyeampong (1996) Akyeampong, E. K. 1996. What's in a Drink? Class Struggle, Popular Culture and the Politics of Akpeteshie (Local Gin) in Ghana, 1930–67. Journal of African History, 37: 215–36. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. Notably, in interwar South Africa, black women 'provoked controversy by elaborating new appearances … that drew inspiration from abroad' (Thomas 2004 Thomas, L. M. 2004. The Modern Girl and Racial Respectability in 1930s South Africa. Journal of African History, 47: 461–90. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]:489). For women's characterisation as 'devils' in Tanzanian dansi songs, see Mekacha (1992) Mekacha, R. D.K. 1992. "Are Women Devils? The Portrayal of Women in Tanzanian Popular Music". In Sokomoko. Popular Culture in East Africa, Edited by: Graebner, W. Amsterdam: Rodopi. [Google Scholar]. HS Kirimba (Kigombe Sisal Estate, Pangani), 'Dansi zuri sasa Tangamano' (Nice dance now at Tangamano [hall, Tanga]), letter to Mwangaza 12 July 1957. Hamisi Salim Nachama (c/o Makonde Hotel, Raha Leo, Zanzibar), 'Nimechoka na fujo huko dansini' (I am fed up with chaos at ballroom dancing), letter to Mwangaza 1 August 1957. Ally interview. See Mwafrika 18 March 1961. Mwangaza (The Light), the only Swahili daily, was established in 1951; it sold 9,000 copies in 1956 (Sturmer 1998 Sturmer, M. 1998. The Media History of Tanzania, Ndanda: Ndanda Mission Press. [Google Scholar]:61). Mwafrika (The African), launched in 1957, was the official TANU newspaper; it sold over 20,000 copies (Iliffe 1979 Iliffe, J. 1979. A Modern History of Tanganyika, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]:532); for interesting comments on its readership, see Leslie (1963 Leslie, J. A.K. 1963. A Survey of Dar es Salaam, London: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar]:196). Ngoma interview. Mohamed K Ramadhani [Chipukizi (Novice)] (Ilala, Dar es Salaam), 'Dua kwa mwaka mpya, 1949' (Prayer for the New Year, 1949), poem in Mambo Leo January 1949. Some correspondents might have used pseudonyms (see Suriano 2011:52–20). Lack of space prevents me from dealing with this issue. Mambo Leo April 1953. AO Wage [Abdul-Rahmani] (Mikese), 'Dance ni ngoma tena yependeza' (Dansi is a dance, and it's attractive), poem in Mambo Leo June 1953. In my translation I have kept dansi instead of dance. Yependeza (yapendeza): press poems often contain deviations from contemporary standard Swahili orthography; here and in other cases I have retained the original form. Mambo Leo April 1953. He mentioned his full name, 'Wage-Abdul-Rahmani', only in the fifteenth stanza. His signature at the end of the poem is AO Wage, probably a pen-name of a salaried civil servant. Mambo Leo June 1953. Ibid. Ibid. Tea houses (mahoteli; singular hoteli) were 'central units of the mass culture' in interwar Dar es Salaam (Anthony 1983 Anthony, D. H. III. 1983. "Culture and Society in a Town in Transition: A People's History of Dar es Salaam, 1865–1939". PhD dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison [Google Scholar]:121–3). Ally interview. AO Wage (Malindi Oil Siding, Tanganyika Railways, Dar es Salaam), 'Mwalimu anafaidia nchi kuliko mwana chuoni' (A teacher is more beneficial to the country than a medicine hunter), poem in Mambo Leo March 1948. AO Wage (Station Master, Kintinku), 'Kwendelea kwa Tanganyika' (Tanganyika's development), letter to Mambo Leo October 1945. In this letter Wage expressed his support for the African Association (later TANU), to achieve ustaarabu and 'kuiinua nchi': raise the country. This letter mirrored the political awareness generated by the war (see Iliffe 1979 Iliffe, J. 1979. A Modern History of Tanganyika, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]:357). In 1975 Ranger already noted that 'Christianity as a whole had a much less "modernising" effect than is usually assumed' (1975b Ranger, T. O. 1975b. "Christianity and Colonial Society. Introduction". In Themes in the Christian History of Central Africa, Edited by: Ranger, T. O. and Weller, J. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. [Google Scholar]:94). Ally interview. Baibui/buibui is a black garment covering a Muslim woman from head to toe, worn over other clothes. Interview, Daisy Sykes (born Mwamvua binti Mrisho; former dansi practitioner), Dar es Salaam, 30 September 2004. Majengo interview. 'Baibui kwenye dansi' (Baibui at ballroom dancing), poem in Mwafrika 17 December 1960. Ally interview. Annual Report on Arnautoglu Community Centre, 1956, PRO, CO/822/1803. 'Arnautoglu Community Centre', poem in Mambo Leo November 1953. Mambo Leo June 1953. 'Juha Kasembe na ulimwengu wa leo' (Juha Kasembe and the contemporary world), comic strip in Baragumu 23 December 1956. Baragumu (Horn) was a governmental weekly newspaper first issued in 1956. Mambo Leo June 1953. Mwangaza June 1957; August 1957. Baragumu 1956 to 1960. Other modern genres resembling dansi have been a site for social emancipation and political struggle in other African contexts (Akyeampong 1996 Akyeampong, E. K. 1996. What's in a Drink? Class Struggle, Popular Culture and the Politics of Akpeteshie (Local Gin) in Ghana, 1930–67. Journal of African History, 37: 215–36. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Ballantine 1991 Ballantine, C. 1991. Music and Emancipation: The Social Role of Black Jazz and Vaudeville in South Africa between the 1920s and the early 1940s. Journal of Southern African Studies, 17(1): 129–52. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Gondola 1992 Gondola, Ch. D. 1992. "Ata Ndele … et l'independence vint. Musique, jeunes et contestation politique dans les capitales congolaises". In Les jeunes en Afrique: La politique et la ville, Edited by: Coquery-Vidrovitch, C. Vol. II, Paris: Karthala. [Google Scholar]; Moorman 2008 Moorman, M. J. 2008. Intonations. A Social History of Music and Nation in Luanda, Angola, from 1945 to Recent Times, Athens: Ohio University Press. [Google Scholar]; Shain 2002 Shain, R. 2002. Roots in Reverse:Cubanismo in Twentieth-Century Senegalese Music. International Journal of African Historical Studies, 35(1): 83–101. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Turino 2000 Turino, T. 2000. Nationalists, Cosmopolitans, and Popular Music in Zimbabwe, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Mambo Leo June 1953.