For the latest flights, information and to book online, visit: www.airtanzania.co.tz
CEO foreword
EDITOR’S NOTE
Tanzania is embracing the digital revolution as witnessed by two very different articles in this edition of Twiga.
We speak to Baraka Cassian, the founder of innovative tech start-up Simplitech Ltd and one of the prime movers supporting digital tax compliance in Tanzania.
The 20-something Cassian has been into gadgets since he was a child and his technological know-how has powered his upwardly mobile entrepreneurial career.
Inside Twiga, you'll also read about 60-something musician and historian John Kitime. He admits to being a novice when it comes to tech, but he is learning and embracing the journey with the same fervour he brings to his music. He is building a digital platform of old and rare Tanzanian archive recordings to connect music lovers with their heritage.
Tech has been the catalyst in shaping this passion project. Proof that young and old can make tech work. It's just a matter of mindset.
markedwards@landmarine.com
www.airtanzania.co.tz
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From Dar to Dubai
It is my pleasure to welcome you onboard your Air Tanzania flight and to the latest edition of Twiga, our inflight magazine.
While I have your attention, allow me to share some exciting developments at Tanzania’s national carrier.
We now just added Dubai to our network of international destinations with four weekly flights between our hub in Dar es Salaam and the biggest city in the United Arab Emirates. The route opens up trade connections between Tanzania and one of the world’s wealthiest and most advanced cities. Dubai also offers huge tourism appeal as you’ll see inside this issue of Twiga.
We now fly to three destinations outside of Africa with Dubai joining Mumbai, in India, and Guangzhou, in China.
Dubai is an attractive market, highly competitive and I am sure it will prove a boost to our airline’s travel connectivity with passengers connecting to many different countries through the emirate.
The Dubai flights will be serviced by our new reduced-emissions jet the Boeing 737 MAX 9 – the second of its kind in our fleet – and our aim is that the four weekly flights will become daily before the end of this year.
I am delighted that our customers can now book their flights to Dubai – and to any of the 25 destinations, across nine countries, in our network – through the Air Tanzania mobile app. It is a huge step forward for our airline and shows our commitment to investing in customer service. Download it now on Play Store or App Store and discover the world with Air Tanzania.
Thank you for being part of the Air Tanzania journey today. I wish you a pleasant and productive flight and hope we will share the skies again soon.
Eng. Ladislaus Matindi Managing Director and Chief Executive Air Tanzania
Kutoka Dar hadi Dubai
Ninafurahi kuwakaribisha kwenye ndege yenu ya Air Tanzania na kwenye toleo letu hili la Twiga.
Ninayo furaha kuwafahamisha kuhusu maendeleo mazuri katika Kampuni yetu ya ndege Tanzania.
Hivi karibuni tumeongeza Dubai katika mtandao wa safari zetu za kimataifa na tunakwenda mara nne kwa wiki, kati ya Dar es Salaam na mji huo mkubwa kabisa kibiashara kwenye Falme za Kiarabu.
Ongezeko hili linazidi kufungua fursa za kibiashara kati ya Tanzania na moja kati ya miji yenye maendeleo na utajiri mkubwa zaidi duniani. Si hivyo tu, bali Dubai pia inafungua fursa kubwa za kiutalii, kama jinsi mtakavyoona kwenye makala zilizomo katika jarida hili.
Kwa sasa tuna safari ndani ya maeneo matatu nje ya Afrika, baada ya hii safari ya Dubai kuungana na zile za Mumbai - India, na Guangzhou - China
Dubai ni mji wenye fursa nyingi za kibiashara na nina imani kuwa safari za huko, zitaipatia kampuni yetu abiria wengi watakaokuwa wakibadilisha ndege kwenda maeneo mbalimbali kupitia falme za kiarabu.
Safari zetu za Dubai zitakuwa zikifanywa kwa kutumia ndege yetu mpya yenye kiwango kidogo cha hewa chafuzi kwa mazingira, Boeing 737 MAX 9 - ya pili ya aina yake miongoni mwa ndege zetu - na lengo letu ni kuzifanya hizi safari za mara nne kwa wiki, zifikie kuwa za kila siku kabla ya kufikia mwisho wa mwaka huu.
Nafurahi sana kuwa sasa wateja wetu wanaweza kununua tiketi za safari zao za Dubai - na za kwenda kokote kati ya safari zetu nyingine 25, ndani ya nchi tisa zilizopo kwenye mtandao wa safari zetu - kupitia aplikesheni yetu ya Air Tanzania mobile app.
Hii ni hatua nyingine kubwa sana kwa kampuni yetu ya ndege na inadhihirisha azma yetu ya kuwekeza kwenye huduma bora kwa wateja wetu. Pakua aplikesheni hii sasa kupitia Play Store au App Store na ujionee dunia pamoja nasi.
Ahsanteni sana kwa kuwa sehemu ya safari yetu leo hii. Nawatakia safari njema na natumaini tutakuwa tena pamoja angani hivi karibuni.
ATCL Airbus pilots share their skills in Nigeria
Air Tanzania has entered into an agreement to deploy its pilots to train and manage the new Airbus A220 aircraft of Ibom Air in Nigeria.
CEO Ladislaus Matindi says the airline has released two of its senior pilots who will be responsible for training pilots and pilot instructors of Ibom Air for a period of six months.
“ATCL pilots will have the responsibility of teaching and supervising practical training until they are satisfied that student pilots and their teachers have reached the required levels to fly those aircraft," he said.
DAR TO DUBAI ROUND-TRIP
Get your round-trip ticket between Dar and Dubai. Flights between thew two cities depart every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Visit airtanzania.co.tz or download the ATCL app to book.
The agreement reflects Air Tanzania’s long experience of owning Airbus A220300 aircraft and the pan-African renown of its pilots’ expertise. The training aims to build capacity for pilots for Ibom Air, which has just started operating with Airbus A220-300 .
LET’S GO CARGO!
Need to move your cargo with speed and reliability? Look no further than Air Tanzania's exceptional cargo services. Call 0736 787 721 for more information.
THE BEST HOTELS IN PEMBA
TO SUIT YOUR STAY
Pemba may have nowhere near the hotel choice of its larger neighbour within the Zanzibar archipelago, Unguja, but that suits the majority of intrepid visitors to the ‘Green Island’ who relish its laidback pace of life and untouched natural beauty. Still, whether your tastes run to luxury resorts or backpacker beach lodges, there are some attractive hospitality options. Here's our pick.
For the height of luxury… MANTA RESORT
Head to the northern reaches of the Ngezi Forest Reserve and you’ll find the double-canopy cover gives way to
the snow-white sand beaches of the Kigomasha Peninsula. This is the location of four-star the Manta Resort, which has provided visitors to the island with an exclusive escape for the past 15 years. It grabs the headlines for its underwater room – a
For a boutique hotel on the beach… FUNDU LAGOON
Mangrove forest stretches across the hills of Wambaa in the southwest of Pemba, but the dense foliage breaks on a beautiful beach where Fundu Lagoon is to be found. The resort is so remote it can only be reached by boat and guests will feel they are in their own private paradise on arrival. There are 12
private hillside and beachfront suites each with a stylish bedroom, open-plan living area, a spacious outside deck area and a plunge pool. There is also a sunset-facing jetty bar, a spa, an infinity pool, five-star dive facilities and a spacious opensided restaurant serving a wide range of delicious cuisine. The Pemba Marine Reserve across from Fundu has pristine corals and masses of fish for divers. The resort is also ideally located for a boat trip to the tiny Misali Island, with crystal clear waters revealing coral reefs to snorkel.
For more information, visit fundulagoon.com
three-storey suite anchored 250 metres off the coast with a sub-aquatic glass-fronted bedroom that gives guests a bedtime view of the iridescent marine life of the pristine coral reef. On-land accommodation options include luxuriously appointed
For a five-star remote resort… THE AIYANA
Right at the tip of Pemba lies this haven of five-star luxury. Its 30 secluded beachfront villas give guests panoramic views of the ocean, and each boasts exquisite interiors that replicate the sense of space and escapism of the location. It was built by Indian architect Ashok Sungkur, who fell in love with Pemba and its people. His design vision fused Hindu and Zanzibar design, with a pure white colour palette and ornate wooden doors carved by a local artist. All villas face the sea and feature soaring ceilings and outdoor showers.
Top of the tree is the Royal Villa, which is set on an ocean-view clifftop with its own pool and private stretch of beach. The resort is set in a huge garden home to over 100,000 exotic plants and as well as the sapphire waters of the Indian Ocean, swimming options include a marvellous infinity pool. The romanticism of the remote location makes The Aiyana popular with couples
villas with sea front views or nestled in the resort’s extravagant gardens. In-room top-class touches include a state-of-art silent cooling system. Fancy a candlelit dinner on the beach, a spa treatment or to have the resident mixologist fix you a
cocktail while you soak up the tranquil beauty of this off-grid paradise? It’s all part of the resort’s inclusive service. The only extra is the diving, but it is well worth the surcharge. Manta’s commitment to preserving its idyllic stretch of coastline has
looking to get lost in one another. You can book a couple’s treatment at the Rock Spa, which lies on one of three tiny islands just off the coast. For honeymooners, there is the option of private beach meals under the stars. The food here is a real highlight with a daily changing menu that makes full use of the bounty of the catch of the day from local fishermen.
For more information, visit theaiyana.com
For
an escape with the family…
PEMBA PARADISE
seen its management set up the Kwanini Marine Conversation, which prohibits fishing across a 1.3 km-stretch of coastline. The result is pristine reefs and some of the most abundant and diverse marine life in East Africa.
For more information, visit themantaresort.com
as well as fruits and vegetables from the garden or local market. The beach bar is a great place to drink in the last light of the day with a sundowner. The sunsets here are special with the beach and tranquil waters bathed in a rosy glow. Magical.
For more information, visit pembaparadise.com
For
a barefoot budget break…
LALA LODGE
If you want to treat your family away to an island escape, this welcoming three-star property offers an ideal combination of amenities and adventure. Set on a private stretch of gently shelving flawless white sandy beach in the north-west of the island with suites and rooms tucked away in tropical gardens, the resort gives young guests plenty of room to roam in safety. All eight sea view suites with a sleeping and a sitting area are suitable for the families with additional day beds available. Among the eight garden-view rooms is one designed for a family-of-four with a king bed and two single beds. Food is fantastic and plentiful. Breakfast is included while the hotel and restaurant also has lunch and dinner sittings with meals prepared from freshly caught fish, shrimps, calamari, octopus, and lobster
This cute lodge is an excellent budget option on Pemba with its affordability impressive given its priceless location. Its eight en-suite rooms are just footsteps from the beach at Mkoani on the island’s south coast. The premium views are best taken in from the first-floor thatched terrace, which acts an attractive communal area for guests with tea and coffee on tap and a library of books to browse. Get up early to see the local fishermen return on boats laden with the night’s catch with some of the choicest fish and octopus bought by the lodge’s owner before they get beyond the beach to become the main ingredients for the justifiably renowned evening meals here. The lodge is at the heart of a bustling beachside community with schools, markets and shops among the local life on your doorstep. A stay at La La Lodge gives you a taste of the real Pemba.
For more information, visit airbnb.com
by
Photo
Mark Edwards
CINEMA IS A COMMUNAL EXPERIENCE HERE’
Award-winning short film “Apostles of Cinema’ shines a light on the community cinemas of Dar es Salaam and the DJs whose Swahili ‘translations’ of the latest films are an art form in themselves. Mark Edwards reports.
On another sultry evening in Dar es Salaam, films fans fill a small road-side room to watch the 2006 action blockbuster Casino Royale. As the opening titles run on the screen, a young man sat at the front with a portable mixing desk turns down the volume on the soundtrack and speaks into his microphone. In fluid, flowing Swahili he tells the audience: “This film has been based on the story of James Bond. We are with Daniel Craig. We have the permission of 007. This is Casino Royale. A casino is for rich people. People with cash. So, if you only have TZS 10,000 don’t go there, my friend.”
The man with the mic is DJ Black. His entertaining extemporised
‘translations’ of foreign films – often with limited fidelity to the plot of the original – are in high demand for their energy, humour and the way they target the average Tanzanian on the street.
The role of the translator is an integral part of the massive underground cinema industry in Tanzania. DJ Black is one of the most popular. He estimates he has provided the commentaries for around 50,000 films. Translators record their audio over film copies that were downloaded online and which are then sold cheaply to Tanzanians on DVD or flash drive from the video libraries that proliferate towns and villages here. The DJs also occasionally perform live, making scheduled appearances at video bandas – small informal cinemas
that are little more than a few rows of chairs and a boxy old television – that pepper the country. Screenings are often lively with the audience unafraid to make their feelings known about the film they are watching. This crowd participation only increases when a DJ is there with plenty of back-and-forth banter.
The video libraries and bandas are avenues of cinematic entertainment for millions of Tanzanians, but for visitors to the country they represent an often missed – or misunderstood – slice of local life.
For Tanzanian creative collective Ajabu Ajabu (the name is Swahili for ‘peculiar' or 'bizarre’), the informal cinema scene here deserves to be “universally recognised as an art form”
for the way translators imaginatively reinterpret films for their audience. The Dar-based team has championed the people working to make sure movies of all kinds are available to the masses in its award-winning short film ‘Apostles of Cinema’.
Translations that transport In just 16 minutes, this beautifully crafted film – directed by Ajabu Ajabu founder members Darragh Amelia, Gertrude Malizana and Jesse Gerard Mpango as well as close collaborator Cece Mlay – captures the community and creativity of the scene with charismatic contributions from video banda owner Rehema, video library distributor Frank and DJ Black.
For Jesse, the fact that the DJ reinterprets rather than replicates a film produces a result that is far beyond a copy. He says: “The DJ’s work requires such a deep understanding of culture, storytelling, language, and cinema. The result of their narration is something entirely new, very much of the local context.”
Darragh goes further, believing the translated films are a unique part of Tanzania’s contemporary culture and should be cherished. “The translations are creative commentary, reinterpreting works with little to no market harm,” she says. “As a creative practice – almost entirely unique to Tanzania – it should be a point of great pride. These spaces and their workers exist to preserve film, to preserve community culture, and to preserve endangered languages. We feel it should be protected by inscription onto Unesco’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage Practices offering safeguards against forces of development.”
For Darragh, DJ Black is a shining
'The DJ's work requires a deep understanding of culture, storytelling, language and cinema'
example who has put many years into honing his craft. She says: “He likes to say he does not translate films, he transports film worlds. He is a born storyteller, and his love of movies is heavily informed by the community that raised him. He’s been practicing his art form since 2006 beginning with VHS tapes.”
In ‘Apostles of Cinema’, DJ Black says to camera that he only agrees to translate films he likes and that he prefers films that are a challenge, revealing that Christopher Nolan’s time-twisting thriller ‘Tenet’ is a recent favourite. “I know the art of story. So even if the movie is not easy, I can translate the story without much problem,” he says.
Jesse reveals that the DJ never works from a script whether he is performing at a banda or in the studio. “His practice is entirely informed by whatever moment or circumstance it exists within,” she says.
Still, DJ Black says, he does his homework. “Before translating a movie, I read about it. I read about its plot, its characters, and about how it was made…the world it comes from. Then I always use the English subtitles if the movie isn’t in English.”
A big part of DJ Black’s success is that he has an authentic connection with his audience.
“The community around me… they don’t understand when you use advanced language. They want you to communicate with them the way we live. And I speak this way. I use local language, street language. I use it to translate or explain what is going on in the movie.”
“Although I don’t do as often anymore, I love live-dubbing around the people with my fans around me. Hearing their reactions to my
performance. It’s nice to connect with my audience in this way.”
Jesse adds: “We often hear references to our sports teams and public figures in his translations. It’s commentary that speaks to a moment being collectively experienced.”
Boom in video bandas
Rehema, a Dar video banda owner interviewed in ‘Apostles of Cinema’ who has acted in 15 films herself, can’t understand why people would go anywhere else to watch. The city’s multiplexes charge TZS 10,000 to see one film while you get an all-day programme of movies at a banda often with a live broadcast football match included for TZS 1,000.
The contrast between the multiplexes and bandas is striking. They seem to exist in different worlds. Big-screen cinema in Tanzania has a rich history. The first shows began in the early 20th century and following the Second World War there was a boom in cinema building in Zanzibar and on the mainland. After independence, though, cinema-going fell out of favour and those once beautiful Art Deco movie house were left to crumble. The video industry began to flourish in the
1990s. Currently, in Dar, there are four modern multiplexes that screen an almost interchangeable selection of Indian, US and European blockbusters. The video bandas outnumber them a hundred times over.
For Jesse, the homogeneous multiplex experience cannot adapt to their audience like the bandas. He says: Perhaps the main difference is that mainstream, market cinemas are more top-down and economically driven in how the experience is structured. There are many things about the multiplex cinema-going experience that are inherited, and so you end up a step behind because there isn’t as much space for new approaches and ideas. There is a lot more room for that in the ever-changing, communally embedded cinemas.”
‘Apostles of Cinema’ addresses a class divide in Tanzanian cinema. While there are video bandas that specialise in films from Asia, the US and even Bongowood – the low-to-no budget films shot on the streets of Dar and aimed directly at the video market – there is a lack of African heritage cinema to be seen. These films get big-screen and festival releases but rarely filter through to the video
market. Ajabu Ajabu sees this as a missed opportunity – both for the filmmakers to reach a wider audience and for local audiences to see all kinds of cinema.
In ‘Apostles of Cinema’ the team introduce ‘Maangamizi: The Ancient One’, a classic of Tanzanian cinema, into the video market supply chain to see the effects. The film – which explores the shared heritage of Africans on the continent and those in diaspora through the spiritual bond between a doctor and her patient –attracted international acclaim when it was released in 2001 and was the first African submitted for consideration to the Oscars.
In his article that accompanies the WeTransfer streaming page for ‘Apostles of Cinema’, Jesse says: “Despite being screened at several international festivals and places as far and wide as Miami, Paris and Tokyo, the film’s presence in Tanzania was restricted to only a handful of screenings held in predominantly middle-class spaces, and its cultural legacy is at an impasse.”
DJ Black is impressed with ‘Maangamizi: The Ancient One’ and agrees to provide the commentary.
(Far left) Ajabu Ajabu team members Cece Mlay, Jesse Gerard Mpango, Gertrude Malizana and Darragh Amelia.
(Left) DJ Black performs a live translation in front of a transfixed banda audience
There is a delightful scene in ‘Apostles of Cinema’ that captures the moment DJ Black realises the man that has recently entered his recording studio is Martin Mhando, the co-director of the film he is translating. Each is very appreciative of the other’s work with Mhando, who until 2023 was also the director of The Zanzibar International Film Festival, declaring that what DJ Black has done to his film is “high art”.
Awards
Ajabu Ajabu hope ‘Apostles of Cinema’ will lead to the screenings of more critically acclaimed African films. I ask whether Tanzanian releases such as ‘Binti’ and ‘Vuta N'Kuvute’, which was also selected for the Oscars, have made make it into the video libraries and informal cinemas?
“Not yet, but hopefully soon,” says Jesse. “DJ Black has been in talks with filmmakers. I think the capacity of these spaces to hold all different kinds of stories is there, it’s just often not taken seriously.”
Meanwhile, ‘Apostles of Cinema’ has been garnering its own awards and reaching a wide audience. Darragh says: “We’re honoured that the film has been shown now in nearly 20 different countries. It has been included in over 20 film festivals, and even won a handful of awards. It’s been adopted into curricula at universities in Canada and the UK and is a part of the permanent collection at the EYE Film Museum in the Netherlands. And, perhaps most meaningfully individuals around the world have been reviewing the and have been reaching out to us personally to let us know how it resonated with them.”
Among the feedback appearing in the Ajabu Ajabu inbox has been calls for more DJ Black, something the team are happy to announce they will soon be providing. “We have a feature in development that covers the long, cinematic story of DJ Black,” says Darragh. “Stay tuned.’
To find out more about the latest Ajabu Ajabu activities follow the Instagram page @ajabuajabu To stream ‘Apostles of Cinema’, go to https://wepresent.wetransfer.com/stories/ apostles-of-cinema-film
JUICES CREATIVE
Some of the biggest recent releases in Tanzanian film and music have been crafted at Wanene Studios in Dar es Salaam. The state-of-the-art space and its award-winning in-house team inspire local creatives to push the boundaries of their imagination and bring their best work to life. Mark Edwards finds out more about the studio where ‘creativity knows no limits’.
If you were one of the many cinema-goers who marvelled at the big screen spectacle of 2020 film Nyara: The Kidnapping with its thrilling chase and fight sequences and surround sound that sucked you into the action, you may be surprised to learn it was entirely Tanzanian-made. In fact, everything from the script, cinematography, editing, direction, sound design, music background and score was done by the in-house team at Wanene Studios in Dar es Salaam.
Nyara’s blockbuster production values made the streets of Dar come alive on screen with stellar special effects and surround sound combining for an immersive experience. The film was screened at all major cinemas across East Africa and proved a critical as well as commercial hit, winning awards in 2021 at the Zanzibar Film Festival, the Eastern
Nigeria International Film Festival and Tanzania Film Festival along with being nominated for an African Academy Award.
To make a film that rewrote the rulebook for Tanzanian cinema required facilities that the country had never seen before. Wanene Studios was launched in 2016 with its state-of-the-art features including Tanzania’s first 5.1 surround sound set-up – a global standard for blockbuster cinema. Nyara’s director and screenwriter Ram Ally K is part of the in-house team at the studio and spent three years here completing the film. The game-changing result is, says Wanene’s A&R and marketing manager Cecil Kallaghe, “testament to the production capabilities we have here”.
He adds: “The inspiration behind establishing Wanene Studios stemmed
Wanene Studios has been the inspirational home of many of the biggest recent releases in East African film and music
from a clear need in the East African region for top-notch facilities that could elevate the work of artists and creatives to global standards. Recognising a gap in the industry, our CEO, Darsh Pandit, envisioned a space where filmmakers, musicians, and content creators could access state-of-the-art equipment and expertise to bring their projects to life. One glaring deficiency was the absence of a 5.1 surround sound setup. Darsh recognised this as a pivotal aspect missing in the region's creative landscape, and thus Wanene Studios was born to fill this void and provide a platform where talent could thrive without compromise.”
Awesome acoustics
Pandit and his team transformed a towering unused warehouse in Dar’s industrial Mikocheni neighbourhood into the forward-thinking studio. Kallaghe says the building’s height mattered. “In order to create good acoustics for a studio it is essential to have good height to give the wave forms enough space to develop before hitting a surface and reflecting back to the microphones, and this was difficult to find in many of the other properties we visited.
“It took us two years to design and build the facility because of the standards that we wanted to achieve, and because it was a first for Tanzania. Our studios were designed by Roger D’Arcy, a Brit who is one of the world’s most in-demand designers. In order to minimise sound reflections, the rooms have a particular shape where none of the walls are directly facing each other.
“Our Studio B control room boasts some of the best acoustics for mastering audio in the region and the Studio A control room offers a spacious treated and soundproof environment for film and music production with a 4k projector and a Neumann 5.1 monitor system. The corridors between the studios have beautiful natural reverb thanks to the very high ceiling of the warehouse. These corridors have been used as reverb chambers before.”
Attracting top talent
The studio’s acoustics and its team of talented sound engineers have attracted some of Africa’s biggest music stars to record over the years, including Diamond Platnumz, Ali Kiba, Harmonize, Nandy, Blaq Diamond, Marioo, Arya Starr, RayVanny and Abigail Chams. Recent records mixed at Wanene include the female empowerment anthem ‘Wanawake Moto’ by Samia Queens, the single ‘Short ‘n’ Sweet’ by Kenyan superstars Sauti Sol and “Focused Mind’ by Jah9, the Jamaican reggae singer who now calls Tanzania home.
“Over the years a lot of creative works have been birthed at Wanene,” says Kallaghe. “We have hosted the best talent in the country and numerous big acts have found a creative home at our studios. The studio offers three comfortable and well-equipped recording spaces designed to meet the needs of artists. Whether artists prefer a large, acoustically treated room for live recordings or a smaller, more intimate
setting for vocal tracking, Wanene Studios provides the ideal space for bringing musical visions to life.”
As well as showcasing contemporary musical talent, Wanene is supporting the preservation of Tanzania’s musical heritage by partnering with the National Arts Council of Tanzania (BASATA) on its Mdundo wa Taifa initiative. Kallaghe says: “The journey included travelling through different regions of Tanzania collecting and archiving sounds from different tribes which were then distributed to various contemporary producers in the country to utilise in their productions. The aim was to incentivise the use of unique homegrown sounds to create an identity within our genre of music.”
Creative haven
Such connections between past and present music were exemplified in the 2024 Wanene Studios-recorded album ‘Gogo Hip’ by Sinaubi Zawose Polish musician and producer Radek ‘Bond’ Bednarz that paired traditional and contemporary Gogo music of the Zawobe dynasty.
For Kallaghe, it is “the creative haven” of Wanene Studios that helps nurture these ambitious projects to life. “At Wanene Studios, creativity knows no limits. We pride ourselves on our ability to push the boundaries of imagination and deliver projects that resonate on a global scale, while also bringing a unique perspective to the music industry. The cutting-edge facilities and collaborative atmosphere here fosters innovation. Whether it’s a breakthrough hit, a critically acclaimed album, or a successful collaboration, we take pride in showcasing the achievements of all the artists who call our studio home.”
Even the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 could not dampen the studio’s creativity. With artist and audiences alike suffering from the lack of live concerts amid the lockdowns, Wanene Studios began streaming live studio sessions on its own YouTube
channel, Wanene TV to a social distancing, global audience. Kallaghe says: “We pioneered the concept of live video performance sessions, providing entertainment to people who were confined indoors while also allowing artists to showcase their talents in new and exciting ways. We were the first in Tanzania to invest in a dedicated V-mix system which is capable of streaming high-resolution video and audio onto multiple social media platforms simultaneously. The movement caught on quite quickly as we started to get more local and international artists reaching to us for live streaming productions.
The sessions capture, Kallaghe says, “the raw intensity” of live concerts, but with a clarity the stellar studio set-up brings. “With interconnected rooms, we offer the unique capability of simultaneous recording from
different areas, accommodating large groups and intricate setups seamlessly. This capability extends to choir recordings, enriching the depth and harmony of vocal arrangements, he says. The sessions have proved popular and continue to this day with Kallaghe singling out the “mesmerising vocals” of Nandy and the “energetic performance” of Christian Bella among the recent performances. “We thoroughly enjoy hosting these sessions, as it provides a creative challenge for us as a team and we thrive to make each session different from the last, from the setup, lighting and wardrobe to the musical ensemble and it pushes our team to be innovative and do better,” he says.
The online sessions also allow artists to engage with fans in real-time, forging a dynamic, interactive experience. “By hosting these sessions live
Interior shots of Wanene Studios in Dar es Salaam, including its music studio and green screen room for movie special effects
on multiple social media platforms, we aim to provide an intimate experience for the audiences and bridge the connection between them and the artists,” Kallaghe says. “They also allow the artist scope to experiment and create new renditions of their favourite hit songs and explain the story to the audiences how these songs came to be.”
Collaboration on-site
Wanene also helps its clients make genuine connections with their fans through images and behind-the scenes videos on social media. “We believe in today’s day and age it is important to engage the audiences at an early stage of the creation process and provide them a window into the work that goes on to produce their favourite hits,” says Kallaghe. Artists are also encouraged to connect with each other and soak
'At Wanene Studios, creativity knows no limits. We pride ourselves on our ability to push the boundaries of imagination'
up the studio’s aura of collaborative creativity at writers’ workshops while the studio’s garlanded sound engineers such as Mboks and Chzn Brain are on hand to advise.
Music producers, cinematographers and artists not yet part of the Wanene set-up may also like to know that the studios are always on the look-out for talent to work with. While Wanene Studios launched with market-leading technology it also continues to enhance its audio and video production capabilities. Projects benefiting include a new film set in 1990’s Dar that, Kallaghe says, will “entertain and inspire while giving viewers a window into a pivotal time in our history”.
By leveraging our state-of-the-art facilities and top-tier talent, we aim to create captivating narratives that captivate audiences on a global scale, solidifying Wanene Studios’ position as a hub for excellence,” Kallaghe says. “We will continue to empower our team to push creative boundaries and deliver content that stands out for its exceptional quality and innovation.”
Keep up with the latest events at Wanene Studios at its Instagram page @ wanenestudios
To watch the online studio sessions, head to Wanene TV on YouTube
Meet the Wanene Studios team
DARSH PANDIT: CEO
Darsh Pandit brings a wealth of experience and a visionary leadership style to the table. With a keen eye for emerging trends and a dedication to nurturing talent, Darsh leads the team with fresh new ideas, ensuring that Wanene Studios remains at the forefront of the industry.
ASH MSWAKI:
CREATIVE DIRECTOR/HEAD OF VIDEO DEPARTMENT
Ash Mswaki is an award-winning filmmaker with over 10 years’ experience in the industry His debut film, ‘White Potion’, follows the life of a Tanzanian witchdoctor has been screened at festivals worldwide. He has a bachelor’s degree in Film and Television from Bahçeşehir University in Istanbul, Turkey.
RAM ALLY K: FILM DIRECTOR AND SCRIPTWRITER
Ram Ally K wears multiple hats within Wanene Studios, serving as both a prolific film director and a scriptwriter. With over 13 years of experience, his directorial prowess coupled with his ability to craft compelling narratives has led to the creation of captivating films that resonate with audiences worldwide. He is most recognised for his contribution and direction of the actionthriller Nyara: The Kidnapper (2020) and most recently the short film "SWETA," sponsored by PEPFAR and the US Embassy in Tanzania, which was released in March 2023 and is available on YouTube.
HUMPREY DOMBOKA (AKA ‘MBOKS’): HEAD OF
AUDIO
With a passion for music that runs deep, Mboks has carved a niche for himself as a visionary producer. At Wanene Studios, Mboks’s mixing skills have been used by Sauti Sol, Siti and the Band, Arya Star and plenty more.
BRANDON KIMANI (AKA CHZN BRAIN): SOUND ENGINEER
With an innate talent for shaping sonic landscapes and a relentless pursuit of sonic perfection, Chzn Brain has earned a reputation as one of East Africa's foremost sound engineers. He has worked with Joh Makini, G-nako, Aslay, Navy Kenzo, P-Funk, Young Lunya, and many more.
Twiga wa Kijani tree planting takes root
Air Tanzania has launched a ground-breaking project to reshape our community's environmental future. Twiga wa Kijani will see the planting of 6,000 trees in a bid to achieve the airline’s aviation decarbonization goals.
The aviation industry currently contributes to four per cent of global pollution and five per cent of global warming. Air Tanzania has acknowledged its part in a global problem and recognises that the future of air travel has to be sustainable. We are committed to offsetting carbon emissions from our flights with the launch of our Twiga wa Kijani project, which involves the planting of 6,000 new trees across Tanzania.
The project was set up in partnership with Tanzanian non-profit WBM (‘Wezesha Binti na Mama Mjasiriamali’), which organises eco-groups and empowers women economically. The joint campaign will involve pupils from 30 primary and 30 secondary schools in Mwanza, Kagera, Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Mbeya, and Dodoma to plant the shade trees. The goal is to plant 6,000 trees within one year, allocating 100 trees per school.
Raising awareness
As well as planting trees, the green initiative will raise awareness and empower communities for a greener Tanzania. Some of the objectives include educating students about the importance of environmental conservation, promoting environmental sustainability, combatting
climate change and protecting biodiversity by planting a variety of trees native to each region. The hope is that in targeting schoolchildren the project will foster a sense of environmental responsibility and empower the next generation of environmental stewards.
The project supports the country-wide government target of planting 1.5 million trees to offset 462,000 hectares of forest lost each year in Tanzania.
(Bottom left) Air Tanzania CEO Ladislaus Matindi was on hand to help pupils with the planting
The project supports the country-wide government target of planting 1.5 million trees to offset 462,000 hectares of forest lost each year in Tanzania
OREVOLUTIONIZING ENERGY: Tanzania’s leap towards a sustainable future
Dodoma gets a new solar power system complete and starter fleet of electric vehicles as part of a drive to transform the country’s energy landscape
n May 30, Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Energy Hon. Dr. Doto Mashaka Biteko inaugurated a 146-kW solar PV system, and two electric vehicles in Dodoma - a groundbreaking initiative that marks Tanzania’s bold step towards energy efficiency and sustainability.
This significant event was a collaborative effort between the Ministry of Energy, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the European Union (EU) to enhance energy efficiency across the nation. UNDP is supporting the Ministry of Energy
in implementing Tanzania’s first energy efficiency action plan with the support of the European Union (EU). The overall objective of the project is to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all in Tanzania.
During the inauguration ceremony, Hon. Dr. Biteko emphasized that the initiative marks a pivotal advancement in transforming Tanzania’s energy sector to tackle climate change and promote sustainable development through renewable energy, energy efficiency, and modern transportation systems. “Together, we are building
‘The cutting-edge research opportunities and comprehensive curriculum have deepened my understanding of sustainable energy solutions at Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT). This program has equipped me with the skills to tackle real-world energy challenges. I’m immensely grateful for this opportunity and excited to apply my knowledge to create impactful, sustainable changes in the energy sector.”
Christina Reuben Young Women Energy Efficiency Scholarship Program Beneficiary.
a resilient and prosperous nation for generations to come, and we are grateful for the support of the EU, UNDP and the Embassy of Ireland in making energy efficiency a reality in Tanzania,” he said.
Head of the Natural Resources in the EU Delegation to Tanzania Lamine Diallo affirmed the EU’s commitment to sustainable energy initiatives in Tanzania. “This effort aims to reduce costs, lower carbon emissions, and boost economic activities while promoting gender equality in the energy sector. Key developments include implementing Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS),
‘My journey at DIT in the Sustainable Energy Engineering program has been truly enriching. This education has provided me with the practical skills necessary to address pressing energy issues, especially those affecting developing regions. MoE, EU and UNDP’s sponsorship has been instrumental in my academic development, enabling me to actively contribute to global sustainable energy initiatives.’
Marium Ibrahim Young Women Energy Efficiency Scholarship Program Recipient.
building codes, and the Young Women Scholarship Programme. The training and certification of Tanzania's first energy auditors and managers, along with new state-of-the-art laboratories, demonstrate our focus on innovation and capacity building.”
At the heart of Tanzania’s efforts lies a clear understanding of the difference between energy efficiency and energy conservation. While both are crucial, they address different aspects of energy use. Energy efficiency is all about technology. It involves using devices that require less energy to perform the same task, such as replacing traditional incandescent light bulbs in a house with LED bulbs. Energy conservation, on the other hand, focuses on human behavior. It includes actions that lead to the use of less energy. For instance, making the conscious choice to use natural daylight through windows instead of switching on electric lights during the day.
Strategic objectives:
A pathway to a sustainable future
Tanzanian leaders have launched a strategic three-year Energy Efficiency Action Plan to transform the country’s energy landscape. This initiative targets various sectors, from industry and agriculture to public transport and households to urban development, promising a greener and more prosperous future by lowering energy costs and emissions.
Energy efficiency measures play a crucial role in driving both economic and environmental benefits. Economically, these measures reduce energy consumption, leading to significant cost savings for households, businesses, and governments, while also lowering
operational costs and enhancing productivity. Investments in energy-efficient technologies create jobs and foster innovation, contributing to economic growth and resilience. Environmentally, energy efficiency reduces greenhouse gas emissions, mitigates climate change, and decreases air and water pollution, thereby improving public health and preserving ecosystems.
This transformative vision positions Tanzania as a regional leader in sustainable development.
Advancing energy efficiency: Building professional skills and empowering women in Tanzania
One of the standout initiatives of this project is the enhancement of professional qualifications and skills in energy management and energy auditing within Tanzania. The Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT) has been empowered to add to its professional training in Energy Efficiency with comprehensive professional training in energy management, auditing, building energy
A key achievement is the training and certification of 20 participants from DIT, UNDP, TIRDO, and TANESCO
performance certification, and measurement and verification.
A key achievement is the training and certification of 20 participants from DIT, UNDP, TIRDO, and TANESCO as professional energy auditors and managers by the International Association of Energy Engineers (AEE).
Furthermore, the initiative is dedicated to fostering gender equality in the energy sector. It sponsors 20 Tanzanian women students to pursue a two-year Master's Degree in Sustainable Engineering at DIT. This effort ensures that women are actively involved in and contribute to the country's energy efficiency initiatives, marking a significant step towards inclusive and sustainable development in Tanzania.
For more information please visit our website: www.energyefficiency.co.tz
A DREAM HOME IN DUBAI
Dubai is a magnet for millionaires with 72,500 of them at last count making the UAE’s richest city their home. As a result, the high-end housing market has rocketed here with opulent homes including this elegant mansion. Twiga gets a peek inside with the elegant interiors curated by design studio Caffe Latte in partnership with Dubai architect Mahmoud Sherif and Vyde Studio.
All images courtesy of caffelattehome.com
The rich and bold look of this sumptuous Dubai mansion was created in by international design studio Caffe Latte in collaboration with the Dubai architect Mahmoud Sherif from Vyde Studio. The result is a luxurious family home in which comfort and well-being reign harmoniously.
Every detail has been meticulously thought out in a home that is intended to be luxurious, yet cosy and made for families who want to embrace the most relaxed and tranquil way of life in the Middle East.
Highlights include the welcoming foyer with its light and eclectic tones and the smooth and minimalist living room with Caffe Latte’s Robusta Coffee Table and Crème Sofa as statement furniture.
The golden tones of the dining room add to the home’s sense
of grandeur and this colour combination is continued in the master bedroom, which has a moody en-suite marble bathroom decorated in nature-inspired shades.
The calm and clean chic takes a more playful turn in the children’s bedroom with animal motifs, a starry-sky rug and a desk chair with a butterfly-wings-shaped backrest.
The office is the place to remote work like a boss as you sit behind the statement Nougat Desk, one of Caffe Latte’s most recent releases, framed by the huge backlit bookcase.
This is a precious home in the City of Gold.
For more details on the Caffe Latte design collections, visit www.caffelattehome.com
COUPLE TAKE EPIC TWO-YEAR TRIP BY MOTORBIKE AROUND THE WORLD FROM DAR TO FAR:
A husband-and-wife team have just completed a round-the-world adventure by motorbike starting in Tanzania and finishing in the UK. The 770-day, 87,805 km, 42 country-trip saw the couple encounter freezing temperatures, sand storms and riots with over-night accommodation ranging from hotel beds to the floor of an Iranian police station. AnnaJoyce Mbise said the experience revealed the beauty of the world and its people, and she hopes it will convince other Tanzanians that such a marathon, multi-visa journey is possible.
From the moment they were married there were three of them: the Tanzanian wife, the British husband and the German motorbike. AnnaJoyce Mbise and Patrick Carey bought the BMW F800 from their best man and soon the adventurous couple were packing the panniers for trips from their Dar es Salaam home to Tabora, into Uganda and to Lake Tanganyika and on into Zambia.
The laidback trips were a fun break from the norm and over the next four years the couple started thinking about the possibility of a round-the-world ride. Both had good, stable jobs that they loved in Tanzania – AnnaJoyce worked in international logistics in Dar while Patrick was a guide and fleet manager for a safari company in Arusha – but the
passion the pair had put into their roles for over a decade was bringing them dangerously close to burn out. Two years spent exploring the world together seemed like the perfect way to refresh. The couple did some “paper maths” and worked out a budget to stretch out their pooled savings. They also mapped out a route that would take them south to north through the Americas, first flying to Argentina and journeying all the way to Alaska. The second stage would begin in Malaysia and head east through India, Pakistan, Iran and Turkey before crossing continental Europe to the UK. AnnaJoyce was aware that her Tanzanian passport would necessitate a hatful of advance visas so she set about getting the pre-trip paperwork in order. “I had to get all the visas ready for Canada and central America. That required
supporting letters, bank statements and a lot of administration. As a Tanzanian I knew I would have to build a case to convince them. I had studied in the UK and the US and never outstayed my visas so I thought that would help. Having worked in logistics I understood the importance of patience. I was prepared to spend the day at border crossings and stay calm and not push back to authorities.” Is such an ambitious trip possible? Well, it’s April 30, 2024, and AnnaJoyce calls me from the home of Patrick’s parents in Somerset, UK – the end point of the 770-day, 87,805 km adventure – to affirm it is. The excitement still vivid in her voice, she tells me she crossed borders into 42 different countries along the way. There were a few isolated entry issues, but the resourceful couple found alternative routes. At its border with Argentina, Chile refused AnnaJoyce a visa. “They didn’t accept my letter of support,” she says. The couple were heading towards the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia, which is in Argentina, but requires crossing into Chile to reach overland. So, Patrick was left to ride the Chilean section alone while AnnaJoyce took an aeroplane from Rio Grande to Rio Gallegos. A near-frozen Patrick – mountainous Chile proved chilly indeed – rejoined his wife to ride together to Ushuaia.
Border crossings
There were some crossing points where the couple anticipated problems because of conflict between the bordering countries. However, while the tensions were evident, AnnaJoyce was touched by the solicitude shown by locals. “We had 15 days to get through Pakistan and Iran on our visa and we had a guide escorting us all the way. To get into
Iran you must go through the Baluchistan region. It has been involved in a struggle for autonomy for decades and we had to go to Islamabad to get a letter of non-conformance to allow transit. We spent a few a couple of nights at the Serena Hotel in Quetta, Pakistan – in the Baluchistan region. Here Patrick was even escorted to fill up the motorbike with fuel. The GM and security managers were so excited to see us they gave us a guided tour of the hotel. We then rode to the border of Pakistan and Iran under escort. We arrived at the Iran border at night and slept on the floor of the police station as we were told it was the safest place “I found Iran stunning. The people were so friendly. The Pakistanis were even friendlier. Everybody wanted you to come in and have a cup of tea with them. It was incredible.”
AnnaJoyce says while she was sensitive to the customers of these Islamic countries, she did at times miss the multi-faith harmony of her home country. “I covered up in bike gear and rarely took my helmet off. As a foreign woman you do get stared at a lot – especially in India. I was conscious that as a woman I was never spoken to directly, everyone addressed Patrick first. I am happy I live in a country where Muslims and Christians live together.”
For all the different nationalities, races, cultures and beliefs the couple came across on their journey, the unifying quality among them was a kindness to strangers. “We were welcomed wherever we went,” says AnnaJoyce. “Argentina has some of the nicest people. They were so friendly. It was the time of the World Cup and the fans are so passionate. It was pretty cool to be in the winning country.”
The Tanzanian was also pleasantly surprised at the
The round-the-world trip took in highlights such as the Dalton Highway in Alaska, Baluchistan in Pakistan, and the waterfalls and salt flats of Bolivia
warm welcome while travelling through the southern states of the US. “They are kind people. You look at social media and it builds an expectation of what it’s like, but the country is so much bigger than that. We went through states such as Texas and Louisiana and everyone was curious about us, but very friendly.”
Camping in the US
The couple packed a two-man tent but had only used it for a few nights in Argentina and Uruguay. In the US, however, the couple embraced the camping life. “Our US budget for hotels was around US$ 80 a night, but we found the quality of accommodation for that price was wanting. So we started seeking out camping sites and it was so easy. Many have an honesty system, so you pitch your tent, put your cash in an envelope and put it in lock box. We camped across the USA and into Canada all the way up to Alaska’s most northerly point, Dead Horse.”
While travelling in the US state of Colorado they swapped the bike temporarily for an RV motor home. “This was my idea and there was no negotiation,” laughs AnnaJoyce. “We hired a fancy one and went off grid – ‘boondocking’ the Americans call it. It was a luxury to be off the bike, to have a toilet on call and buy groceries for more than one day. I think Patrick enjoyed it.”
Other highlights of the trip included the wine-appreciating couple passing through the Mendoza region with its thousands of vineyards as they headed north through Argentina on the famous Route 40 that runs parallel to the Andes. There was also plenty of opportunity for wine-tasting on the European leg which was capped off with a
“They couldn’t believe we were riding a bike in 85 km winds”
week-long stay in Reims, the unofficial capital of the French Champagne-growing region. AnnaJoyce also singles out Laos – “I would go back there any time”, the beautiful beaches and bird life” of Costa Rica and “lovely” Brazil. “We went to see the Iguazu falls, visited Rio de Janeiro and the capital, Brasilia. We wanted to stay longer, but it was the wet season and the rain was torrential, you couldn’t ride through it. We had to cut our time there short, which was disappointing as we wanted to see the Amazon. So instead, we went through Bolivia and saw the Amazon that way.”
The weather continued to throw up challenges. Freezing winds buffeted them in Argentina and they rode through sand storms so severe in Iran that the local news station interviewed them about their feat. “They couldn’t believe we were riding a bike in 85km winds,” AnnaJoyce says.
The only time the weather came close to breaking them, though, was in Turkey. “We’d just got across the Iran border and found ourselves in the Zagros mountains. It was snowing and the temperature dropped to -7°C. I can still feel it now. If ever I wanted to fly home, it was that day. We decided that we take a break, go back to Tanzania and begin the European leg when the spring’s warmer weather arrived.”
Health emergency
Another enforced break in the trip had occurred the year before when they were in the middle of their South America adventure. Patrick received the news that his step-sister was seriously ill in the UK. He returned to help care for her and, happily, her condition improved enough for the trip to be resumed.
There were fewer emergencies during the trip itself. Despite travelling through south and central American countries such as Colombia and Mexico that are renowned for civil unrest, the couple had “no scary moments”. “We took our time in Colombia,” AnnaJoyce says. “We spent close to 30 days there. It is a beautiful place. We did fly with our bike over the [drug-controlled and roadless] Darién Gap, though, to get into Panama.”
To protect their own safety on the road, the couple used the app ioverlander “to avoid sketchy areas”, says AnnaJoyce. They also kept to a rule of only riding when it was light and restricted daily distances on the bike to around 400km with at least one rest day in every three. The F800 has a top speed of 200km/h but Patrick drove carefully. The only speeding ticket they picked up during the global journey was in Tanzania, not long after first setting off.
AnnaJoyce says she rarely found the journeys too arduous and that the couple were able to communicate during the ride via headphones or they would pass the time listening to music or podcasts.
Returning to Tanzania
The bike also coped well. The F800 is a touring bike made for long journeys such as this. Fitted with a spare petrol tank, in good weather the model can cover 600 km between refuels. AnnaJoyce says: “It’s a good bike. It’s fully kitted out with panniers for all our belongings and has comfy seats.” Maintaining the bike’s smooth running also revealed the
affordability of some of the countries they visited. Three new tyres bought in Argentina were very reasonable – certainly compared to neighbouring Uruguay – and subsidised fuel prices in Iran meant they could fill up the bike’s tanks for under a dollar.
The only accident of note happened in Peru in December 2022 when heavy rain caused the bike to slide from under them when crossing a train track. The pair escaped with just some bruising, but the country proved to be a stressful stage in the journey with riots and political protests in the wake of the ousting of the president meaning safe border crossings were hard to find.
The bike survived the entire journey and Patrick is still using it to zip around Somerset, AnnaJoyce tells me. The couple enjoyed a week in the UK before heading back to Tanzania. “The trip has been an unforgettable adventure, but financially it has been hard. We will both have to look for jobs.” AnnaJoyce is happy to return to Tanzania. While the journey opened her eyes to other countries, it has also served to solidify what her homeland means to her. “I really missed Tanzania and its mountains and beaches. I don’t want to be anywhere else. It is interesting how much it makes you appreciate home. We have peace here and it should not be taken for granted.
“I was proud to be a Tanzanian on this journey and to prove such a trip is possible. It just requires more administration. I visited Tanzanian embassies in Brasilia and Paris. I wanted to let them know a Tanzanian is here.”
HOW TECH IS TACKLING IN TANZANIA TAX COMPLIANCE
Baraka Cassian, the Managing Director of Simplitech Ltd, has established himself at the forefront of a digital revolution of the taxpayer experience in Tanzania with the release of the company’s Simplify app. Here, he tells Mark Edwards about his lifelong tech obsession and how he will continue to push the envelope as his country embraces a digital future.
Baraka Cassian grew up in a household that embraced technology. His entrepreneur father was an early adopter of the latest gadgets on the market and when he brought home one of the first mobile phones available in Tanzania the young Baraka’s tech obsession booted up for life.
As a teenager, Baraka would spend all of his savings on new electronic devices such as smart phones and VR headsets. His fascination was fuelled by not only what the cutting-edge tech could do, but also how it did it. Soon he was learning coding to understand those inner workings and began to develop websites himself.
Much of technology’s appeal stemmed from its constant innovation and forward thinking. “It is exciting being at the cutting edge and seeing how fast we are moving,” he tells me. “I didn’t want to be left behind.”
Baraka planned to progress his IT skills with a computer science degree, but his father advised him a more financially assured route was to pursue accounting at Curtin University in Western Australia. The pivot to Perth proved a success. Baraka excelled as a student and the Big Four global accountancy firms were all waiting with job offers when he graduated. He chose KPMG and worked in the multinational’s tax department for four years.
He was good at his job and enjoyed the barbecues-and-beaches social life in Australia, but Baraka couldn’t shake concerns that his junior role had him distanced from the tech-driven culture of looking forward that he wanted to be a part of. Still the role was teaching him a lot about the rapidly evolving accounting industry and how its major players prioritised continued investment and utilisation of new technology. Bureaucracy reducing features such as cloud-based platforms and online accounting had become part of the establishment in Australia, but regular Christmas trips home showed Baraka that Tanzania was some way behind.
“At that time all tax filings were done on paper in Tanzania,” Baraka says. “It was a huge difference to Australia.”
Baraka could feel his quest to be at the forefront of tech innovation return as he
'I was able to migrate all my clients to use this software. No-one was doing that in Tanzania at the time'
outlined a return to his home country to set up his own accountancy firm with a business model that, he says, “merged accounting and tech together”.
“Each time I returned to Dar I would see another inefficiency in how business was carried out,” he says. “I worked on how I could transplant interconnected financial tech here. I am practical, not a dreamer. I walk before I can run, but I began to believe I could do this.”
Accounting business
In 2016 he returned to Dar and registered his own accounting business, Cassian and Associates, with his entrepreneurial family as the first clients.
“I’m aware of my good fortune in having my parents’ support,” he says. “It was a soft landing.”
The business also benefited from its digital-first approach. “Tech helped me grow the business without having to raise a lot of funding like a traditional accounting business,” Baraka says. Creating a connected remote workplace also meant the company was able to navigate the social restrictions brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. “We work exclusively on Cloud platforms so all data, files and even software can be accessed at any time. Google is our Cloud partner, and this out-sourcing of resources has proven efficient and cost-saving. We are 100 per cent digital. We barely print anything. We only use Chrome which means staff can work on
their laptop anywhere and I can log their work. I could lose my laptop today and within 30 minutes I am back online and working.”
In building the accountancy firm the focus has been on attracting small business clients. Not only could Cassian and Associates pass on the financial savings it makes from its digital business model to offer an affordable service to start-ups, but as a small business itself, there is an empathy and understanding there. “We can relate to their aspirations,” Baraka says. “We can help them get there by planning for the short as well as the long term.”
Challenges
In the firm’s formative years, Cassian and Associates partnered with Xero, making use of its cloud-based accounting system. Baraka had become aware of Xero during his time in Australia where the New Zealandbased technology company’s rapid market growth took off on the way to becoming a multi-billion-dollar global company. “I was able to migrate all my clients to use this software. No-one was doing that in Tanzania at the time,” Baraka says. “Xero were excited to be a part of Tanzania’s advancement and invited me to the UK to discuss how we could do more together.”
However, the relationship stalled. Baraka’s request to have exclusive rights to use Xero in Tanzania was rejected and he was discovering that Xero’s rates were proving prohibitive for many of his small business clients. Instead, Baraka began building his own cloud-based system – what would become the Simplify app – for use in Tanzania. “Xero became an inspiration. They basically showed it was possible. We have retained integration. Users are able to send their Xero invoices directly to Simplify. It is an easier way to comply using half the time.”
In 2018, the Tanzanian government announced that it was looking to digitise its operations with tax compliance leading the way. By that time Cassian
and Associates was an established operation boasting a 27-strong team. Baraka had the cash flow to launch his own technology company, Simplitech Ltd, with a goal to building the software that would enable the transition.
Baraka had long recognised the old system needed an overhaul. “At that time if you made a purchase in a shop or restaurant, the vendor would bring out an EFD [electronic fiscal device] to record the transaction for tax on the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) server and issue a paper receipt. Those receipts can fade so they need to be copied and a cumbersome paper trail is created. Sometimes that data doesn’t arrive.”
Baraka reached out to the TRA with his plan of building on top of TRA’s virtual fiscal device (VFD) platform with a web application around it that would people on their smart phones to access the tax administrator’s server and issue electronic receipts in real time. The cascading benefits would include helping businesses and individuals reduce errors leading to tax overpayment or underpayment, and reducing tax evasion. “I want to focus on accounting tech. It’s boring, but it is valuable,” he says.
The EFD system was vulnerable to error with businesses paying a heavy price for any discrepancies. “To start with you need to buy the EFD device. They go for US$200 each,” says Baraka. “If there is a power cut and the machine fails to issue a receipt, but you make a transaction you’ll be fined up to $2,000.”
The risk of such penalties may explain why there has been some reluctance among local businesses to adopt the
EFD. Like the majority of sub-Saharan African countries, Tanzania has a huge shadow economy with businesses operating out of sight of the government. Baraka says the affordability and other advantages of the digital system will nudge many back into the formal economy and create a massive boost to the government’s income from taxation. “Tanzania has a population of 62 million people,” Baraka says. “If we assume half of them are working age then they are eligible to pay tax. However, I estimate that approximately 1.5million are registered taxpayers here.”
Setback
When Baraka reached out to TRA there was understandably huge interest at his proposal to massively increase their tax base. The dream that Baraka had of using tech to generate change and empower his country seemed to be taking shape. He was so confident it would be a success that he even prepared the marketing for its launch. However, he found his self-funded vision coming up against the very bureaucratic barriers it was trying to break down.
“I was waiting for eight months,” he says. “Then, there was a review process to prove I had enough capital for the project. I thought it was all in place, but at the last minute, I was told the project had been cancelled.” It was a low moment. Baraka admits that he lost motivation for a time, but he did not give up on his dream.
However, after a few more months of waiting and multiple meetings, TRA eventually invited tech companies to supply a VFD software platform; Simplitech found itself among other experienced companies with greater
funding behind them. Still, Baraka believes there is room for competition and compares the intensity of Tanzania tech now with Silicone Valley in the US at its prime. This is the palpable culture of innovation he always wanted to work within. “The kitchen is big enough for many chefs to come and cook,” he says. “There is so much potential.”
Inventive tech team
Simplitech was recognised by the TRA as a fully licensed VFD vendor in February 2022. The Simplify app, which enables users to issue invoices directly from a mobile device or computer, now has 1,800 mostly corporate subscribers. Air Tanzania is among the clients with the platform connecting the airline to the TRA for its ticketing. Benefits include being able to submit TRA-compliant invoices in seconds, receiving regular sales reports and saving on paper and printing costs. Fees are small-business friendly with a one-off installation charge of TZS 121,000 (US$ 45) and an annual subscription of TZS 59,000 (US$ 22)
While there are licensed competitors with more subscribers at the moment, Simplify is growing. Baraka believes he has solidified the funding with the core business of his accountancy firm creating enough traction and cash flow to fund new ideas while organisations like the UNDP backed Funguo Innovation Programme has recently announced its financial backing of Simplify. Baraka also believes the inventive tech team he leads at Simplitech will keep adding to the value Simplify offers clients. Recent innovations include a short code users can dial when internet access is down so they can still generate EFD receipts as well as a chatbot that issues receipts through a WhatsApp message and will generate your sales reports for you.
“I’m building tech to replace myself,” laughs Baraka. “Any profit we make is reinvested into tech. Making an impact is what drives me.”
For more details on the features of Simplify, visit simplify.co.tz or get started and download the app on Google Play.
The Simplitech Ltd team behind the Simplify app
FROM NEW YORK TO NEW LIFE IN TANZANIA
Sal Arsene shocked his friends and family when he left his life as an actor in New York to work in the wilderness of Tanzania’s national parks. More than three decades later he is still here with a second-life career that has included lodge manager, tour guide, ‘food doctor”, restaurant owner and now writer. Mark Edwards meets him.
Sal Arsene
In the 1980s, fine arts graduate
Sal Arsene took a shot at becoming a successful actor in New York. It was a competitive and saturated market, but Sal made it work for five years, winning roles in soap operas and advertisements and even getting a bit part in a multi-Oscar nominated film (sadly he was cut from the final release). It didn’t hurt that he was tall and handsome, but his biggest money earners were his photogenic fingers. “I was born with really nice hands, so I was in demand as a hand model. It paid the rent,” he says.
By 1989 those hands would be covered in Swahili phrases that Sal had scribbled in ballpoint pen to help him learn the language in his new home in Tanzania. He had been accepted to carry out volunteer work in Ruaha National Park. In this remote wilderness the New York native was running boat safaris, working in lodges and he was getting his previously flawless hands very dirty indeed.
“I’d always wanted to work in the African bush. I think Tanzania chose me. Call it serendipity. It was a dramatic leap of faith to pick up and suddenly leave my life in New York City behind and come live in the very remote African bush in a tent with basic facilities. Friends and family thought I’d lost the plot. My mother totally flipped! I’ve never regretted it. It’s been quite the ride.”
The Ruaha volunteering was only scheduled to last six months, but three decades later Sal still calls
'There is an immediacy in the bush that is very different to the asphalt jungle. I preferred the more natural option'
Tanzania home. While he takes regular trips back to New York –“There’s no city like it in the world,” he says – he has loved the whole new world of opportunities, challenges and personal growth that living in Tanzania has brought him.
Safari switch
Ruaha still has a special place in his heart as the point where the journey began. “It has wildlife diversity, dramatic landscapes and an aroma of wild nature I’ve never experienced in any other park,” he says. What followed was two decades of working as a camp and lodge manager, human resources advisor and tour guide in the country’s prime safari spots such as Selous Nature Reserve (now in-part renamed as Nyerere National Park) and the Serengeti.
As to the shock of swapping the urban jungle for such remote locales, he says: “I think the African bush has its own kind of bustle. Not a man made one. There is danger and violence in the bush as much as in any major city.” As proof, he has recounted in a previous interview being flipped head over heels by an angry buffalo. Luckily the dust thrown up by the attack blinded the Big 5 beast against a potentially fatal follow-up.
“There is an immediacy in the bush that is very different than the asphalt jungle. I just preferred the more natural option,” he adds.
As an illustrative example, Sal remembers being unable to pass the Chevrolet dealership in Long Island in New York State, without staring at
the Impala models with their sleek logo of the antelope in graceful flight. “That was the start of my love affair with the impala. From there I extended my interest to all of the many antelope species and have had a strong interest since,” he says.
But in the bush, he was able to appreciate the animals for real.
“On my first safari tour in 1989 I saw impala and other antelopes. Ruaha was also the place where Greater Kudu roam. I was fascinated by their size and their unique look. At that time, Ruaha was the only place you could find these very special-looking creatures.
“As for the impala, for me they are the quintessential antelope – the perfect animal. When they leap in the air it is just magical.”
Sal dug deep into why the raw immediacy of the wildlife-filled wilderness of Tanzania gave him something new, something he needed in writing his memoir, ‘Intrigued by Africa’.
Memoir
It was his first experience as a writer, but the words flowed, excavating his single-parent Long Island upbringing, the “crazy time” of 1980s New York and the soul-soothing trip to Ruaha. After two years of writing, he had something of an epic on his hands. Sal started showing it to agents and editors, including Adam Bellow, son of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Saul. There was a general consensus, Sal says, that is was “very special, but too long”.
A pared-down version was published as an e-book in 2011. Reading it reveals that Sal had his brushes with stardom as an actor, but that the big break remained tantalizingly out of reach. He won a speaking part in the hit 1988 American romantic comedy-drama ‘Working Girl’, which went on to make over US$ 100 million worldwide at the box office and be awarded six Oscar nominations. However, his role, as a hotel doorman, was cut out of the final movie. Sal has chosen not to involve himself in the emerging Tanzanian
'(Fashion) is something I thought I never would be involved in. I find shows here very intriguing'
movie industry since being in the country, but his performance skills have led him to being employed by camps and lodges here to promote Tanzanian safaris across the US and Europe. He even appeared on television in England in a British Airways travel segment that featured the Selous Game Reserve.
He also drew on his experience in the food service industry. Like many jobbing actors in New York, Sal waited tables in restaurants to help pay the bills. As the lodges and camps he worked for sought to upgrade their services to offer the level of hospitality overseas guest were used to, Sal was employed as freelance food and beverage consultant – or “food doctor” as he puts it – to train staff, improve hygiene standards and give menus an upgrade. Sal also opened two restaurants of his own in Dar es Salaam.
The Tanzanian tourist industry has changed beyond recognition since Sal first arrived here 35 years ago. “The 1990s were basic times,” he says. “The lodges were truly remote. There was little road infrastructure. The simplicity of that life appealed to me at the time, but as more tourists starting arriving, my food and drink experience kicked in.”
One of the most transformative effects on tourism here was brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Just ahead of the global reports of the outbreak, Sal had made one of his return visits to New York. The travel restrictions that were introduced meant he was stuck in the US. “I couldn’t wait to get back to Tanzania,” he says. “There was never a chance that I wouldn’t return.”
Once restrictions were lifted, six
months later, Sal was in Tanzania once again, but he found the tourism landscape dramatically changed. Visitor numbers had dropped drastically and the government’s plans to revive the sector was focused on leveraging more employment for Tanzanians.
Sal understood and agreed with the move – “It is a very good thing Tanzanians are taking the tourism jobs” – and knew he would have to make another professional pivot.
He decided to start writing again, 13 years after his memoir was published. “I consider myself a writer now,” he says. “I started getting my work accepted by local newspapers and magazines.”
Rediscovering writing
Much of his written work has focused on the burgeoning fashion scene in Dar es Salaam, where Sal now bases himself. Just as the spreading the word on Tanzania’s nascent safari industry in the 1990s, Sal seems to be enjoying showcasing the fashion creatives looking to define their own identity in a new market.
He is now often the “token US expat”, he says, at fashion shows such as Dar’s Swahili Fashion Week and Lady in Red. “It is something I thought I would never be involved in a million years. The life of a model is interesting here. They often support themselves with other jobs, but they have this dream. I find fashion shows here very intriguing.”
The former actor has found that his unscripted life of multiple roles has brought him a deeper understanding of his adopted home, but that Tanzania remains a fascinating mystery.
He says: “Tanzania is still a bit of an enigma for me after many years. The genuine nature of the people and the quick to smile attitude have made living here a pleasure. Of course, there have been challenges and some close calls, but it’s become a best friend.”
Sal’s memoir, ‘Intrigued by Africa’, is available to download as an e-book on Amazon.
/ Sal Arsene
‘PEMBA
IS A GREEN ISLAND. . . MAGICAL
and we hope to keep it that way’
Like the Arabian fairy tale that inspired its name, 1001 Organic has many stories to tell. Its cloves, pepper, cardamom, vanilla, and cinnamon are grown in the fertile soil of the ‘Green Island’ Pemba, which has had a pivotal position in the global spice trade going back centuries. Using sustainable farming methods, the social enterprise aims to preserve the island’s vaunted natural habitats, support local communities and produce some very special spices. Here managing director Raphael Flury reveals the ‘richer, more rewarding way of growing for people and planet’.
Q. Which spices do you grow on Pemba?
1001 Organic works with what nature has to offer us. We marry what is good for the people with what is best for the planet. Through sustainable forest farming with deep respect for nature, we are able to gently produce cloves, pepper, cardamom, vanilla, and cinnamon of unrivalled quality.
Q. Pemba cloves are famous the world over – what is it about the fertile soils Pemba growing conditions that give these spices a special quality?
Pemba is a magical green island, and we hope to keep it that way. 1001 Organic is committed to agroforestry, nurturing our spices in the natural habitat of a forest instead of planting them in fields. The results are outstanding for both flavour and the environment. With a constant and equitable sourcing from the wild tropical forests, we can motivate farmer communities to keep the forests and its biodiversity healthy
and avoid deforestation. Together we combine local traditional methods with diversity enhancing technology, allowing a richer, more rewarding way of growing for people and planet. This virtuous circle that benefits all is the secret of Zanzibar’s spice quality.
Q. Why do you focus your work with smallholder farmers on the island?
The past 500 years, the spice value chain was mainly benefiting western spice traders and processors. We at 1001 Organic believe that it is time to disrupt the traditional spice industry and rearrange its value chain. 1001
Organic was established as a social enterprise that applies commercial strategies to improve the financial, social and environmental well-being of its partner farmers. The idea is to create additional value for the rural farmer communities, protect Zanzibar’s biodiversity and produce incredible flavourful spices. We believe that social impact is most
effective on smallholder level hence we work with contract farmers.
Q. How does the business model of 1001 Organic benefit the smallholder spice farmer on Pemba?
1001 Organic is a forest-to-consumer brand that manages the entire value chain from the forests into our spice shops in Zanzibar or online in Europe. By avoiding all middlemen, our cooperatives can benefit from better prices, complementary trainings, certifications, infrastructure, fixed prices, purchase guarantees
Women at work sifting cloves by hand
and much more. We are a long-term partner to our farmers. Also, we keep shifting more value addition from Europe to Tanzania, which should benefit the overall economy.
Q. Has your relationship with the Pemba spice farmers been a learning process on both sides. What do you think they have learned from you and what have you learned from them?
One hundred per cent! Our partner farmers are deeply rooted with nature and their knowledge is unbelievable. They are well balanced and peaceful personalities. On the other hand, I try to teach our farmers some international principles that are crucial for long-term partnerships and development. Also, I try to explain the mistakes we made the last 30 years in Europe. It would sadden me repeating old mistakes like the pollution of drinking water.
Q. You have enabled direct sales of fresh Zanzibar spices to Europe.
For this the spices are certified according to European standards. What does this involve?
The European guidelines are becoming increasingly strict. We are certified in organic and social standards which requires never-ending documentation work.
Q. Pemba is known as the Green Island and has some of the last remaining indigenous forest on the archipelago. How motivated are you that the farms you work with support and protect the fragile ecosystem here?
The protection of the natural forests and biodiversity is one of the main pillars of our social enterprise and our clients. Together we try to apply the best possible mode of operation to keep the forests healthy and the farmers happy. Education is a key strategy.
November. Is it true the scent of drying cloves fragrances the whole island during this time?
It is true. Once you leave your airplane you can sent the sweet fragrance in the air. You will find cloves literally everywhere.
Q. You have a store in Stone Town, but do you also have outlets on Pemba selling your spices?
Our organic concept stores ‘1001 Organic Spicery’ are based in Stone Town and Nungwi [on Ungija]. Beyond our flagship stores, you can find our retail spices in many boutique shops in Zanzibar and Tanzania mainland.
Q. Has the only untouched forest left on archipelago is it very important to you that the farms support and sustain the ecosystem of the island?
Q. I’m sure you have visited Pemba many times during the cloves harvesting period of September to
Zanzibar’s real estate developments are growing very fast. I am okay with that but what is a nice house without fresh air, healthy food, a green garden, the sound of birds, clean drinking water or a relaxing forest walk? It will be a very empty house. Let us focus on sustainability and protect the biodiversity and all natural resourced too. Together we can!
To shop the range and find out more about the 1001 Organic Signature Spice Tour, which guides visitors around some of the farms the social enterprise works with, head to the website at www.1001organic.com
Left: A spice farmer in Pemba
DIGITISING TANZANIA’S AT-RISK
MUSICAL HERITAGE
John Kitime is on a lone mission to create an online digital archive of traditional Tanzanian music. Here, the musician and historian tells Mark Edwards about how he hopes the project will bring a lost generation of musical talent – including his late father – to wider attention.
Tanzanian John Kitime has traits that seem ideal for his role as a musical archivist. Not only is he a talented singer and guitarist with a career spanning five decades that has brought him renown at home and abroad, but he is also an inveterate hoarder.
“I keep just about everything,” he says, extending his arms to indicate the stacked boxes of instruments, vinyl records, audio and video cassettes, CDs, concert posters and other musical paraphernalia that swamp his office from floor to ceiling. John has invited me to meet him on a sunny Saturday morning at Nafasi Arts Space where since 2009 he has run the Tanzania Heritage Project from one of the many shipping containers converted into artists’ studios at the Dar es Salaam cultural centre.
John set up the project alongside the then creative director of Nafasi, Rebecca Corey, to digitise the music library of Radio Tanzania, the country’s only station from its
launch in 1951 until the mid-1990s. Rebecca is now based in the US so John works largely alone, with no funding, yet broadening his search to include the personal archives of Tanzanians. In digitising the mountains of reel-to-reel magnetic tape, vinyl records and shellac 78s – analogue media recordings which are inherently vulnerable to deterioration – he aims to create an online platform of Tanzanian music going back to the first half of the 20th century. The result should be an incredible resource that Tanzanians can explore for insights into the rich musical legacy of their country.
Huge undertaking
It's a Herculean – perhaps even Sisyphean – task for one man. John’s son comes in to help during the week and his daughter, who works in intellectual property, regularly pops in with a home-baked cake to fuel their endeavours. The tech John is working with amounts to one desktop, a laptop, two record decks – one with digital outlet direct
to MP3, a cassette player with a sound card to optimise audio quality and a video player with film archived through Adobe Premiere Pro software.
There are many treasures in the collection worth protecting. John plays me a tape which he has just digitised this morning. It is a recording of a troop of African soldiers at the time of the First World War stationed in Tanzania (then Tanganyika) before returning to British colonies in Nyasaland (now Malawi) and Northern and Southern Rhodesia (now Zambia and Zimbabwe respectively). Given the original tape is more than a century old, the quality is sharp and the soldiers sound surprisingly cheery as they sing as one. One song is in English with the soldiers voicing their content that, “Our money from the army will last until Bulawayo”. Another, sung in Swahili, has them touchingly saying goodbye to each other at the end of the war before returning to their families. John says: “I can remember singing those songs as a kid at school with different lyrics.”
He then digs out another song with a mischievous glint in his eye. “There is so much interesting stuff here. This is a song from the 1950s in which the singer is saying he doesn’t want to ever go to Dar es Salaam as the girls there will spoil your life. It seems the Dar girls had a bit of a reputation at that time. If that song was recorded in the 1980s it would not have been allowed.”
Changing times
John is referring to Radio Tanzania’s strict broadcasting remit during that period. The government-backed station championed local music to the extent that foreign artists were all but banned from the airwaves. While the station sought to build a strong musical culture in the country, the Tanzanian songs that were broadcast were vetted to ensure they were on message with President Julius Nyerere’s ujamaa ethos of fraternity. In his early years as an artist, John can remember falling foul of the station censors. “I recorded a song that had the line ‘I left my heart in
Mwadui [a mining region] with a girl with a diamond in her teeth’. It went through a committee at Radio Tanzania and was censored as it said promoted the stealing of diamonds.” The song remained a favourite of John’s and when he got married in 1973, he rewrote the lyrics in praise of the becoming gap between his wife’s front teeth.
More recently, John’s musical detective work has had the backing of the government. Last year he was tasked with settling the long-running dispute over who was the real composer of hugely popular Swahili love song ‘Malaika’ (‘angel’). A Kenyan musician receives the lucrative royalties for the track, which has been recorded by artists worldwide, but John says he found conclusive proof that it was written by Tanzanian Adam Salim in 1945. In October the new Minister of Culture Damas Ndumbaro announced he would like to know the true author and John was dispatched to Moshi, Adam Salim’s hometown, where he “visited the grave of the woman the song was about and spoke to her family”. He even returned home with a shard of a cracked 45 vinyl disc of the song credited to the Adam Salim Trio and recorded in 1948, a good decade before the Kenyan release. Case closed.
John has travelled far and wide across Tanzania to add to the archive. On top of the Moshi visit recent trips have included Tanga and Arusha. “I told friends I was coming, and word spread. When I arrived, people were handing over their cassettes. My aim is to get to every major town in the country and collect records, cassettes and videos. There is so much out there. I want to digitise it all.”
Digging in the past can prove revelatory. At a recent Tedx talk John gave at the University of Dar es Salaam, he told the audience: “History can explain why you are who you are.” John’s grandmother once told him he was descended from the warrior Chief Isicki, who led a tribe in Tabora famous for refusing to bow down to German rule in the late 19th century. Ultimately, the chief was tricked into a fake truce with the colonialists and his daughter was taken from him, marched to Bagamoyo and sold into slavery three times. “Her last master sent her out to sell vitumbua [coconut rice buns] and she was drawn to the sound of beautiful singing coming from one house. It turned out to be a school run by French catholic
nuns. She sold mangoes on the side to raise the money to join the singing classes and when slavery was abolished, she was taken in by the nuns.”
As a young woman she followed the nuns to Iringa where a Catholic Church was to be constructed. She married one of the builders and had four daughters – one of them, Elizabeth, was the mother of John’s father. “I thought my grandmother must be wrong, but I have done my own research and discovered it is true,” John says.
An appreciation of music has had a life-changing effect on subsequent generations of the family. John’s grandmother led the church choir while John grew up in Iringa and Mbeya with a mother and father united by music. “My father was a gifted musician and played trumpet, guitar, saxophone, mandolin, ukulele and accordion. He married a woman who also loved music. They were always singing – after church or at picnics. We would go down by the river and eat and my father would bring his guitar along.”
Musical family
John plays a tape of his parents – Christina and Francis Kitime – duetting on a song called ‘Umwanivemba’ (‘The child is crying’). His eyes mist as he listens in silence to his parents’ voices sweetly entwine. The song was written by Francis – one of hundreds he composed in his lifetime – and showcases his delicately intricate guitarwork.
“He was very talented guitarist,” John says. “I am influenced by his style of playing, but some of his songs are very challenging. I wish I could play as well as that.” His father’s old guitar rests against a rare section of free wall space in the office. Francis died in 2016. “He loved music until the end,” John says. “When he wasn’t playing it, he was talking about it.”
Local radio stations played some of Francis’ best-known songs in tribute when his death was announced. However, John says his father never got the recognition he deserved during his lifetime. “When I play his music to a Tanzanian now, they say ‘Where was he? How come I never heard of this guy?’”. John shows me clip files full of rejection letters that his father kept – it seems document hoarding as well as musical
ability have been passed on from father to son. Many are from music studios in Kenya. At the time there were no recording studios so in Tanzania so many artists would cross its northern border, but Francis regularly found his requests knocked back.
It became obvious that while music was Francis’ passion, it was never going to support his family. Instead, he was forced into different careers to make ends meet. “My father started out as a teacher,” says John. “Then an oil company salesman. In the early 1970s he ran his own petrol station, but that failed. Eventually he became a hospital administrator in Iringa.”
As to why many of those business ventures fell through, John says his father’s empathetic nature that enabled him to inhabit the lives of others in his storytelling songs could be taken advantage of. “He cared. That’s one of the reasons he never made it in business. He was always lending other people money and he rarely got it back.”
Lost generation
in Swahili, but is given an English language update and a Calypso musical twist by the Kilimanjaro Band, four-piece group that included John on guitar and vocals from 1999 to 2018. The singers belt out the calland-response chorus: “What are they going to say? They are going to say no!”
The music of John’s father still takes up a large part of the set-list of his live performances, whether when performing solo or heading the John Kitime Band. John has built an impressive musical career in his own right. From 1989 until 1994 he was a member of the Vijana Jazz Orchestra – a
has outgrown his office. “What you see is just my collection, I need a bigger place that people can come in and make use of,” John says. “I got this studio in 2022 as the former one was not watertight and put the archive at risk in Dar’s heavy rains. I am looking for a bigger, permanent home.”
Singeli neighbours
Despite his own unrealised singer-songwriter dream, Francis was always supportive of his son’s musical journey. “I started playing guitar in 1966, when I was 11,” he says. “My father was my role model. He brought me chord books and never said ‘no’ when I asked him for help. Not many parents were like that. I had friends who played guitar, but they were forbidden from bringing their instruments home, so they kept them at my house.”
Francis Kitime is part of a lost generation of Tanzanian artists that John hopes his archivism will return back to the public consciousness. As a singer and guitarist, he has also been able to create a living legacy for the music, reinterpreting the vast catalogue of his father’s songs, much of which have never been previously released. Some songs just exist as lyrics written down on paper, which John has written new music to. I get to hear a song about a man fretting ahead of meeting the parents of the woman he wants to marry. It was written by Francis
muziki wa dansi outfit hugely popular across East Africa – and went on to tour the US with Tanzanian illimba (thumb piano) master Ananaia Ngologa and multiple Grammy award-winning banjo player Bela Fleck.
Any spare income from the live shows is used to support the archiving. John also has a regular paying gig as a DJ on Dar online station E-FM Radio in which over three hours every Sunday from 8pm he presents a show that plays many of his latest discoveries from his own archives. It’s a wonderful insight into the breadth and eclecticism of Tanzanian music and has picked up a fervent fan base. “If I go away on my travels and miss a show, I return to some angry messages from listeners. I enjoy doing the show, but it probably costs more to put together than the amount I get paid.” he says.
The Tanzania Heritage Project was launched with funding from Rhodes University in Johannesburg, but now John works alone without financial support on a project that
The studio next door is home to a collective of singeli musicians. At first the 69-year-old musical historian and the teenage DJs and MCs of Dar’s wildest and newest underground dance scene seem incongruous neighbours, but John recognises the threads of musical heritage weaved in among the hectic polyrhythms and pounding beats. “It is a very authentic Tanzanian music”, he says. “It incorporates a variety of local styles from the Zaramo dance parties, traditional drums and mchiriku keyboards and adds rapping with one mike.” The confidence and confrontation of the music shocks him sometimes, though, and makes him think back to how careful he had to be with lyric-writing in the Radio Tanzania era. “I remember when if you wanted to record a song you had to send the lyrics in for censorship. Just to make life easier, we would self-censor. Youngsters have never had those restrictions and their compositions are much more open. Sometimes I laugh at what I’m hearing.”
There has even been some collaboration between the two camps with John adding guitar to a track he considered needed livening up. Singeli’s arrival as the brash upstart that has shaken the foundations of Tanzanian music scene has also inspired John to write a new song heavy on humour and metaphor. Lyrics include: “What have you done to my house? The kitchen is now the toilet.” Still as Tanzanian music continues to evolve, John believes keeping connections with the past exposes new artists to diverse musical influences that can inspire creativity and innovation. He will continue with his archivism to see that as the country’s music scene grows the circle stays unbroken between the future and the past.
THE HIGH LIFE
Dubai Marina to become home to world’s tallest residential building
Air Tanzania destination
Dubai is a city of skyscrapers, but no residential building will tower higher than the Six Senses Residences.
Twiga takes a first glimpse at this icon of ultra-luxury living.
t 517 metres-high, the Six Senses Residences Dubai Marina is set to claim the title of the tallest residential tower in the world.
The Dubai-based real development and investment firm Select Group recently revealed details on its ultraluxury development located
in the vibrant Dubai Marina district.
The 122-storey building will offer residents panoramic views of the city’s harbour and beachfront. Other features will include an unparalleled wellness and lifestyle experience with cardio, strength and functional gyms, virtual cycling and boxing studios, an infinity pool, ice baths, salt room, bio, Finnish and infrared saunas,
sound healing room, massage suites and even a longevity clinic. There will also be an indoor and outdoor cinema and a bar and viewing deck on the 109th floor.
The 251 residences will include two- to four-bedroom deluxe residences, half-floor penthouses, as well as duplex and triplex Sky Mansions.
Commenting on the launch, Rahail Aslam, Group CEO at Select Group, commented, “With the development of Six Senses Residences Dubai Marina, our aim is to redefine luxury living with a central emphasis on the holistic well-being of our residents. Our commitment to excellence
resonates throughout every aspect of the project, from its ultra-luxurious design to its carefully selected range of amenities, offering residents an unmatched lifestyle experience.”
The project is already 25 per cent completed and is scheduled for handover in 2028.
For more details on Select Group’s award-winning portfolio of residential, commercial, hospitality and retail developments, visit select-group.ae
The 122-storey building will offer residents panoramic views of the city’s harbour and beachfront
Six Senses Residences, Dubai Marina
SWEET ‘N’ STICKY SOY BRAISED PORK BELLY
Twiga cookery columnist Belinda Mkony serves up a flavour explosion with this Asian-inspired pork dish.
RECIPE
Ingredients
• ½ kg pork belly or pork belly with bone, skin off, cut into large chunks (about 5cm cubes)
• One cinnamon stick
• Four cloves of garlic
• Two whole star anise
• One table spoon freshly ground black pepper / two to three dried red chilis.
• Fresh spring onion (dipped in icecold water), to serve (optional).
Marinade
• One coriander (cilantro) root (use two if your coriander stems are particularly small)
• Four garlic cloves
• One table spoon white peppercorns
• Two spring onion (white part), finely chopped
• Two table spoon sugar (honey)
• Three table spoon dark soy sauce
• One table spoon soy sauce
• Two table spoon fish sauce
Winter is coming! Yes, I said it, so all you need is a comforting bowl of this luxurious recipe. It's a little sweet, a little sticky, a little salty, and a little spicy, and it’s so deliciously satisfying.
The pork is slow cooked to tender, silky perfection. The meat's richness is a perfect canvas for various flavours, which is why there are so many versions. It is so good in many Asian cuisines, from Filipino Adobo to Vietnamese Thit Kho and Shanghai-Hong Shao Rou. Even within Taiwan, so many variations exist.
I’m unsure what I salivate for more: the silky, opulent fat that melts in your mouth or the tender, flavourful, lean meat that has soaked up all the savoury anise flavour. Get your pot of rice going, or you can enjoy it between a bun of your liking and a side of Asian salad. The question is, are you willing to wait over an hour for perfection? If so, this is the recipe for you. Let’s get to cooking!
Method
Let’s start with the marinade. Using a blender, pestle, or mortar, blend or pound together the coriander root, garlic, and white peppercorns until they become a fine paste. Next, add the green onions and the sugar, then continue blending to form a sticky paste.
Add the pork belly pieces to a large bowl, followed by the marinade paste. Now add the remaining marinade ingredients: dark soy sauce, soy sauce, and fish sauce. Give everything a good mix until all the pork is evenly coated, then leave to marinate for two hours in the fridge or overnight if possible (but even just 20 minutes will still be okay if you’re in a rush!).
Place a medium-sized pot (you want one with a lid; we’ll use that later) over medium-high heat. Add the marinated pork and keep things moving at a gentle sizzle
for four to five minutes. You want every side of the pork to start getting a little colour, but you want to avoid any burning.
It's time for the spices and flavour-makers. Add the cinnamon stick, cloves, and star anise. Pour in hot water, too, and give it all a stir.
You want to cut out a round of baking paper that’s big enough to sit on top of your braised wondrousness and cut a cross shape in the centre. Now pop on the lid, turn the heat to low, and leave everything to make friends for two hours, stirring occasionally.
Scatter over the black pepper and gently stir through. Serve with coriander on top.
To serve, cut strips of spring onion and immerse them in a bowl of ice-cold water; they will create an amazing coil effect.
FOLLOW BELINDA
To keep up with her latest recipes and events, visit Fork.Ur.Munchies on Instagram
Jusnah Gadi A force for change
Q: You are a mentor, educator and advocate helping young professionals navigate the notoriously competitive music industry. I was wondering who were your mentors that supported on your path?
I have so many mentors who don’t even know they’re my mentors, but I particularly credit [UK music manager and promoter] Stephen Budd in really helping me identify what I want to do and opening the doors for me. As far as people who I really admire, it’s a long list! Definitely there would be [US music executive] Clarence Avant, [US rapper and record producer] Jay Z, [Co-President of US record label Roc Nation] Label Shari Bryant and [US music executive and entrepreneur] Lyor Cohen.
Q: Beyond talent, what does an artist need to succeed in Tanzania and what do you think you can do to help?
I think the most important thing for now in Tanzania is investment in education – not just of artists but also all stakeholders across the business to enable capacity building and to build a solid infrastructure consisting of various different sectors. Where I come in is to help consult that process as well as launch initiatives which will deliver resources aligned with that goal.
I would love to work closely with and see the likes of the Tanzanian National Arts Council (BASATA) really do more to sponsor artists for international opportunities as well as injecting cash into education and advocacy for artists and the industry at large.
Jusnah Gadi is a multi-hyphenate entrepreneurial powerhouse. The law graduate is a force for change and inclusivity in the music business, having set up resource hub Young Music Boss and being part of the launch team for the Women in Music Foundation, with both empowering new talent in the notoriously competitive industry. Gadi is of Tanzanian heritage, but is now based in the UK, where one of her most recent projects is co-founding Hot ‘n’ Juicy Shrimp Ldn, the country’s leading seafood boil brand. Here she talks to Twiga about investing in her African identity and her ‘mindblowing’ homecoming to Tanzania.
In addition to that, there is obviously a need to have a better framework around intellectual property and how artists earn from their intellectual property with more sophisticated processes for tracking use and income. This is already happening by the way, there is progress for sure which we’ve seen with the 2022 amendments to the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act. So, the industry and its legislators are definitely at work.
Q: Last year you launched the Women in Music Foundation (WIM) in Tanzania. The music business is notoriously male dominated, but do you think it is changing and how do initiatives such as this catalyse that change?
It is definitely changing. I know many leading women in the Tanzanian music industry who co-founded the chapter with me like Klaire Karolyne, Natasha Stambuli, Annamary Ishengoma and Sandra Brown. Initiatives like WIM help women and girls to see that a career in music is viable, not just as an artist but also as an executive or entrepreneur. It’s important to highlight that in a
society where the cultural norm for women looks different. In addition to that WIM also allows us to build international allies to help strengthen the industry in Tanzania.
Q: WIM also has chapters in Nigeria (the birthplace of Afrobeats) and South Africa (where Amapiano began). Do you feel Tanzania is similarly pioneering in African contemporary music?
I would say Tanzania is a really exciting and fledgling music market with remarkable talent and potential. It’s more important now than ever before to prepare the Tanzanian industry to compete on a global scale in the same way that Afrobeats and Amapiano are.
Q: You have described your childhood growing up in a predominantly white school and neighbourhood in the Netherlands as an isolated experience with plenty of examples of covert and overt racism. How do you think that period has informed your professional life from early roles as a human rights lawyer to the supportive role you play in the music industry?
'I think the most important thing for now in Tanzania is investment in education – not just of artists but also all stakeholders across the business'
It shaped me as a person for sure, made me more resilient and strengthened my desire to always stay connected to my roots, really invest in my identity as an African. It also fuelled my desire to always advocate for marginalised groups and see the disparities in access to resources, information and opportunities people from my background have compared to our white counterparts. I think that permeates everything that I do and want to do or what I am generally driven by.
Q: You have lived most of your life in the Netherlands and the UK and you did not visit Tanzania, the birthplace of your parents, until last year. How was that first visit? Did it feel immediately like a homecoming?
I was born in London, grew up in Holland and moved back to the UK in my early teens. My first time in Tanzania (which I can remember, I am told my parents took me there when I was about two years old) was in 2023.
'I would say Tanzania is a really exciting and fledgling music market with remarkable talent and potential'
When I first experienced Tanzania, I was mind-blown. For the first time in my life, I didn’t look at myself as a black person, just a person. I felt a strong sense of belonging. Also, coming from a family where almost all my mum’s sisters served their country as ministers of education, justice, foreign affairs etc., I always witnessed patriotism and a strong sense of responsibility to contribute to and be proud of where we come from. Experiencing the rewards of that and being on home soil really influenced my own devotion to Tanzania.
Q: While you have highlighted issues within the infrastructure of the Tanzanian music business, you have recognised it holds a real bank
of talent. Can you give us some names of artists you like and are supporting?
Yes, I have flagged some issues, but I have to point out that there is also lots of opportunity and so many trailblazers who are changing the game. The likes of [East African record label] BXTRA, [Tanzanian music distributors] SmileSas, and [artist management company] Stargaze are really shaping the landscape in a positive and strategic way.
I always bring up [Tanzanian singer-songwriter] Marioo because he is a prime example of a young talent with a really astute team who are dynamic and who I know will conquer the world. Some of my personal favourites are Rich Mavoko, Chidi Benz, Fid Q and Appy – I enjoy being able to contribute where I can to their journey.
Q: You are also the co-founder of the successful UK seafood delivery service Hot n Juicy Shrimp London. Dar and Zanzibar are renowned for their super-fresh seafood, could a Tanzanian branch be coming? Who knows, perhaps sooner than you think!
Q: You seem to have so many roles and projects – I haven’t even mentioned your corporate job as a senior compliance executive for a sports and entertainment company. Where do you get that work ethic from?
I get it from my family. As I mentioned before I am surrounded by women who have achieved phenomenal things, I have very big boots to fill.
Q: What do you like to do when/ if you are not working? Are there favourite places in Tanzania you like to escape to?
When I have free time, I sleep or watch documentaries. I also like going out to dinner and one of my favourite places in Dar is Wavuvi on Coco Beach. I also love to escape to Zanzibar for its beautiful scenery. Oh, and I love me some Arusha.
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The baby gadget market is blooming. From floating bath thermometers to a cot that reproduces sounds of the womb, here are some next gen tech for your next generation.
Philips Avent SCH480/00 Baby Bedroom and Bathroom Digital Thermometer
Bathtime is the perfect way to start your baby’s pre-bed routine. This fun, flower-shaped floating thermometer takes the guess work out of testing your baby’s bath water. The thermometer’s accurate digital measurement will tell you when 37°C – the ideal bath temperature for a happy, relaxed baby – is reached. It is safe for little ones to play with in the bath and its clever design means it floats with a slight tilt for easy reading throughout bath time.
Price: US$ 28
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The Tommee Tippee Groegg2 Colour Changing Room Thermometer
One has to assume that whoever coined the term “sleep like a baby” never had children of their own as newborns are notoriously restless sleepers. Among the elements that can disturb their fragile sleep is room temperature. The Tommee Tippee Groegg2 digital room thermometer changes colour to indicate the temperature of the room. The sleep sweet spot is between 16°C and 20°C so anything below or above that and you know to adapt your child’s bedding, clothing or room temperature accordingly. The soft silicone dome-shaped room thermometer features a permanently lit LED display for an accurate temperature reading of the room. The thermometer is powered by a USB cable so there’s no need for batteries. Once you’ve got the temperature just right, the bed-side thermometer’s soft-glow light helps to create a calming sleep environment with three different brightness levels.
Price: US$ 37.70 www.tommeetippee.com
Snoo Smart Sleeper
If you want to turn your baby’s bedroom into more of a ‘bed womb’, then this smart sleeper is for you. It is not cheap, but it comes garlanded with a hatful of awards and is created by US author and child development specialist Dr Harvey Karp. The cot gently rocks and plays womb noises to soothe the baby, increasing the motion and volume if the baby starts to fuss or show signs of waking up. Once the baby calms, Snoo winds back to its baseline state. The set-up includes an app in which you can customise Snoo’s settings, get a daily sleep report and helpful tips from Dr Karp.
Price: US$ 1,750 www.happiestbaby.co.uk
Tommee Tippee Perfect Prep Day and Night
It is normal for babies to wake multiple times in the night to feed in the early weeks and months. But, while it is nothing to worry about, it is not much fun for the parent whose turn it is on feeding duty at 4am. Heating the milk to the exact temperature – especially when in a sleep-starved state – is not easy, but this prep machine does all the work for you – perfect every time. It heats the milk 10-times faster than using a kettle while using 17-times less energy while its antibacterial filter removes all impurities and bacteria from the bottle. It even softly glows as it works in silence to calm the baby. In 40 seconds, the bottle is ready to go. Once feeding is over, your baby – and hopefully you – should return to restful sleep.
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Village life reveals a culture of care, community and calm
Faysal Alao is a vlogger and tour operator from Tanzania living in Arusha. He uploads regular videos about his experiences and everyday lifestyle on his YouTube channel, ‘Lifestyle of Faysal’. You can also keep up with him on Snapchat @faysal_alao and Instagram @callmefays
Most people come to Tanzania and only get to experience life in urban centres with very few venturing out to the villages. They are missing out on experiencing a profound insight into a way of life rich in tradition, community, and simplicity. A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of visiting a small village near Arusha. It proved to be an eye-opening experience that revealed the heart and soul of Tanzanian culture.
My day started at sunrise with the roosters crowing and children laughing as they ran barefoot along dusty paths. Unlike the hustling people of the bustling cities, I’m used to. The villagers here begin their day slowly with morning chores. Men headed into the fields, their faces lined with the wisdom of generations of farming, while women, with babies strapped securely on their backs, went to fetch water from the communal well, balancing heavy pots on their heads with grace and ease.
I joined a group of men in the fields, learning about their farming techniques and sharing stories about our lives. Their hospitality was overwhelming, and as we worked side by side –well, I tried my best – I learned about their dreams, challenges, and unwavering resilience. I began to appreciate how everyone contributes to one another’s well-being and teamwork is everything. The sense of community was palpable.
I also visited a village school. Here children, eager to learn, sat attentively on wooden benches, their eyes sparkling with curiosity. I was lucky enough to be invited to share a lesson, and their enthusiasm was infectious.
In the evening, the villagers gathered around a communal fire, sharing traditional music and dance. As the drums started up some of the villagers broke into a graceful dance that shared stories of ancestors, of love, and of the land they cherish deeply.
I ended my day with a newfound appreciation for the simplicity and richness of rural life in Tanzania. It acted as a reminder that true contentment often lies in the strength of community and the beauty of shared experiences.
Sound and vision
Mark Edwards rounds up the latest releases to stream, screen and read
MUSIC REVIEWS
‘MAISHA’ / Zawose Queens
This 11-track album is the first release from folk-fusion singers Pendo and Leah Zawose, collectively known as The Zawose Queens. The Bagamoyobased Zawose clan is one of the most famous musical families in Tanzania – responsible for spreading traditional Gogo music to the world. Pendo and Leah are the daughter and granddaughter, respectively, of the late Gogo music legend Hukwe Ubi Zawose, who began the musical dynasty. Maisha marks the first time women from the patriarchal Zawose family have taken the lead as singers and performers. The Zawose Queens have also modernised the Gogo sound adding electronic elements such as sampled beats and synthesisers to the traditional acoustic instrumentation – all topped with the Queens’ joyous and otherworldly vocals.
FILM REVIEWS
THE FALL GUY
The role of Ken in ‘Barbie’ turned Ryan Gosling into a pop star, an awards show regular and the internet’s boyfriend, but the actor often gave the impression he couldn’t wait to shake off the persona. His next film, The Fall Guy, is not the one to do it with his character, Colt Seavers, basically an action Ken. Seavers is a film stunt man, hired to make the leading man look good by performing all the dangerous scenes. For all his crashes, tumbles and fights, Seavers falls hardest for film producer Jody (played by Emily Blunt). An on-set accident causes him to leave the film industry, but when Jody – now directing her own film – tasks him with finding her leading man, who has disappeared, he sees a chance to rescue his career, his pride and his love life.
BOOK REVIEWS
AN AFRICAN HISTORY OF AFRICA: From the Dawn of Civilisation to Independence / Zeinab Badawi
In this fascinating book, Sudanese-British television and radio journalist Badawi guides us through Africa’s spectacular history from the very origins of our species, through ancient civilisations and mediaeval empires with remarkable queens and kings, to the miseries of conquest and the elation of independence. Visiting more than 30 African countries to interview historians, anthropologists, archaeologists, and local storytellers, she unearths buried histories from across the continent and gives Africa its rightful place in our global story.
Arts column
SINGELI YA MAAJABU
/ Sisso and Maiko
The raw, uncompromising music that came out of Sisso Studios in Dar es Salaam suburb Mburahati was the shot in the arm that took urban dance movement singeli from street party soundtrack to international acclaim. Singeli ya Maajabu (Singeli of Wonders), the latest release from the studio’s owner, producer Mohammed Hamza Ally (aka Sisso), takes the dance-‘til-you-drop music on a new journey with Morogoro-born producer and keyboardist Maiko as co-pilot. The 14 tracks were recorded live with Sisso on his laptop and Maiko a Yamaha electric piano and a controller keyboard hooked up to FL Studio on his own laptop, to add extra percussion and bass. The set-up allows both artists to head off script and fling in unexpected elements of Afro-house, techno and hip-hop. Nothing surprises more, though, than the track ‘Mangwale’ that does away with the beats for a stretched out choral note of celestial beauty.
SRIKANTH
This inspirational Indian film is based on the real-life story of Srikanth Bolla, a visually impaired entrepreneur who defied the odds to create a lasting impact. When he was born in 1991 in Machilipatnam, his parents were advised to abandon him as he would not be able to care for them in later life and his early years were beset with social prejudice. Still, he studied hard and proved himself adept in science and mathematics, but found the best Indian universities refused to give him a place due to his disability. Instead, he became the first international visually impaired student at the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US. After graduating, he rejected lucrative international job offers to return to India and set up Bollant Industries, a ground-breaking enterprise that provides employment opportunities for unskilled and differently abled individuals to create eco-friendly products. Rajkummer Rao is superb in the title role.
GIRL / Irene
Muchemi-Ndiritu
This accomplished debut novel follows Soila, a young Kenyan woman in the 1990s who, after a traumatic incident, flees her sheltered, conservative upbringing in Nairobi to move to New York. The reality of America proves to be far away from the country of opportunity Soila imagined. She witnesses racism, poverty and entitlement, forcing Soila to begin to acknowledge the legacy of slavery and the blind spots afforded by her Kenyan upbringing. Her life between two cultures comes into harsh focus when she falls in love with a free-spirited New-Yorker and has to choose between the relationship and the chance of repairing ties with her family back home.
Lilian Hipolyte is the executive director of Dar es Salaam creative community Nafasi Arts Space. In her latest column she reveals how women artists are becoming agents of change through their thoughtprovoking work.
Tanzanian activist art hits hard with humour
Recently, I've had the good fortune to participate in a number of roundtable and panel talks centred around the same topic: activism, the artist, and the brush. I learned a few things from talking to some well-known activists and those who were unaware that they were activists.
Art is more than just a feast for the eyes – it’s a call to action, a medium that highlights social issues with a splash of creativity and a dash of humour. From vibrant street murals to satirical cartoons, Tanzanian artists are proving that activism doesn’t always have to be serious to be effective.
Take the bustling streets of Dar es Salaam, where graffiti collective Women Express transforms blank walls into powerful statements. Their bold, colourful creations tackle gender, social and environmental issues, turning everyday spaces into thoughtprovoking journeys. Meanwhile, cartoonist Masoud Kipanya uses his sharp wit and keen eye to poke fun at the powers that be, bringing a smile to faces even as they reflect on serious societal problems.
In the contemporary art scene, Vitali Maembe's music and performance challenge norms and elevate under-represented voices. His work, which sometimes has a light-hearted and humorous quality, challenges audiences to think critically and interact with contentious issues in a way that seems both universal and personal.
Art centres such as Nafasi Art Space provide platforms for these creatives to shine, hosting exhibitions and workshops that mix serious discourse with amusing interaction, making activism a shared and enjoyable experience.
Tanzanian artists are still painting, drawing, and sculpting their way to a better society despite periodic restrictions, demonstrating that sometimes a humorous brushstroke is the greatest way to emphasise the colours of fortitude. So, take out your paintbrush and get involved. Activism has never looked so exciting!
LUCKY
Image: Lilian
Hipolyte
YOUR ULTIMATE TRAVEL COMPANION
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FEATURES INCLUDE:
• Book a flight
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• Book Twiga Miles award tickets.
• Check your Twiga Miles account balance and current tier status.
• Manage your trips, profile and customise your travel preferences.
Download the Air Tanzania App now on Play Store and App Store
Travel information Before take-off
Taking your first flight is certainly exciting, but can also become a source of stress for those who are unfamiliar with the rules, procedures and customs of flying. To prepare yourself for your first flight, it is therefore important to get information on everything you need to do before and during your journey. Here is a useful pre-departure checklist.
1 Before departing, it is important to check the airline’s website for its hand luggage rules: weight, sizes and types of objects you can take on board. For example, as regards liquids, you are advised to carry these in your hand luggage, only in transparent, reseal able, plastic containers, not exceeding 100 ml. If you have connection flights, we advise that you also check the websites of other airlines.
2 Arrive at the airport in advance (at least two hours for domestic flights and three hours for international flights).
3 Check in online, if possible. If travelling with hand luggage alone, you can check in online and print or download your boarding pass which you must take with you directly to security checks.
4 Set your mobile to flight mode, as well as other devices connected to the internet that you are taking on board. Cabin crew will remind you of this step before take-off. With flight mode set, you can still take photos of your unforgettable journey and you can also enjoy the in-flight entertainment system!
AIR TANZANIA FLEET
DE HAVILLAND CANADA DASH
8-Q400
Number of aircraft available:
5 De Havilland Canada
Seat capacity: (3 De Havilland Canada) Business Class 6, Economy 70, (1 De Havilland Canada) Business class 10, Economy 68
Number of flight-deck crew: 2
Range: 2,063 km (1,362 Nm)
Typical cruising speed: up to 360 knots (414 mph or 667 km/hr)
Wingspan: 93 ft 3 in (28.4 m)
Length: 107 ft 9 in (32.8 m)
5 To prevent sickness from ruining your first flight on a plane, we advise you to take natural remedies, such as, for example, ginger tablets or gum to chew.
6 Enjoy the view! By choosing a seat near the window, you will see breath-taking landscapes and you can take photos of the exquisite white clouds you will be flying above.
7 Try to take a nap. Sleeping on the plane will make time pass faster and you will arrive at your destination calm and rested.
8 Lastly, especially during take-off and landing, the change in pressure inside the cabin may cause discomfort in your ears. Chew gum or wear earplugs to combat this.
National carrier Air Tanzania is justifiably proud of its revamped six-strong fleet. Here we take a close-up look at our aircraft with technical data and specifications.
AIRBUS 220-300 (CS300)
Number of aircraft available: 4
Seat capacity: Business Class 12 and 120 Economy Class
Number of flight-deck crew: 2
Range: 6,112 km (3,300 Nm)
Typical cruising speed: 470 knots (541 mph or 871 km/hr)
Thrust per engine at sea level: 23,300 lbf / 103.6 kN
Wingspan: 115 ft 1 in (35.1 m)
Length: 127 ft (38.7 m)
Interior cabin width: 129 inches (3.28 m)
BOEING 737-MAX 9
Number of aircraft available: 2
Seat capacity: Business Class 16 and 165 Economy Class
Number of flight-deck crew: 2
Range: 6,570 km (3,550 Nm)
Wingspan: 117 ft (35.9 m)
Speed: 853 km/h
Length: 138 ft (42.1 m)
Fuel capacity: 25,800 litres
BOEING 787-8 DREAMLINER
Number of aircraft available: 2
Seat capacity: Business Class 22 and 240 Economy Class
Number of flight-deck crew: 2
Range: 13,621 km (7,355 Nm)
Typical cruising speed: 488 knots (561 mph or 903 km/hr)
Thrust per engine at sea level:
64,000 lbf / 280 kN
Wingspan: 197 ft 3 in (60.12 m)
Length: 186 ft 1 in (56.72 m)
Interior cabin width: 18 ft 0 inch (5.49 m)
FREE BAGGAGE ALLOWANCE
Air Tanzania has a free allowance for passengers’ baggage across economy and business class. For full details and rates please see our website www.airtanzania.co.tz or contact booking enquiries
+255 748 773 900
Passports and visas
A valid passport or travel document that is valid for at least six months is required to enter the United Republic of Tanzania.
Visitors will also require a valid visa upon arrival. There are a range of visas available depending on the nature and frequency of your visits, but a single entry visa can be obtained on arrival in Tanzania subject to the fulfilment of all immigration requirements. There is a US$ 50 charge for the visa.
Those travelling to Zanzibar require an inbound health insurance policy, which is mandatory for all foreign visitors. The insurance can
be purchased in advance online or at check-in when departing for Zanzibar. The insurance is charged at $44 per person.
For a full list of visas available and for countries for which special terms exist, visit the Air Tanzania website.
Check-in
Check in online, if possible. If travelling with hand luggage alone, you can check in online and print or download your boarding pass, which you must take with you directly to security checks. You should check in two hours ahead of your flight time for domestic flights and three hours for international flights.
Family travel
Fares for infants and children
BOEING 767-300F CARGO
Number of aircraft available: 1
Seat capacity: N/A
Range: 6,025 km (3,253 Nm)
Typical cruising speed: 488 knots (561 mph or 903 km/hr)
Cargo volume: 438 cubic metres
Cargo weight: 52.7 tonnes
Thrust per engine at sea level:
60,600 lbf / 270 kN
Wingspan: 156 ft 3 in (47.57 m)
Length: 180 ft 3 in (54.94 m)
As a general rule, children up to two years old are not required to have their own seat and are allowed to travel on parents’ lap. An infant tickets costs 10 per cent of the regular fare. Depending on the destination, taxes and fees may apply. Please note that only 1 baby per adult is accepted. You can choose to buy a seat for your baby at the reduced rates for children if any children’s rate is applicable.
If your child is older than two years or turns two while you are travelling, you will have to book a separate seat for him or her and book the children fare for the entire journey. If a child travels with an accompanying adult in the same class of cabin, the child should be seated in the same seat row as the
ECONOMY
BUSINESS
accompanying adult. Where this is not possible, the child should be seated no more than one seat row or aisle away. Reduced rates apply for children aged two to 11 on most routes, depending on the travel class. Children turning 12 years en route need to be booked as adults for the entire journey.
Expectant mothers
Our priority is always your safety and that of your unborn child.
To avoid unnecessary risks to you and your baby, we recommend that all expectant mothers consult a doctor before booking their ticket and inquire about their fitness to fly the length of the trip they intend to take.
Depending on the stage and circumstances of your pregnancy, you may be required to present certain medical forms before flying. For your own safety and the well-being of your child, Air Tanzania will not accept expectant mothers who are pregnant from their 34th week or beyond.
UMNR (children travelling alone)
If you’re planning for your child to travel alone, we’re here to make sure they enjoy their trip and that they are well taken care of throughout their journey.
When you book our unaccompanied minor service, your child will be received at the originating airport, taken care of during transit and while on board the aircraft. He or she will be handed over to the person designated by the parents/ guardians upon arrival at the final destination.
Cost
To avail the unaccompanied minor service, an adult fare needs to be purchased for the child. Please contact us to book the flight and the service.
Infant fare checked baggage allowance
Infants travelling on an infant fare are allowed 10 kg as baggage allowance.
Child fare baggage allowance
Children and infants travelling on a child fare are eligible for the same baggage allowance as adults.
Wheelchairs
If you need wheelchair assistance at the airport, you must advise Air Tanzania of this at the time of booking. You can request wheelchair assistance through our Call Centre or at Air Tanzania Sales offices.
Inflight Wi-Fi
On board Wi-Fi
Enable Wi-Fi on your laptop, tablet or smartphone, and select AirTanzaniaWifi
You will need to launch your web browser, which will display the log-in web portal. From the portal, simply select your preferred price plan.
Portable electronic devices (PEDs) You can use your e-readers, tablets and smartphones from gate to gate – including taxiing, take-off and landing – without a risk to safety.
Note that on-board Wi-Fi is only available on certain aircraft. Please follow cabin crew instructions at all times.
