The Kilimanjaro Band from Tanzania - Top live performing group

The Kilimanjaro Band
from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

The Kilimanjaro Band was formed some thirty years ago in Tanga, a north western coastal town in Tanzania. The bands original name was The Love Bugs performing mostly cover songs.

The Love Bugs later changed the name to The Revolutions and moved to Dar es Salaam, the business capital of Tanzania where they faced stiff competition from the already established bands in the city.

However, the band soon established its reputation and was consequently booked to perform in top hotels in two main cities of Tanzania, Arusha and Dar es Salaam.

In 1989 Kilimanjaro Band moved to London and it was here that the band changed its name to the present name "The Kilimanjaro Band". During their stay in London, the band released their first album "Kata Kata". In London the band preformed on the same bill with great African artists like Baaba Maal from Senegal and Sam Mangwana from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The band was invited to perform in venues like the Hackney Empire, Hammersmith La Palais and Africa Center. 1992 saw them in Japan. This time the group was in the country for two years performing in top hotels and due to the terms of contracts, the band performed mostly cover songs.

However, the band was good enough to slowly start including its own material between cover songs and this brought invitations for the Band to perform in top venues including the Gunma Park, where the Band played strictly African repertoire. Kilimanjaro Band's original six-month contract was renewed again and again!

In 1997 The Kilimanjaro Band released their second album "Maua" (flowers in Swahili). With the female voice of Nyota Waziri now adding flavor to the album, the album went on selling well despite rampant piracy the is affecting the music scen in Tanzania.

In September 200 the Band released probably their best album "Kinyau Nyau". The album, with seven songs, has been very well received. One of the tracks, 'Ujumbe', talks about prevention and the scourge of AIDS.

The songs are a mixture of different styles, mixing modern and traditional Tanzanian music. This includes 'Ndembele', a lullaby from the WaNyamwezi of Tabora, 'Boko', a traditional song of the Wadigo from Tanga, a Kiswahili salsa song and other songs with strong influence from Tanzanian coastal music.

Musicians
Nyota Waziri - Vocals, Mohammed 'Moddy' Mrisho -guitarist / vocals, Mabrouk 'Babu Njenje' Hamisi - drums/vocals, Waziri Ally - keyboards/vocals, Juma Omari - perc./vocals, Keppy Kiombile - bass/vocals, Abou Mwinchumu - perc/vocals, John Kitime - guitar/vocal, Musa Khalid - sound engineer /percs.