Will Yamoto find joy after split?

Dar es Salaam. Three years ago Yamoto Band was the reference point in Bongo Flava; they were doing just what many young musicians weren’t doing.

They had discipline; very well organized, all under the tutelage of Mkubwa Fella aka Said Fella and they were soon enjoying the fruits of hard work. They were stars who were destined for greatness.

Their 2014 hit single Nitakupwelepweta is still one of the biggest songs to be released by a Tanzanian band with close to some 5 million views on YouTube.

The following year, they came up with hits such as Mahaba Niuwe and Cheza kwa Madoido and quickly rose to regional prominence.

However, since the release of Mama in February last year, fame and fortune seems to have worked against them and it wasn’t a surprise to see each band member settling for a solo project.

Fingers have been pointed and unfriendly remarks too have been made for what seems to be thunderous fall for a group that was once the envy of many.

Rumours started spreading early this year after the group abandoned the house they were living in Tabata, a suburb in Dar es Salaam.

Said Fella, the man accredited with pulling the four boys who make the Yamoto music group together, is trying to play down the obvious eventuality.

Speaking to Bongo 5 recently, the prominent businessman, tried to absolve Dogo Aslay of any blame, saying it was being economical with the truth for each artiste to try to gain prominence than use the group for growth.

“When Yamoto started, I wanted Alsay to hold the hands of the others so that they become popular. But business has changed and groups are no longer in demand.

The fee for a group is very different compared to that of an individual artiste,” says Fella, of the situation that has Yamoto fans disappointed. According to Fella it was mainly a business decision, one that forced them out of a hilarious show like Sauti Za Busara in February.

As many groups such as Sarabi and Sauti Sol will confess Busara is an ideal platform that thrusts artistes to the greater international platform.

This was a missed opportunity that probably could have save face but the seeds of disintegration had been sown, they withdrew at the last minute.

“When people hear the fee Yamoto demands, they run away yet they can pay an individual artiste up to Sh1.8 million. We looked at the situation and decided, as management, to let each artiste earn from their own sweat,” he says.

But why is Fella absolving Dogo Aslay of any crime? Did the Kusema artiste, who was already a star before the group came about, become too selfish for the group?

According to Beka Flavour, a member of Yamoto, Aslay was the reason the group was disbanded.

“We asked ourselves why Aslay had been allowed to released a song while we were silent as if we do not have the talent to that, so we decided to go our separate ways and do what he did, so we asked the management and Fella said we are growing up so we need to try things out,” says Beka.

The statement contradicts Fella and shows the deep-seated animosity Aslay had created in the group.

Aslay on his part blamed poor decisions, he points out the financial problems the group had ran into.

“When we released the Madoido video, we had so many shows and zero time to enable us to shoot more videos but we were also building houses and we sort of lost focus,” he says.

“We came back and did Suu, which we did in Zanzibar and we had money to shoot the next video in South Africa, but we ended up doing things that derailed us and talking about them would be opening closed wounds,” he adds.

Yamoto’s breaking up, much as it will be heart-breaking for many fans of the boy band, won’t be the first case of a high profile group to do so in Bongo.

TMK was among the early groups to break up at the peak of their powers.

The super group, from Temeke in Dar es Salaam, was so popular that former President Jakaya Kikwete tried to intervene to stop the infighting. East Coast Team and Gangwe Mob also split much to the disappointment of fans.

Veteran bongo artiste Inspector Harun alludes to the inevitability of groups breaking up, saying people grow up and interests change.

“Maybe the kids have grown up and want to do things differently, which is not discouraged, so long as there is respect and there is recognition of what each want to achieve,” he said.

This is not a new thing as several successful groups in the past have disintegrated in search of success. Groups such as Gangwe Mob, TMK, Hard Blasters’ Crew, Kwanza Unit just to mention a few.

Those who left thes groups went on to be successful with rapper Prof Jay being one of those who found success after he left hard Blasters.