Tanzanian guitar virtuoso Said Mabera dies

Veteran Tanzanian guitarist Said Mabera is dead.

Mabera, 72, died at his home in Goba, Dar es Salaam, on Monday night, and was expected to be buried on Tuesday, according to family sources.

Mabera, who was popularly known as “Dr” Mabera in music circles, had been ailing for about two months during which he was rarely seen on stage.

The guitarist is noted for having stayed with Msondo Ngoma Music Band for 47 years, having joined the group in 1973 when it was known as Nuta Jazz Band.

Mabera was born Kigoma in western Tanzania in 1948.  He began his music career in Kigoma in the 1960s after learning to play the guitar and trumpet, before moving to Arusha in the early 1970s.

His big break came in 1973 when he joined Dar es Salaam-based Nuta Jazz Band as a lead guitarist.  The band was owned by the labour wing of the then ruling party, the Tanganyika African National Union (Tanu).

Despite being still in his 20s, Mabera quickly established himself as an acclaimed guitarist in Tanzanian music.

Mabera stuck with the band, then known as Juwata Jazz Band, when several leading musicians left in the late 1970s and early 1980s and joined rival groups Dar International and Orchestra Mlimani Park.

He stayed with the band during its various phases in which it was later known as Ottu Jazz Band and Msondo Ngoma Music Band.  In the late 1990s, the Organization of Tanzania Trade Unions (Ottu) withdrew its sponsorship of the band, whose name changed to Msondo Ngoma Music Band, with ownership being transferred to group members.

In 2011, Mabera was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award during that year’s Kili Music Awards in recognition of his contribution to Tanzanian music.