AY speaks out on his music and politics

Dar es Salaam. AY is considered as one of the pioneers of the current Bongo Flava who first broke on to the scene with his East Coast Crew with a debut single ‘Ni Raha Tu’ in 2001.

East Coast as a group then boasted of talented artistes such as Mwana FA, Pauline Zongo, Snare, OTEN, Buff G, Iman Abbas and GK.

Fifteen years down the road after going solo, he has maintained his relevance with a model that many an artiste admires across the continent.

His practical approach to the industry earned him a nickname ‘Mzee Wa Commercial’ and no wonder he is credited with having a hand in the success of many artistes in the country.

The last three months has been a season of campaigns and many artistes have taken sides, some for the money and some for just their ideological preference.

The hunt for the vote this weekend is at a feverish pitch as all camps make frantic efforts to win over voters.

AY for his part stayed away from the campaigns as he believes sometimes silence is the best ship home.

According to AY, endorsing a certain candidate or camp is a personal choice that one chooses to make or not to make for personal reasons and it is by the same coin that he chose not to do politics.

“Personally I don’t do politics. The decision for an artiste to endorse a political party, candidate or change lyrics of their songs is a personal choice. But in one way you could be dividing your fan base because people who support you are from different political divides. I would never do that for whatever amount of money,” he says.

He echoes a common slogan that there is life after elections and so it isn’t right for him to let his fans down by any means.

From his humble rise, he became the first artiste to ever win a continental award when he brought home the Channel O award after years of false tries.

This, he believes was not only his moment of breakthrough but the Bongo Flava industry’s moment of recognition as it strengthened Bongo Flava’s image at the market place.

“This inspired and pushed more artistes to work hard. It sent the message that it is all possible as long as the content and the story board has the quality that is required. In the beginning most of us didn’t believe in our self but that is long gone,” says AY.

Though he falls short of claiming that Tanzania’s music has finally got where he always dreamt it should be, he believes that giant strides have been made throughout the continent to create a unified African music industry.

“I don’t really think that we’re at the peak yet. It is like we are beginning, I once told you that there will come a point where we shall have only one African music industry and this is what has started to take shape. This is a vision that I had almost 10 years ago,” he says.

It actually bothers him that not many artistes are making it on the international scene despite all the connections that are available.

“This bothers me a great deal. When I started it was very difficult. I didn’t have any connections like what I give others right now. I would walk into a place without knowing anyone. Things are now much easier so why shouldn’t we get there?” he asks.

According to AY, the success of artistes such as Diamond should be a wake-up call and that it has added value to the Tanzanian music industry.

“Diamond’s  success now brings more meaning to the country’s music industry. I helped him get the connections in his first international collabo and I would love to see more artistes tread this line,” says the Zigo singer.

 He adds: It brings more meaning and I don’t want to see only two or three artistes succeeding at that level. In an industry like ours we should have very many more artistes breaking through.

His outstanding partnerships with artistes across the continent have made him the go-to person as he enjoys close ties with musicians such as Sauti Sol, Jose Chameleone, Bebe Cool, Jay Martins and many other West African acts.

 The international collabos seem to be the route that most Tanzanian artistes have chosen for the much sought after international breakthrough but AY is rather cautious as some have in the process taken steps backward.

“This has helped people take notice of what is happening in Tanzania musically. However, my advice is that they should not try to sound like Nigerians or else you will always play second fiddle because it is their music. We should try to stick to Bongo Flava this way we can marry the two genres to create something unique,” says AY who is the brain behind ‘Mkasi’ . 

He adds: By sticking to Bongo Flava it means you control the whole process unlike when you try to sound like West Africans.

With so many years in the industry AY has chosen to diversify into other fields to maximise his potential as he believes one cannot be a musician throughout life.

 “I have tried mostly to invest in other things and that is how we got to team up with Salama and Josh Murunga to come up with Mkasi and Siasa Za Siasa.”  He says that as musicians it is important to invest in different fields instead of sticking to music alone.

“Most successful musicians around the globe have businesses besides music that keep them relevant. It is vital for an artiste to see the other side of the world because we cannot be musicians forever.”

In an industry that has become very competitive in many ways the Leo singer believes that flexibility is key to longevity and that is why he doesn’t stick to one style of music. “A song like Zigo only shows how flexible I am musically. When you remember ‘Leo’, ‘Yule’ and even ‘I don’t Wanna be Alone’, they are all my qualities. I don’t do one type of music and that is why they call me ‘Mzee wa Commercial’.”