COVER: Lina’s Ole Themba reinvents Benga

Linah Sanga’s latest offering is an infectious one as it has dominated airplay across the continent.

She has taken an unusual, but innovative approach in her composition of ‘Ole Themba’, by abandoning the keyboard backed Bongo Flava style and opted for Benga groves in her singing and guitar accompaniment.

It is a brilliant move that has earned plenty of adoration from music enthusiasts.

In fact, they say she has dared to tread a path that many of her colleagues and idols have never dreamt of and claiming that the starlet  is curving out a unique ‘Benga Flava’ out of ‘Bongo Flava.’ 

Contrary to what some ill informed critics have tried to put forward, Ole Themba falls under contemporary hits whose musical content bears true East African material.

Many of these critics believe that the song borrows heavily and rests on the shoulders of South African culture.

They could be right judging by the most recent trends that have characterised Tanzanian music with artistes choosing to look either south or west.

In the process ignoring a very rich heritage right under their noses.

Unknown to many of the present generation of fans, Ole Themba, is heavily flavoured by Benga music in its vocals and guitar styles, a situation that has forced pundits to baptize her innovation as an invention of Benga Flava.

“Lina’s Ole Themba is pure Benga  in most parts of the vocal style and the guitar accompaniment. The title ‘Ole Themba’ and dancers clad in Zulu or Ndebele attire cannot  make it culturally South African by any aspects,” notes Benno Villa Anthony, former Mwenge Jazz singer, who also had career stints with various Kenyan bands  in the 1990s.

Villa adds that Ole Themba gives a picture of how Benga could have looked like if legends such as Daniel Owino Misiani and Collela Mazee could have chosen to record at Radio Tanzania Dar es Salaam(RTD) where its producers normally fused out pulsating bass riff and kick drums.

“Her choice of the now forgotten Benga style in her music is a plus since Benga guitar is one of the most distinctive 10 guitar styles in Africa, it was very unfortunate that Benga didn’t appeal to Dar es Salaam audience, probably due to its tribal allegiance. But it is truly East African style that is found nowhere else in the world,” adds Jason Kapaku, a Mwanza-based fan.

Title controversy

Music enthusiasts in various parts of the country think it could sound more Tanzanian if it were Ole Temba, taking Ole from Maasai and Temba from Kilimanjaro’s Chagga.

“But still it could bring confusion since the two tribes don’t share names,” notes Michael Shirima, a Mbezi Louis resident.   

What baffles music enthusiasts is that the song was neither produced in Nairobi nor Kericho at the Chandarana record firm which was used by legends such as Mbaraka Mwinshehe and Juma Kilaza.

Instead, it was produced in South Africa by renowned producer Godfather, who has in the recent past churned out a number of hits for Tanzanian and Nigerian artistes.

A throwback to the Oluoch Kanindo-James Mhilu era.

‘Ole Themba’ has been considered by some to have eventually blended Afro Cuban jazz influenced music of Tanzania and rocky music of Kenya that separated styles and tempo choice.

These two were led by legendary producers Oluoch Kanindo(Kenya EMI records) and James Mhilu who produced most of Tanzania’s dance music at Radio Tanzania Dar es Salaam’s studio.

“To me Ole Themba, without a pulsating bass, kick drums and guitar uptempo, brings itself to James Mhilu style of chopping off drum kick, pulsating bass to maintain the music subtlety,” commented Fred Onyango, a veteran music fan in Dar es Salaam.

Kenya’s Oluoch Kanindo produced most of Benga hits which appealed to fans in Kenya, northern parts of Tanzania and Lake Zone, but unfortunately the music failed to win audiences in Dar es Salaam.

Perhaps this was due to the dominance of the subtle rumba and scores of Coastal genres.  Though very popular in Kenya, Benga music which first came to prominence in the 1970s, was spearheaded by Tanzania’s Daniel Owino Misiani of Shirati Jazz Band.

His invention of the Benga style has given him a place in history as one of the most famous Luos to have lived to date.

Just like most musicians, the God father of Benga Misiani relocated to Kenya probably after finding that his type of music didn’t appeal to the rest of Tanzania.

Many believe that this was mainly due to its  allegiance to Luo traditional melodies and perhaps the fast-paced guitars and pulsating bass.

South African choice

Contrary to the reality, some music fans in Tanzania have criticised Lina’s choice of South African dancers, their attire and dancing style claiming they made the song lose its East African originality.

Lina is one of many African artistes who have recently opted to shoot their videos in South Africa.

Tanzania’s Diamond and Nigeria’s P Square are among others from the continent.

“South Africa is not just another African country; it is the most industrialised nation on the continent with advanced recording technology,” says a Bongo Flava musician who preferred anonymity .

As witnessed in Lina and Diamond works, most of these music videos shot in South Africa are set in exotic or rundown South African locations, the artiste cruising a right-hand drive car with white or mullato women cascading the scene here and there.

Some artistes, especially those from Nigeria, claimed that it makes more economic sense to shoot a music video in South Africa since it is cheap and yet with good international quality.