Music veteran Gurumo exits the stage at 74
Veteran musician Muhidin Mwalimu ‘Gurumo’, who died yesterday in Dar es Salaam. He is reputed to have composed 300 songs in his career spanning 53 years PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- The seasoned vocalist and composer died only four months after officially retiring from music to mark the end of an illustrious career dating back to 1960
Dar es Salaam. Veteran musician Muhidin Mwalimu “Gurumo” died yesterday in Dar es Salaam.
Gurumo, 74, who had been in poor health since 2009, died at around 4pm at his home in Makuburi, according to close relatives. He is expected to be buried today.
The seasoned vocalist and a most prolific composer died only four months after officially retiring from music. A big concert was held in his honour in Dar es Salaam on December 15, last year, to mark the end of an illustrious career spanning 53 years.
Gurumo was born in 1940 in Kisarawe District, Coast Region. He made his first foray into music in 1960 when he joined Kilimanjaro Chacha Band of Dar es Salaam.
He quit the group for Rufiji Jazz, also of Dar es Salaam, in 1961 before crossing over to Kilwa Jazz in 1963.
Gurumo’s big break came when he was drafted as a founder member of Nuta Jazz in 1964. He composed about 50 songs while with Nuta Jazz and is credited with originating the group’s Msondo Ngoma dance style.
In 1978, he left the group, which had then changed its name to Juwata Jazz Band, and joined the star-studded Orchestra Mlimani Park, whose other founder members included Cosmas Thobias Chidumule, Abdallah Gama, Joseph Bernard, Abel Balthazar, Joseph Mulenga, Michael Enock and Hamisi Juma. Gurumo composed the hit Kassim in 1978, making the band a force to be reckoned with on the local music scene.
Fierce rivalry
Gurumo’s decision to cross over to Orchestra Mlimani Park from Juwatta Jazz Band sparked a fierce rivalry between the two bands that exists to this day
He stayed with Mlimani Park for seven years before leaving in 1985 to join Orchestra Safari Sound (OSS), which had been reconstituted following the departure of Congolese guitarist and band leader Freddy Ndala Kasheba. Gurumo changed the group’s style from Kasheba’s dukuduku to ndekule. Under Gurumo, OSS was a mixture of Tanzanian and Congolese musicians, whose other members included Hassan Bichuka, Skassy Kasambula, Numbi Kileba “Vicky” and Kassim Rashid.
The musical nomad in Gurumo was evident again in 1990 when he rejoined Juwata Jazz, which had been renamed Ottu Jazz Band, 12 years after quitting the band. He stayed with the group, which was renamed Msondo Ngoma Music Band in 2002, until his retirement last year.
Gurumo is reputed to have composed over 300 songs during his long career.
The singer had in recent years been in and out of hospital. President Jakaya Kikwete visited him at Muhimbili National Hospital in 2010.
Other prominent Msondo Ngoma Music Band members who died in the last ten years were Suleiman Mbwembwe, Moshi William, Athumani Momba and Joseph Maina.
