Rough Guide African Roots Revival - Dunia Watu 'Jagwa Music' Tanzania Dar Es Salaam

Track 8 'Jagwa Music' by Dunia Watu from Rough Guide African Roots Revival released in 2012. The track is also found on the album 'Bongo Hotheads'. The group are from Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania. Jagwa Music are the leading exponent of the Mchiriku style, which originated twenty years ago in the poor suburbs of Dar es Salaam, when cheap Casio keyboards became available, and drew the attention of bands who were playing Chakacha dance music.

Jagwa Music & their peers were immediately attracted by the Casio's lo-fi sound, adopted it, hooked it to vintage amps and megaphones, and the resulting gritty, edgy, distortion-laden sound was rechristened Mchiriku. This new style has been thriving ever since in Tanzania, although it's been deliberately ignored by the media, as it is associated with uhuni (thuggery) and the city’s low life.

Jagwa Music have a large following around Dar es Salaam: almost everybody knows their songs, which relate to everyday issues. Many of their lines have become proverbial, and you can see quotes from their songs painted as slogans to the sides or backs of the local dala dala bus taxis. The songs often contain advice on how to survive in the city, when you're faced with unemployment, oppressive relatives, AIDS and unfaithful girlfriends or husbands, drugs and alcohol.