THE GREAT AHMAD KIPANDE OF KILWA JAZZ BAND

 THIS BLOG WILL NOW ALSO BE PUBLISHING ARTICLES IN ENGLISH. TODAY WE BEGIN WITH THIS ARTICLE ON THE GREAT SAXOPHONE PLAYER AND BAND LEADER THE LATE AHMAD KIPANDE

Ahmad Kipande

Ahmad Kipande was born in Kilwa. In 1953 he decided to move to Dar es Salaam the capital city of  Tanganyika to look for employment. When he arrived in Dar es Salaam, among the things he found very interesting was gramophone technology, an instrument that could play the phonograph, and music could be heard.  78 rpm shellac records from Cuba were very popular. The titles were in Spanish, but they were also numbered beginning with the letters GV, they were famously known as the GV series records. Ahmad began to listen and enjoy the music from these great Cuban musicians, he also began to listen to music from East African musicians like Fundi Konde, Harry Makacha, and Frank Humplink and his sisters. Gradually, he began to have the desire to become a musician.

Kipande started teaching himself how to play various instruments by himself, in time he could play various instruments including the guitar, ukulele, banjo, and violin and finally he learned the saxophone, and this instrument brought him great fame. Ahmad’s first music group was the Tanganyika Jazz Band. Tanganyika Jazz Band was a group of individuals who formed the band as a hobby.  The band consisted of  guitars, violins, drums, trumpets and saxophones.

In 1958 Ahmad  decided to form his own band, and ​Kilwa Jazz Band was born. He bought all his instruments, none were electric, he then made his set of drums, at that time drums were made using tin barrels and cow or goat skin.

Among the first recruits of this band there was Zuberi Makata who was taught to play the sax by Kipande himself. Makata was knocked by a car and died later in his old age. The other recruits were Duncan Njilima and Omari Omari. At that time other bands that already existed in the city of Dar es Salaam and were trending were Homeboys Jazz band, Dar es Salaam Jazz band, and Cuban Marimba Branch Band, which was a branch of Cuban Marimba Band of Morogoro. The Morogoro Cuban Marimba band led by the late Salum Abdallah had many branches, for example, there was also the Cuban Marimba Branch of Kilosa.

Kilwa Jazz started playing music in various styles including rumba, samba, bolelo, and chacha.

Kilwa Jazz Band soon became one of the most popular bands in Dar es Salaam. Ahmad Kipande and his Kilwa Jazz Band participated in many national events. Kilwa Jazz Band was one of the groups that performed at the state house on 9^th December 1961, the day Tanganyika got its Independence.  And they sang a special song praising Tanganyika for getting Uhuru. The song had these lyrics;

"O Lord, we ask you,

 Bless Tanganyika,

 We have got freedom

But hearts are sad,

Our comrades are suffering,

 The colonialists have still caught them in a web…”

 

 Kilwa Jazz Band was a very respected band, it was appointed by the government to participate in the Independence celebrations of Malawi and Uganda.

One of Kilwa Jazz most popular song was based on the words spoken by Mwalimu Nyerere 'It can be done, play your part'

Kilwa Jazz band had many songs that were loved and continue to be loved, among them there was a song called Kifo cha penzi. In short, the composer says, “The death of love is a bad thing, never pray for the death of love, and in the song we are reminded of two historical facts, one line says, 'It’s better to die by being hit by a double-decker bus going to Ilala', in those years there were double decker buses in Dar es Salaam . Another verse says 'It’s better to die by being hit by a trailer truck going to Zambia'. At the time cargo and oil to Zambia were being transported by trucks.

Mapenzi yananivunja mgongo (Love is breaking my back), Kifo cha pesa (Death of Money), Dolly, Nacheka cheka Kilwa leo (I am laughing today), Vijana tujenge nchi (Young people let's build our country), Rose wauwa (Rose you are killing me) are some of the songs from this band which was Ahmed Kipande's dream.

In 1973, Kilwa Jazz Band was invited to perform as a curtain raiser before the performance of the Rumba music legends, Franco and his T.P.OK Jazz at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam.

Ahmed Kipande died on April 27, 1987, after suffering from a stroke for a long time, but he will continue to be remembered for the good music he left behind in this nation.

May Ahmad Kipande Rest in Eternal Peace.