Mambo Moto Moto. Music in Tanzania Today

Looking at the music of present-day Tanzania opens a broad range of perspectives on a multitude of forms of expressions that require a particularly large pluralism of methods. As cooperation und locally added value are no longer blocked out of international musical and cultural activities, the question must be raised how a contemporary musicology may be shaped under these new pretexts. The papers in this volume are vivid proof that also social, historic, commercial, political and other connotations are of interest. Mambo Moto Moto means something like „hot stuff“— a description that is certainly not amiss when talking about the traditional and contemporary music of Tanzania.
The ten contributions deal with musical culture and practise in Tanzania, from the vocal polyphony of the Wagogo women (Gerhard Kubik, Philip Küppers & Kedmon Mapana) to traditional and religious music on Zanzibar and along the Swahili coast (Hildegard Kiel, Aïsha Othman), from urban trends (Kelly Askew, Werner Graebner) to the music of the quartet Wamwiduka as an example for transcultural musical processes (Tiago de Oliveira Pinto), and from questions of cultural education (Mitchel Strumpf, Kedmon Mapana) to practical aspects of preserving the treasures of Radio Tanzania (David Tinning). These deeply interesting texts offer a view on music in Tanzania that goes far beyond conventional volumes in musicology as it includes research, inventory, didactic aspects and presentations of projects in equal measure.
A 80-minute DVD contains the film With the Drums in their Luggage about the journey of the Ufunuo Muheme Group from their home village in Central Tanzania to Rudolstadt and Weimar in Germany in July 2014. The disc also includes live footage from the bands Dogo Dogo Stars, Jagwa Music, Segere Original, and Wamwiduka.