What are you listening to?

Beautiful old-school Tanzanian dance music performed by a great Congolese singer named Remmy Ongala. The song is in Swahili, a lovely language which I'm very fluent in. This particular song brings tears to my eyes.

 

Remmy Ongala again with this wonderful song "Dunia." (World)

A favorite of mine.

 

Remmy once again with "Nani Ambembeleze Mwenzie." (Who Visited You?)

Siwezi kusahau muziki wako mzuri kwa maisha yangu yote. Kulala kwa amani, ndugu yangu. Vijana na wazee wa Afrika na dunia nzima bado wanalia kwa sababu hamna tena nasi. Tutaendelea kukupenda na Mungu atabariki na kulinda nafsi yako. Lala salama, daktari!

I wanted to just make a mention as a tribute to this great singer who is no longer with us. I loved his music so much and he was a close personal friend of mine!

 

Hey Robby! Welcome Back!

 

Thank you my friend!

 

In 2011 Manowar re-recorded their first record which originally came out in 1980. This recording features 3 of the 4 original members. Karl Logan joined the band in the mid 90's on guitar and has been killing it ever since. Karl's guitar work absolutely destroys Ross' guitar work on the original version. Ross is a great player but Karl brought Manowar to a much higher level with his technical proficiency and theory based approach !!!

 

Good Lord, Swahili too?

 

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJNbijG2M7Owf3TjR8WhvHOwABqHsvBra

This is a really cool album. Bout time they made it.

 

Jared, without trying to brag, I speak Swahili perfectly. I had a few Congolese people in wide-eyed shock when I started speaking it to them because they thought I lived in Tanzania. My accent is pure Tanzanian, even according to Tanzanians. Swahili is a beautiful language and actually very easy to learn, especially if you speak Arabic which I specialize in because almost 40% of Swahili comes from Arabic. Swahili is spoken all over east Africa, in countries like Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. I guess certain languages are easy for me to learn and others like for instance, English are or were more difficult. I think I have a natural affinity with central and east Africans like Tanzanians, Rwandans, Burundians, and some Congolese. I also speak fluent Lingala which is the lingua franca of the DRC and also Congo-Brazzaville.

Tell me what you think of this lovely song. It made me cry because it's about a young boy who grew up with nothing, his Dad disappeared without a trace before he was born, and a few years after he was born his Mom died. He keeps singing "Mama, uko wapi?," (Mama, where are you?) "Mama, unakwenda wapi?" (Mama, where did you go?) The boy sings "I sleep on a straw mat and I clean shoes and I survive on hand-outs from the wealthy." The title "Sauti ya Mnyonge" means "The Voice of the Underprivileged."

Furahia wimbo huu! (Enjoy this song!)

 

I had the biggest crush on the chick bassist when I was 15, when this came out.

 

SEPUULLLTTUUURRRRAAAA!