Muziki wa dansi

Muziki wa dansi (in Swahili: "dance music"), or simply dansi, is a Tanzanian music genre, derivative of Congolese soukous. It is sometimes called Swahili jazz because most dansi lyrics are in Swahili, and "jazz" is an umbrella term used in Central and Eastern Africa to refer to soukous, highlife, and other dance music and big band genres. Muziki wa dansi can also be referred to as Tanzanian rumba, as "african rumba" is another name for soukous.

Muziki wa dansi began in the 1930s in the Dar es Salaam area (where most dansi bands come from), and it is still popular in Tanzania, although new generations are more likely to listen to bongo flava or other forms of pop music. Notable dansi bands include DDC Mlimani Park, International Orchestra Safari Sound, Juwata Jazz, Maquis Original, Super Matimila, and Vijana Jazz.

In the first decades of the 20th century, soukous bands from Belgian Congo and French Congo were getting very popular across Eastern Africa. This craze brought along dance clubs, especially in major cities like Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, where bands would play live 7 days a week. While some of these bands were actually from Zaire, local bands emerged in Kenya, Tanzania and elsewhere and began to develop their own blend of soukous. In Dar, some of the bands that pioneered the "tanzanian rumba" were Dar es Salaam Jazz Band (founded in 1932), Morogoro Jazz and Tabora Jazz. These early bands were typically big bands based on brass and drums.

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