African star's homage to Zanzibar

It was “a day at the beach”, explains legendary Congolese-Kenyan musician Samba Mapangala, that sparked his island serenade, Zanzibar. Featured on his latest album, Maisha ni Matamu (Life is Sweet), the song is one of two released as part of Mapangala’s recent East African media blitz to promote his full album, a collection of seven new songs, to be released by Virunga Records next month.

I met up with Mapangala briefly at the Tembo Hotel in Stone Town, along with his manager, CC Smith, to catch a glimpse of the legendary musician’s genius and generous spirit.

Having headlined with his band Orchestra Virunga at the Sauti za Busara music festival in 2009, Mapangala was so captivated by the warmth of Zanzibar and her people that he knew he had to compose a love song to the island. He describes Zanzibar as a place where “calm and respect” are still valued and honoured as part of everyday life, where the people are “wasafi” (pure-hearted) and “wakarimu” (kind).

The hit song “Zanzibar” features Mapangala’s signature rumba style – upbeat, hip-swaying, long-lasting interlocking rhythms full of orchestral horn-power and heavy bass-beats that make you feel like Mapangala literally poured Zanzibari sunshine through the music. Who better to star in Mapangala’s video of the irresistible song than Zanzibar’s esteemed musical matriarch, Bi Kidude, whom he met at the festival in 2009?

“Meeting her was historic,” Mapangala explains with a twinkle in his eyes “I was only too happy to meet her.” Bi Kidude (Fatuma Binti Baraka) will appear with Mapangala alongside guest Kenyan vocalist Awilo Mike Otieno in a music video recently shot on Zanzibar island by video producer Adam Juma.

The video, explains manager CC Smith, is a “travelogue”, detailing Mapangala’s impressions of Zanzibar, returning to perform at Sauti za Busara after having migrated to the United States seven years ago and settling just outside Washington DC with his wife and four children.

In Zanzibar, Mapangala buoyantly begins, “Nimetoka Marekani/Nimefika kisiwa cha Zanzibari! Nimeipenda! Nimechoka Marekani/Nimefika kisiwa cha Zanzibar/Nimeipenda!” (I’ve come from America/I’ve arrive on the island of Zanzibar/ I love it! I’m tired of America/I’ve arrived on the island of Zanzibar! I love it!). He praises Bi Kidude’s musical wisdom, the kind people of Zanzibar, and the Spice Islands’ delicious culinary delights.

The toe-tapping refrain is bound to be the travel anthem for anyone who has every lived or visited the island of Zanzibar and fallen in love: “Zanzibar leo/Zanzibar leo/Zanzibar leo/Nitarudi Zanzibar leo” (Zanzibar today/Zanzibar today/Zanzibar today/I will return to Zanzibar today).

The full album itself is a homecoming of sorts, as Mapangala yearns to re-establish a strong musical presence in Nairobi, Kenya, where he first blazed a musical career spanning over four decades and several continents with classics like Vunja Mifupa (Broken Bones) and Makala.

Loved all over the world for his long-lasting rumba/sekous rhythms that keep you sweating and shaking on the dance floor, his songs are also full of charming and powerful social messages that rally for unity and justice. Mapangala does not shy away from social issues ranging from environmental justice and wildlife conservation (Tupande Miti/Let’s Plant Trees) to racism and tribalism (Tupendane/Let’s Love Each Other) and politics (Obama Ubarikiwe/Obama Bless You).

In 2009, Mapangala partnered with the World Wild Life Federation (WWF) to compose a song that would call attention to endangered mountain gorillas primarily populating the Virunga region of the Congo Basin. Born in the region, Mapangala actually named his band after his birthplace, and when approached by the WWF, felt compelled to compose a song that would raise awareness of the complex, contested human conflicts in the region that have had devastating effects on the environment and wildlife.

Mapangala freely released the song Les Gorilles des Montagnes (Mountain Gorillas) through WWF’s website to launch a campaign to save the 700 mountain gorillas left in the region.

As for President Barack Obama, Mapangala says he was thrilled to watch history unfold with the election of America’s first African-American president with family ties, no less, to Kenya, which Mapangala called home. He felt such an overwhelming connection to Obama and this historically charged moment that a song was composed in Obama’s honour. He explained, “I wanted to be part of this history.”

With his song in tow, Mapangala headed to Chicago in September 2008, where he was slated to perform at Chicago’s Music World Festival. He rang up Nathaniel Braddock, lead singer of Chicago’s Occidental Brothers Dance Band International, and proposed recording the song together. Within a day of knowing each other, they were in the studio, and Mapangala’s Obama blessing was born.

When I asked Mapangala what he thinks of Obama nearly three years later, he says with a smile: “Obama – Obama was history. Now, he is no longer history – he is politics.”

Still, the Obama song was an Internet sensation because, like so many other songs, Mapangala’s contagious, joyful beats rally people of all ages to connect, feel, and dance their way to a better future. One of the last living members of the original Orchestra Virunga band that lit up dance floors in the late seventies and early eighties, Mapangala shows no signs of resting anytime soon. Though the original group disbanded in 1993 due to a shrinking live music scene in Nairobi at the time, Mapangala has never let up and remains a dominant figure in the world music scene.

He is the consummate collaborator, connecting with world-class musicians and producers across continents by using the latest technologies to share his musical genius. Eventually, though, Mapangala envisions working again with a permanent band in Nairobi, which he still considers his musical home.

For now, his highly anticipated return to East Africa tour next autumn is causing quite a stir as he winds his way back up to Nairobi via Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam this month with manager CC Smith, meeting with radio stations, major newspapers, event producers, and promoters eager to confirm bookings with the African superstar.

Until then, Mapangala’s newest songs, Zanzibar and Maisha ni Matamu are both love letters to life itself, the sweet life – a life that makes you get up and dance – from Zanzibar to Chicago to Nairobi to London – really, anywhere life takes you.

Follow Samba Mapangala and CC Smith, his manager, on their blog: http://zanzibarorbust.blogspot.com