Update #13: Pictures from the Inside!

Hi everyone! We hope you’re having a great weekend. I started off my weekend right by catching the Kalunde Band at Triniti in Oyster Bay, Dar es Salaam. I met the legendary John Kitime there (who has been telling me amazing stories about life as a musician during the Nyerere era, not to mention helping me practice my Kiswahili). He introduced me to Anania Ngoliga. Both of these hugely talented musicians were featured in Bela Fleck’s musical documentary “Throw Down Your Heart.” I recommend the film to anyone with an interest in African music!

The music last night was a mix of the old Zilipendwa music, modern Congolese and South Africa hip-hop, Tanzanian “Bongo Flava,” and even some covers of Enrique Iglesias and, my favorite of the night, an energetic performance by Mr. Ngoliga of “Blue Suede Shoes.” I have a few pictures from last night, but they’re not uploaded yet, so for today’s update I’m sharing a couple photos from our meetings with the TBC.

The first is Erasmus, Bruno Nanguka, and Benson (from left to right) in Mr. Nanguka’s office. The second is myself, Mbwilo Kitujime (Director of Special Programs at TBC), and his assistant in charge of the digitization project, Elizabeth Malimbo.

Like I said in my last update, we’re so thrilled to have met our Kickstarter goal, but now we want to take full advantage of the excellent Kickstarter platform and keep fundraising til the very end, 1:37 EST on February 4th. The $13,000 budgeted for the minimum requirements for basic digitization, but to do this right, and to do it in a timely fashion (remember, those reels are deteriorating by the minute!), we will need a lot more than what we have right now. Please continue to spread the word!

As a reminder, please like us on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/RadioTanzania, where you can see more photos and updates on the minute!

Thanks for following along!

Pamoja kwa musiki,

Rebecca