Yericko,
Nakuwekea ''uongo'' wangu mwingine hapa.
Mwambie jamaa yangu kuwa hapa kwa nyakanga hakwishi nyimbo:
''When Sal Davis came to Dar es Salaam and recorded a programme with
Chipukizi, I remember that he sang ''The Moon was Yellow and the Night was
Young.''
That show with Sal Davis was the pinnacle of Chipukizi Club's career;
soon after, Chipukizi Club was off the air, banned for political reasons.
The young boys and girls were not portraying the image of the youth Mwalimu
Julius Nyerere was trying to project.
The vacuum left by Chipukizi was soon to be filled by new groups like The
Rifters, The Sparks and The Tonics and the afternoon "boogies" at the
Arnatouglo Hall, which we sometimes called the Sunday School.
However, thesegroups did not have the elegance of Chipukizi. While Chipukizi
was elitist,these new groups were sort of "free for all."
Chipukizi inspired me to pick up the guitar. I had excelled in playing the
flute and mouth organ. I could play all the Kwela songs by the legendary
Spokes Mashiane.
However, it was the music of stars like Sal Davis thatexerted the greatest
influence on me. Many young boys at that time whoplayed the guitar tried
to copy the style of Hank B. Marvin, lead guitaristof the Shadows, the group
which backed Cliff Richard. Dar es Salaam was notshort of talent.
There was the late Adam Kingui (the Rifters) Abby Sykes (the father of Dully
Sykes the Bongo Flava artist), George Muhuto (the Sparks), David Gordon (of
the Safari Trippers, who introduced me to the music of Eric Clapton, the
British blues guitarist)), and others. Hank B. Marvin liked to play open
strings mixed with high pitch picking right at the back of the guitar just
behind the pick up, thus producing a peculiar sound.
It was many years later when Hank Marvin had faded and guitarists like Jimi
Hendrix, Carlos Santana, Jose Feliciano and others came into the scene that
we also bent with the wind of change.
I personally strove to emulate thejazz guitarist Wes Montgomery but with little
success, for no one can playthe guitar the way Wes - a slow melodious riff using
all his fingers beforeswitching octaves midway or in the last part of the song.
Some few years ago, I met Salum Hirizi, a former member of Chipukizi, in
Dubai and we got down to talking of our days growing up in Dar es Salaam.
Salum married his childhood sweetheart Amina.
Their son, Abdullah, ateenager, was surprised to hear that his old man used to be
a singer. Heasked me, in English with a London accent, what kind of songs his father
used to sing.
I told the boy that whenever I think about his father, thesong ''Summertime'' comes
to my mind.
This, briefly, was what cultural life was like in the Dar es Salaam ofthe1960s.''
Na hapa umewasahau Flaming Stars. They had a big contribution to Dar youth music in the years 1965-1967 when they left for Kenya. The lead guitarist was Mike Mhuto.